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Adidas AG (German pronunciation: [ˈadiˌdas]) (stylized as ɑdidɑs since 1949) is a multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswearmanufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike. It is the holding company for the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade golf company (including Ashworth), Runtastic, an Austrian fitness technology company, and 8.33% of Bayern Munich, the football club. Adidas' revenue for 2016 was listed at €19.29 billion.

The company was started by Adolf Dassler in his mother's house; he was joined by his elder brother Rudolf in 1924 under the name Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Dassler assisted in the development of spiked running shoes (spikes) for multiple athletic events. To enhance the quality of spiked athletic footwear, he transitioned from a previous model of heavy metal spikes to utilising canvas and rubber. Dassler persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use his hand made spikes at the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1949, following a breakdown in the relationship between the brothers, Adolf created Adidas, and Rudolf established Puma, which became Adidas' business rival.

Adidas' logo is three stripes, which is used on the company's clothing and shoe designs as a marketing aid. The branding, which Adidas bought in 1952 from Finnish sports company Karhu Sports, became so successful that Dassler described Adidas as "The three stripes company". The brand name is uncapitalized and is stylized with a lower case "a".

Adidas was founded by Adolf "Adi" Dassler who made sports shoes in his mother's scullery or laundry room in Herzogenaurach, Germany after his return from World War I. In July 1924, his older brother Rudolf joined the business, which became Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory (Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik).^[11] The electricity supply in Herzogenaurach was unreliable, so the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.

Dassler assisted in the development of spiked running shoes (spikes) for multiple athletic events. To enhance the quality of spiked athletic footwear, he transitioned from a previous model of heavy metal spikes to utilising canvas and rubber. In 1936, Dassler persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use his hand made spikes at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Following Owens' four gold medals, the name and reputation of Dassler shoes became known to the world's sportsmen and their trainers. Business was successful and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes every year before World War II.

The Dolbury factory, used for production of anti-tank weapons during the Second World War, was nearly destroyed in 1945 by US forces, but was spared when Dassler's wife, convinced the GIs that the company and its employees were only interested in manufacturing sports shoes. American occupying forces subsequently became major buyers of the Dassler brothers' shoes.

Football

One of the main focuses of Adidas has always been football kits, and the associated equipment. Adidas remains a major company in the global supply of team kits for international association football teams and clubs.

Adidas makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the world. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport, with notable examples including the 1979 release of the Copa Mundial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches. It holds the accolade of the best selling boot of all time. The soft-ground equivalent was named World Cup and it too remains on the market.

Baseball

Adidas has also provided baseball equipment and sponsors numerous players of Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseballin Japan.

Adidas Baseball hardgoods are licensed to Dick's Sporting Goods.

From 1997 to 2008, Adidas sponsored New York Yankees.

Basketball

Adidas' Superstar and Pro Model shoes, affectionately known as "shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box, were fueled by, among others, coaches such as UCLA's John Wooden. Adidas drew about even with Converse in basketball by the mid 1970s before both started to fall behind then-upstart Nike in the early 1980s. Subsequently, Adidas Superstar became very popular in the 1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas's stripe-sided polyester suits.

From 2006 to 2017, Adidas was the outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball Association, replacing the Reebok brand after Adidas' acquisition of Reebok. Adidas was replaced by Nike as the official outfitter of the league after the 2016–17 season.

Cricket

Adidas began manufacturing cricket footwear in the mid 1970s, with their initial target market being Australia. Their shoes were a radical departure from traditional leather cricket boots which had remained basically unchanged for decades, being lighter and more flexible but also offering less toe protection, so that it became not uncommon to see batsmen who had been struck by the ball on the foot hopping around in pain. Having continued to manufacture cricket footwear for many years, in 2006 the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in 2008 and currently their bat range includes the Pellara, Incurza, Libro and M-Blaster models.

In the 1990s, Adidas signed the superstar Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made shoes for him. From 2008 till his retirement, Adidas had sponsored the cricket bat used by Tendulkar. It created a new bat, 'Adidas MasterBlaster Elite', personalized for him.

In 2008, Adidas made a concerted move into English cricket market by sponsoring English batting star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they ran into financial difficulties. The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan opening batsman Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas sponsored the team Mumbai Indians from 2008 to 2014 and Delhi Daredevils from 2008 to 2013. They were the official sponsors of Pune Warriors India in 2011 and 2012, however the team was banned from IPL due to payment issues. In 2015 Season, Adidas sponsored Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Golf

Adidas Golf manufactures golf clothing, footwear, and accessories. Men's and women's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear (wind suits), base layer and eyewear.

Gymnastics

From 2000 to 2012, Adidas has provided men's and women's gymnastics wear for Team USA, through USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics and Adidas sponsorship concluded at the end of 2012. In 2006, Adidas gymnastics leotards for women and Adidas men's competition shirts, gymnastics pants and gymnastics shorts have been available in the USA, with seasonal leotards offered for Spring, Summer, Fall and Holidays. Adidas previous collaborated with GK Elite, since Spring 2013, Adidas gymnastics products have been available worldwide through Elegant Sports. USA Olympic team members McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber, Jake Dalton and Danell Leyva are all sponsored by Adidas gymnastics.

Lacrosse

In 2007, Adidas announced its entering to the lacrosse equipment, also sponsoring the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic in July 2008 for the top 600 high school underclassmen players in the United States. The company made their self into their own brand such as "Adidas Lacrosse", getting several scholarships, Bucknell (men and women), Bryant (men), Delaware (men and women), New Jersey Institute of Technology (men), and D3 powerhouse Lynchburg (men and women in fall of 2016 with soft good only)". Materials that adidas provided were jerseys, shorts, shoes, shafts, heads, gloves, and protective pieces.

Products manufactured for the sport are sticks, gloves, protective gear and boots.

Running

Adidas currently manufactures several running and lifestyle shoes, including the Energy-boost, and the spring-blade trainers.I The brand has built a strong runners' network within big European capitals, such as Paris' "Boost Energy League". In 2016 the 3rd season launched. In Paris, the Boost Energy League gathers 11 teams representing different districts of Paris.

Adidas launched two new color ways of the NMD R1 and one new color way of the NMD XR1 in September 2016.^[adidas EQT is a style of sneakers from adidas. It originated in the early 90s and relaunched in 2017. The latest adidas EQT line released in a “Turo Red” Pack on January 26, 2017, and included models such as the adidas EQT Support 93/17, EQT Support ADV, and EQT Support Ultra. adidas.com is one of the few online retailers.

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