Type Public (AG, FWB: ADS)
Founded 1924 (registered in 1949)
Founder(s) Adolf Dassler
Headquarters Herzogenaurach, Germany
Key people Herbert Hainer (CEO), Erich Stamminger (CEO, Adidas Brand), Igor Landau (Chairman of the supervisory board) (2009-)
Industry Designing and Manufacturing
Products Footwear, Sportswear, Sports equipment and Toiletries
Revenue Ђ10.799 billion (2008)
Operating income Ђ1.070 billion (2008)
Profit Ђ642 million (2008)
Employees 38,980 (2008)
Website www.adidas-group.com
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas golf company, and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports and clothing related goods. The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, to its US rival Nike

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The company revenue for 2008 was listed at Ђ10.799 billion and the 2007 figure was listed at Ђ10.299 billion, or about US$15.6 billion.

Contents

1 History
1.1 The Tapie affair
1.2 Post-Tapie era
2 Products
2.1 Running
2.2 Football (soccer)
2.3 Tennis
2.4 Golf
2.5 Cricket
2.6 Basketball
2.7 Lacrosse
2.8 My adidas
2.9 Accessories
2.10 Toiletries
3 Marketing
4 Sponsorship
5 Corporate information
5.1 Current executive board
5.2 Former management
5.3 Financial information
6 Criticism
7 Slogan
8 Adidas Originals
9 Separation
10 Y-3


History


A retail store in Tel Aviv, Israel
Adolf ("Adi") Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, after his return from World War I. In 1924, his brother Rudolf (Rudi) Dassler joined the business which became Gebrьder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered.

At the 1928 Olympics, Dassler equipped several athletes, laying the foundation for the international expansion of the company. During the 1936 Summer Olympics on Berlin, Dassler equipped quadruple gold medal winner Jesse Owens of the U.S. with his shoes.

Late in World War II, the shoe factory shifted to production of the Panzerschreck anti-tank weapon.

The brothers split up in 1947, with Rudi forming Puma, and Adi forming adidas.

The company formally registered as adidas AG (with lower case lettering) on 18 August 1949. The phrase All Day I Dream About Soccer, although sometimes considered the origin of the adidas name, was applied retroactively. The name is actually a portmanteau from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").


The Tapie affair

After a period of trouble following the death of Adolf Dassler's son Horst Dassler in 1987, the company was bought in 1989 by French industrialist Bernard Tapie, for 1.6 billion French francs (now Ђ243.918 million), which Tapie borrowed. Tapie was at the time a famous specialist of rescuing bankrupt companies, an expertise on which he built his fortune.

Tapie decided to move production offshore to Asia. He also hired Madonna for promotion. He sent, from Christchurch, New Zealand, a shoe sales representative, to Germany and met Adolf Dassler's descendants (Amelia Randall Dassler and Bella Beck Dassler) and was sent back with a few items to promote the company there.


A pair  of Adidas "Sambe" football trainers.
In 1992, Tapie was unable to pay the interest from his loan. He mandated the Crйdit Lyonnais bank to sell Adidas, and the bank subsequently converted the outstanding debt owed into equity of the enterprise, which was unusual as per the prevalent French banking practice. Apparently, the state-owned bank had tried to get Tapie out of dire financial straits as a personal favour to Tapie, reportedly because Tapie was Minister of Urban Affairs (ministre de la Ville) in the French government at the time.

In February 1993, Crйdit Lyonnais sold Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a friend of Bernard Tapie for a much higher amount of money than what Tapie owed, 4.485 billion (Ђ683.514 million) francs rather than 2.85 billion (Ђ434.479 million). Tapie later sued the bank, because he felt "spoiled" by the indirect sale.

Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the new CEO of the company. He is also the president of the Olympique de Marseille football team, a team Tapie owned until 1993.

Tapie filed for personal bankruptcy in 1994. He was the object of several lawsuits, notably related to match fixing at the soccer club. During 1997, he served 6 months of an 18 month prison sentence in La Santй prison in Paris.

In 2005, French courts awarded Tapie a Ђ135 million compensation (about 886 million francs).



    Post-Tapie era

In 1994, combined with FIFA Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages became the main beneficiary.

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in ski wear, and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the Taylormade Golf company and Maxfli which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf.

In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA over their rules limiting the size and number of commercial logos on team uniforms and apparel. Adidas withdrew the suit, and the two groups established guidelines as to what three-stripe designs would be considered uses of the Adidas trademark.

In 2003, Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World Trading's use of a two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court ruled that despite the simplicity of the mark, Fitness World 's use was infringing because the public could establish a link between that use and Adidas's mark.

In September 2004, top English fashion designer Stella McCartney launched a joint-venture line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the corporation. This line is a sports performance collection for women called "Adidas by Stella McCartney",and it has been critically acclaimed.

Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company Salomon Group for Ђ485m to Amer Sports of Finland.

In August 2005, Adidas declared its intention to buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion (US). This takeover was completed with partnership in January 2006 and meant that the company will have business sales closer to those of Nike in North America. The acquisition of Reebok will also allow Adidas to compete with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world.

Adidas has corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business locations around the world such as Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan, England, Japan, Australia and Spain. Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots of assets from these countries and is expanding to more oversea countries.

In 2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to utilize a microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe", it features a microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per second that automatically adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its environment. The shoe requires a small, user-replaceable battery that lasts for approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November, 2005, Adidas released a new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning, allowing the shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more torque.

On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the official NBA apparel provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and WNBA jerseys and products as well as team-coloured versions of the "Superstar" basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million) takes the place of the previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001.



