Adidas

Adidas AG

Type	Aktiengesellschaft (FWB: ADS, ADR:Pink Sheets: ADDYY)
Industry	Clothing and consumer goods manufacture
Founded	1924 (registered in 1949)[1]
Founder(s)	Adolf Dassler
Headquarters	Herzogenaurach, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Herbert Hainer (CEO), Erich Stamminger (CEO, Adidas Brand), Igor Landau (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products	Footwear, sportswear, sports equipment, toiletries
Revenue	€10.38 billion (2009)[2]
Operating income	€508 million (2009)[2]
Profit	€245 million (2009)[2]
Employees	39,600 (2009)[2]
Website	www.adidas-group.com

Adidas AG (pronounced /ˈɑːdiːdɑːz/ in the UK and pronounced /əˈdiːdəs/ in the US,^[3] FWB: ADS, ADR:Pink Sheets: ADDYY) is a major German-based sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the 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, after its U.S. rival Nike.^[4]

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 "Three Stripes" were bought from the Finnish sport company Karhu Sports in the 1950s.^[5][6] The company revenue for 2009 was listed at €10.38 billion and the 2008 figure at €10.80 billion.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik 1.2 Company split 1.3 The Tapie affair 1.4 Post-Tapie era 2 Products 2.1 Running 2.2 Football 2.3 Tennis 2.4 Golf 2.5 Cricket 2.6 Basketball 2.7 Lacrosse 2.8 Rugby 2.9 Gymnastics 2.10 Skateboarding 2.11 Accessories 3 Marketing 3.1 Game advertisement 4 Sponsorship 5 Corporate information 5.1 Current executive board 5.2 Former management 5.3 Financial information 6 Criticism 7 References 8 External links

History

Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik

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 Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) 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.^[7]

By 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.^[8]

Late in World War II, the shoe factory shifted to production of the Panzerschreck anti-tank weapon.^[9]

Company split

Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party. During the war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in 1943 when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in: "The dirty bastards are back again," Adi said, apparently referring to the Allied war planes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family.^[10] After Rudolf was later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, he was convinced that his brother had turned him in.^[7]

The brothers split up in 1947,^[11] with

• Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda – from Rudolf Dassler, later rebranded Puma,
• and Adi forming a company formally registered as adidas AG (with lower case lettering) on 18 August 1949. The acronym All Day I Dream About Sport, although sometimes considered the origin of the adidas name, was applied retroactively, which makes it a backronym. The name is actually a portmanteau formed from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").^[1]

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 €243.918 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.

In 1992, Tapie was unable to pay the interest from his loan. He mandated the Crédit 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, Crédit 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 (€683.514 million) francs rather than 2.85 billion (€434.479 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 was also the president of Olympique de Marseille, a team Tapie had owned until 1993.

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

In 2005, French courts awarded Tapie a €135 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.^[12]

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",^[13] and it has been critically acclaimed.^[14]

Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company Salomon Group for €485m 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^[1] 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.^[15]

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.^[16][17]

Football

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.

Adidas also makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the world. In the United States, referees wear the Adidas kits in MLS matches even though the primary referee supplier is Official Sports. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport with notable examples including development of the Copa Mundial 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. Some of the most famous football teams currently sponsored by Adidas.

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.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs for use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The balls supplied for the 2006 World Cup, the Teamgeist, 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 scored. Goalkeepers were believed to be less comfortable with the design, claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight.

Adidas also introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was designed and developed by Loughborugh University in conjunction with Chelsea FC. It received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for being too hard to control. The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many shots and passes being over hit. The Jabulani was widely blamed for the low numbers of long range goals or even remotely accurate attempts in the opening stage of the tournament.

As well as the aforementioned Predator boot, adidas also manufacture the F50 and adiPure range of football boots.

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.^[18] Adidas sponsors the following professional players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanović, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Fernando González, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and Sorana Cîrstea. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.^[19]

In November 2009 World Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's highest paid star with a 5 year contract reported to be worth £10 million.

Players sponsored by Adidas can take advantage of the Adidas Player Improvement Program, where the company provides coaches, fitness trainers and sports psychologists to players in order to further their careers. The program includes legendary coaches such as Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld.

In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis Tournament in Mason, they have also sponsored the ball-boy and ball-girl uniforms.

Golf

adidasGolf is part of adidas, a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas golf company, and Rockport. The adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry offering a wide range of products around the three core segments of adidas, Reebok, and TaylorMade-adidas Golf. adidasGolf sells and manufactures adidas-brand golf apparel, footwear and accessories.

Company Timeline:

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in alpine 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. Salomon sold its controlling interest in TaylorMade and its other sports equipment companies to global giant Adidas AG.

In 1998, Adidas Golf USA moved its business operations from Tualatin, Oregon, to the Carlsbad, California headquarters of TaylorMade Golf, acquired by adidas-Salomon. adidasGolf USA had 30 employees to relocate. Carlsbad is also the headquarters of one of its primary competitors, Callaway Golf Company.

In 1999, TaylorMade and AdidasGolf USA, were merged into a new company—called TaylorMade-Adidas Golf—with world headquarters in Carlsbad. Mark King was named president of the company he had begun his career with in 1981 as a sales representative after a short stint as vice president of sales and marketing at Callaway Golf Ball Co. in 1998.

In November 2008, Ashworth (clothing) became a wholly-owned subsidiary of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf, complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of Adidas Golf.

Product:

Adidas Golf sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men’s equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer and eyewear. Women’s equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, outerwear, base layers, and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and girls footwear, apparel, and eyewear.

