The company

Adidas is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group. The company produces footwear, products like 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, after its U.S. rival Nike.

1949

The foundation

18 August - adidas is registered as a company, named after its founder: 'Adi' from Adolf and 'Das' from Dassler.

50s

The 'Miracle of Bern'

1954 - The 'Miracle of Bern' Germany battle Hungary with a competitive advantage. They are wearing adidas soccer boots which for the first time feature removable studs.

60s

Higher

Driven by a desire to help all athletes committed to performance, adidas manufactures equipment for what some consider "fringe sports". Unconventional high jumper Dick Fosbury launches himself up and over in adidas footwear.

70s

The "adidas" team wins

Crowning moment: Franz Beckenbauer, the "Kaiser", raising the World Cup in victory salute. Germany had just beaten Holland 2-1 in the 1974 final.

80s

The transition

After Adi Dassler's death, Adi's wife Käthe, his son Horst, and his daughters carry on the business.

90s

With a new management

Under the CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus, adidas is moving from being a manufacturing and sales based company to a marketing company.

1995

adidas goes public

Flotation of the company on the Frankfurt and Paris Stock Exchange.

1996

A splendid year

The "three-stripes company" equips 6,000 Olympic athletes from 33 countries. adidas athletes win 220 medals, including 70 gold. Apparel sales increase 50%.

1997

adidas-Salomon AG

adidas AG acquires the Salomon Group with the brands Salomon, TaylorMade, Mavic and Bonfire in December 1997. The new company is named adidas-Salomon AG.

1999

The new brands

The integration of the new brands is gaining momentum. The new TaylorMade FireSole clubs boost sales. Salomon in-line skates take off with high double-digit growth during the first half of 1999.

2000

New management

Following personnel changes, the new management initiates an ambitious Growth and Efficiency Program. Major sports events such as the European Soccer Championship EURO 2000™ and the Olympic Summer Games, where swimmer Ian Thorpe takes three gold medals, contribute to the company’s success.

2005

Sale of Salomon

The Salomon Group (including Salomon, Mavic, Bonfire, Cliché and Arc’Teryx) is being sold to Amer Sports in October 2005. The new adidas Group is focusing even more on its core strength in the athletic footwear and apparel market as well as the growing golf category. The legal name of the company will change to “adidas AG” in May/June 2006.

2006

adidas-Salomon AG acquires Reebok

The closing of the Reebok transaction on January 31, 2006 marks a new chapter in the history of the adidas Group. By combining two of the most respected and well-known brands in the worldwide sporting goods industry, the new Group will benefit from a more competitive worldwide platform, well-defined and complementary brand identities, a wider range of products, and a stronger presence across teams, athletes, events and leagues.

Adolf "Adi." Dassler

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  Dassler joined the business which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik  and prospered. The pair started their venture in their mother's laundry, but at the time, electricity supplies in the town were unreliable, and the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.

In the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded United States sprinter Jesse Owens to use them, the first sponsorship for an African-American. After Owens won four gold medals, his success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Letters from around the world landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year before World War II.