Products



Running

Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar Control 5, the adiStar Ride (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the Supernova Sequence (the replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the Supernova Cushion 7 (which will soon be replaced by the Supernova Glide), among others. In addition, their performance apparel is widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make their more expensive shoes.


Football (soccer)

One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment. Adidas also provides apparel and equipment for all teams in Major League Soccer. Adidas remain a major company in the supply of team kits for international football teams. Current examples include Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Romania, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Japan and Nigeria. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport with notable examples including development of the Copa Mondial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches for almost forty years. The studded equivalent was named World Cup follow in celebration of the 1978 tournament won by Argentina, one of the nations it supplied at the time. Adidas became renowned for advancing the "Predator" boot design developed by ex-Liverpool and Australian international player Craig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the ball when struck; highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more easily when wearing this new contoured design. The Predator also features the Craig Johnston invented "Traxion" sole. As the development and popularity of Football continued Adidas played a leading role in shaping the style of the play itself. FIFA, the sports governing body, commissioned specially designed footballs for use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The balls supplied for the 2006 Germany World Cup were particular noteworthy for their ability to travel further than previous types when struck, leading to longer range goal strikes that were intended to increase the number of goals scores and increase spectator enjoyment. Goalkeepers were believed to be less comfortable with the design claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight.

Tennis

Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets. While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model. Adidas sponsors the following professional players: Marat Safin, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanoviж, Fernando Verdasco, Novak Djokovic, Gilles Simon, Marcos Baghdatis and doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.


Golf

In 1997, Adidas purchased TaylorMade. The image and focus of TaylorMade was redirected shortly after the acquisition to take over the driver market. The company succeeded in achieving this goal in late 2004 when it officially became the No. 1 driver in golf. On 14 October 2008, Adidas, through its subsidiary TaylorMade, acquired Ashworth for $72 million, assuming $46.3 million in debt.


Cricket

In the 1990s Adidas signed the former world No. 1 batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made shoes for him.He is still wearing Adidas shoes when he plays matches.

In 2008, Adidas made their 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. Their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and Libro ranges.

Adidas also also sponsors the England Cricket Team and the Australian Cricket Team

In 2008, in the first edition of the Indian premier league(IPL)it took up the sponsorship of two teams Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils.

Basketball

Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer. They are most famous for the Superstar and Pro Model twins, affectionately known as "shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe cap. These were made very popular in the 1980s Hip-Hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas' stripe-sided polyester suits.

Adidas also sponsors players past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, Desmond Mason, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan.

Patrick Ewing once had an extremely popular Adidas signature model in the late 1980s, now known as the Attitude since Ewing is no longer under contract (he parted to start his own shoe line under Next Sports in the early 1990s). Kobe Bryant entered the NBA under contract with Adidas, but elected not to renew in 2002 after lukewarm critical and market responses to the KOBETWO shoe. He has since signed with Nike.

Lacrosse

In 2007, Adidas announced the future production of lacrosse equipment, and will sponsor the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic in July 2008 for the top 600 high school underclassmen lacrosse players in the United States.


My adidas

My adidas is a mass customization program offering the option to customize a shoe model with the choice of different types of outsoles, cushioning, and other parameters.

Accessories

Adidas also designs and makes watches, eyewear, bags, caps and socks


Toiletries

Adidas also have a range of Deodorants, perfume, Cologne,  Aftershave lotions.

Marketing

Adidas has developed unique and dynamic marketing initiatives in traditional and emerging mediums. They are stalwarts of innovative, out-of-the-box campaigns that extend beyond their products to an entire philosophy, thinking, and way of life. Here are several campaigns that speak not only about Adidas products, but the lifestyle they create:

Urban Art Guide--Adidas embodies rebellion, independence and creative expression, particularly in an urban setting. Their street-art locator application for Apple's iPhone, bolstered urban street artists exposure and branded the outfitter as a "for-the-people" company.

Mi Adidas--Permits users to customize their footwear.

Adicolor Viral Video--This cerebral, abstract video campaign symbolizes Adidas' commitment to expression, no matter how strange or weird.




Sponsorship

Main article: List of Adidas sponsorships
Adidas are the main sponsor and kit supplier of the highly successful New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks. Adidas also are the kit supplier to the Argentina national rugby team Los Pumas, to Stade Francais and Munster.

Adidas are the main sponsors and kit sponsors of the successful Australian Cricket Team and the England Cricket Team. They are also the main sponsors of the Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and English cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. Adidas are the main sponsors of Australian Domestic Cricket Competitions - Pura Cup, KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, Ford Ranger One Day Cup. They are sponsors of the Indian Premier League Teams Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians.

Adidas also sponsors the Gold Coast Titans and St George Illawarra Dragons rugby league clubs in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

Adidas is the longstanding kit provider to the Germany national football team, a sponsorship that began in 1954 and is contracted to continue until at least 2018.

Adidas are very active at sponsoring top football clubs such as IFK Gцteborg, A.C. Milan, Olympique de Marseille, Ajax Amsterdam, Bayern Munich, FC Schalke 04, Fluminense FC, Benfica, Chelsea F.C., Liverpool F.C., Newcastle United F.C., Galatasaray SK, Fenerbahзe SK, UANL Tigres, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid, Club Atletico River Plate, SE Palmeiras, Club de Fъtbol Universidad de Chile, and the Colombian football teams Club Deportivo Los Millonarios, Deportivo Cali and Atletico Nacional.

Adidas and Major League Soccer announced a 10-year sponsorship agreement in November 2004 to make Adidas the official athletic sponsor and licensed product supplier for the league, and to work together to create a developmental league for MLS.

Adidas also sponsors events such as The London Marathon.

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Adidas spent Ђ70 million sponsoring the event amid criticisms.

Adidas has also been marketing in Nascar, sponsoring big name drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart.

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