Adidas is All In
Adidas
Tagline
Net Worth
$4,000,000,000
Started in (City)
Herzogenaurach
Started in (Country)
Germany
Incorporation Date
18th December, 1949
Bankruptcy Date
-
Founders
- Adolf Dassler
About
Adidas is a German multinational corporation and world-renowned sportswear company well-known for its sportswear and sneakers. It is the world’s second-biggest sports brand only after Nike. Adidas was founded in July 1924 and later on 18th August 1949 named “Adidas”. The headquarters are in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Adidas sells a range of clothing items, varying from men’s and women’s t-shirts, jackets, hoodies, pants and leggings. Adidas was founded by Adolf Dassler – A German born in the city of Herzogenaurach. He started by producing shoes in the back of his mother’s laundry and was an excellent shoemaker and a quiet craftsman. With over 57,000 employees and an operating income of over 2.3 billion dollars, Today Adidas is worth more than 4 billion dollars and is one of the leading sports products brands in the world.
Beginning
Adidas, the name originated from the man himself Adolf “Adi” Dassler was born on 3 November 1900 in Herzogenaurach, German. Christoph Dassler, his father was a shoemaker and his mother Algirdas Dassler, ran a laundry service. Adolf Dassler followed his father’s footsteps to become a shoemaker. By 1922, Herzogenaurach town became one of the main spots for shoemakers, as many textile mills in the town had been converted into shoe workshops and at that time there were 112 shoemakers for just 3500 residents of the town. Due to severe poverty, Adolf Dassler could not afford a decent working area, so he produced shoes in the back of his mother’s laundry. Adolf Dassler was an excellent shoemaker and a quiet craftsman. His cousin brother, Rudolf Dassler was an excellent marketer, salesman and an extrovert. They both compiled down together very well and hence their business got very successful as they were the perfect partners. They both together established the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Adolf Dassler was handling the production part and Rudolf Dassler handled the marketing part. In 1930, both Adolf Dassler and Rudolf Dassler both joined the Nazi party. During these difficult times, the brothers got separated from each other because of some quarrels and issues between their families. In 1948, Rudolf “Rudi” Dassler left the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. He took a large number of the workers with him and started a new company and named Ruda and afterword’s renamed as Puma. Adolf Dassler renamed the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory to Adidas by combining the first two letters of his name Adolf and with the first three letters of the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory and added a letter-I in between the name. And the three stripes became the logo of Adidas. This crafted the beginning of the billion-dollar company, as we all know today as “Adidas”.
Road to Success
In 1952, at the time of the 1952 Summer Olympics, Adidas acquired its signature 3-stripe logo from the Finnish athletic footwear brand Karhu Sports, for the two bottles of whiskey and the equivalent of 1600 euros. In 1967 Adidas created the first apparel and it was the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit. The Trefoil logo was designed in 1971 and launched in 1972. This logo lasted till 1997 when the company introduced the "three bars" logo (that had been designed by then Creative Director Peter Moore), initially used on the Equipment range of products. In the 1980s, Run-DMC was a very popular American hip-hop (rap) group. They were the first ones in the genre to have an album certified gold and they were also nominated for a Grammy Award. Their song, “My Adidas” became very popular and in that song, they mentioned their love for the Adidas brand and they wore the Adidas from the head to toe. As a result, the fans of Run-DMC were motivated to buy Adidas goods. In 1989, Adidas went bankrupt after they lost nearly 80 million dollars. Adidas re-captured the market share in America in the late 1990s as facing competition from Nike, Reebok and Puma. Adidas never looked back again from that time and in 2006 and they also acquired Reebok for 3.8 billion dollars. The acquisition of Reebok also allowed Adidas to compete with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world. In August 2015, Adidas acquired Runtastic for approximately $240 million as it realised the growing importance of technology in the sports field. Runtastic is an Austrian mobile fitness company that combines the power of technology with sports. According to Forbes, Adidas is the 68th most valuable brand in the world with a brand value of 9.5 billion dollars. Another most important reason for the success of Adidas can be attributed as their tendency to be up-to-date with the latest trends.
Challenges
Adolf Dassler was born in a relatively poor family. Due to severe poverty, Adolf Dassler could not afford a decent working area, so he produced shoes in the back of his mother’s laundry. He started a company named Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory with his brother Rudolf Dassler. In 1930, both Adolf Dassler and Rudolf Dassler joined the Nazi party. During these difficult times, the brothers got separated from each other because of some quarrels and issues between their families. These issues led to the separation of the brothers in 1948. Rudolf Dassler left the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. He took a large number of the workers with him and started a new company and named Ruda and afterword’s renamed as Puma. On 6 December 1978 Adolf Dassler passed away and after his death, Adidas lost its market share in North America to other companies like Nike and Reebok. In 1989, Adidas went bankrupt after they lost nearly 80 million dollars. Adidas re-captured the market share in America in the late 1990s as facing competition from Nike, Reebok and Puma. Adidas never looked back again from that time and in 2006 and recaptured the market again. Although facing a lot of challenges on its way Adidas became one of the most successful companies in the world.
Failures
On 6 December 1978 Adolf Dassler passed away and after his death, Adidas lost its market share in North America to other companies like Nike and Reebok. Rudolf Dassler passed away on 27 October 1974. Even after their death, failed to cement their ties. In the 1980s, The Run-DMC was a very popular American hip-hop (rap) group. They were the first ones in the genre to have an album certified gold and they were also nominated for a Grammy Award. Their song, My Adidas became very popular and in that song they mentioned their love towards the Adidas brand and also mentioned that they wore the Adidas from the head to toe. As a result, the fans of Run-DMC were motivated to buy Adidas goods. In 1989, Adidas went bankrupt after they lost nearly 80 million dollars. Adidas re-captured the market share in America in the late 1990s as facing competition from Nike, Reebok and Puma.
Achievements
- According to Forbes, Adidas is the 68th most valuable brand in the world with a brand value of 9.5 billion dollars.
- In 2019, adidas was again listed in the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’ and recognized as leader in its industry.
- In September 2019, for the 20th year in a row, adidas has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI)
Subsidies
- Reebok
- Five ten footwear
CEOs
- Adolf Dassler
- Robert Louis-Dreyfus
- Herbert Hainer
- Kasper Rorsted