Cricket

In the 1990s, Adidas signed the famous Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made shoes for him.^[20] Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes while playing matches. Adidas even made action figures after Sachin Tendulkar.

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.^[21] The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan player Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Having made cricket footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in 2008 and their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and Libro ranges.

Adidas also manufactures the uniforms worn by both the England cricket team and the Australian cricket team and they sponsored also the South Korea national cricket team.

In 2008 and 2009 in both the seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL), it took up the sponsorship of the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils.

In 2009, Adidas signed Sachin Tendulkar and started sponsoring his bat. It created a new bat 'Adidas ST' for him and 'Adidas Pellara KP' for Kevin Pietersen, the same year. Now both of them use their personalized bats in cricket.

Basketball

Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one of the leading basketball brands in the world. They are most famous for their iconic Superstar and Pro Model shoes, affectionately known as "shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box. These were made very popular in the 1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas' stripe-sided polyester suits.

Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger) and sponsors numerous players past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith, Tim Duncan, Gilbert Arenas and Tony Parker. Adidas used to endorse Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment KB8 as his first signature shoe, and stopped endorsing him in 2003. The company also endorsed Kevin Garnett, until he opted out of his contract in 2010.

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.^[22]

Rugby

Adidas make rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit and ball supplier to the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, and the Argentinian Pumas, among others. Adidas are also the official match ball supplier to the Heineken Cup.

Gymnastics

Since 2000, adidas has provided men's and women's gymnastics wear for Team USA, through USA Gymnastics. In 2006, adidas gymnastics leatards for women and adidas mens comp shirts, gymnastics pants and gymnastics shorts have been available in the USA, with seasonal leotards offered for Spring, Summer, Fall and Holidays. Starting in 2009, adidas gymnastics wear has been available worldwide through GK Elite Sportswear.^[23]

Skateboarding

Adidas SB (Skateboarding) are shoes made specifically for skateboarding. Many of the shoes Adidas previously made were redesigned for skateboarding.

Adidas Skateboarding also has a skateboarding team. The team consists of: Mark Gonzales, Dennis Busenitz, Tim O'Connor, Silas Baxter-Neal, Pete Eldridge, Dave Bachinsky, Benny Fairfax, Nester Judkins, Lem Villemin, and Vince Del Valle.

Accessories

Adidas also designs and makes sandals, watches, eyewear, bags, baseball caps, and socks.

As well, Adidas has a branded range of male and female deodorants, perfumes, aftershave and lotions.

Marketing

Adidas, like other sports brands is believed to engender high consumer brand loyalty. Brand loyalty towards Adidas, Nike and several other sportswear brands was examined in a recent study.^[24] The study found consumers did not exhibit unduly high loyalty towards such brands.

During the mid to late 1990s, Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a separate focus: Adidas Performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the athlete; Adidas Originals was designed to focus on fashion and life-style; and Style Essentials, with the main group within this one being Y-3.

"Impossible is Nothing" is the current mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. This campaign was developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work being done by TBWA/Chiat/Day in San Francisco – particularly for its basketball campaign "Believe In Five".TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned Zane Peach^[25] to produce images for 2007 international ad campaign.

Game advertisement

The brand is featured in several games. Commodore Amiga: Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge Sony Playstation: Adidas power soccer Commodore 64, ZX spectrum, Amstrad CPC: Adidas Championship Football

Sponsorship

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 Pumas, to the French Stade Français, and the Irish Munster Rugby team and the United States Eagles.

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 and produces apparel for the Gold Coast Titans 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. Sponsoring also the Mexican, French and Spanish National Football Teams and from 2010 will sponsor the Scotland national football team.^[26]

Adidas are very active at sponsoring top football clubs such as Rapid Vienna, Real Madrid, Liverpool, AC Milan, Partizan Belgrade, Fluminense, Palmeiras, Bayern Munich, Dynamo Kyiv, Chelsea, Marseille, AFC Ajax, Schalke 04, Galatasaray, Benfica, River Plate, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, UANL Tigres, Panathinaikos, IFK Göteborg, Al-Ahly, Al-Hilal, Ahli Jeddah, Caracas, Universidad de Chile, Los Millonarios and Atlético Nacional.

Adidas and Major League Soccer (MLS) announced a 8-year sponsorship agreement in August 2010 that will continue to make Adidas the official athletic sponsor and licensed product supplier for the league, and to work together to expand the developmental league for MLS through 2018.^[27]

Adidas also sponsors events such as the London Marathon.

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Adidas spent €70 million sponsoring the event, amid criticisms.^[28]

Adidas has also been marketing in NASCAR, sponsoring big name drivers such as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart.

Corporate information

Current executive board

• CEO Adidas-group: Herbert Hainer
• Finance Adidas-group: Robin J. Stalker
• CEO Adidas brand: Erich Stamminger
• Global Operations Adidas-group: Glenn S. Bennett

Former management

• CEO (1993–2002): Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

Financial information

Financial data in millions of euros^[29]

Year	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Sales	10.084	10.266	12.478	14.636	16.084
EBITDA	532	627	725	818	1 098
Net results	483	499	520	560	600
Net debt	1498	946	594	551	2231

Criticism

As with the majority of prolific brand-based transnationals, Adidas' business practises/ethics and commitment to worker welfare have been scrutinised and often criticised.^[30][31]

References

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/30237

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Taylor-Made-Golf-Co-Company-History.html

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sandiego/access/1246929281.html?dids=1246929281:1246929281&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+19%2C+1999&author=Mike+Freeman&pub=The+San+Diego+Union+-+Tribune&desc=Taylor%2C+Adidas+merge%2C+reshuffle+|+Hiring+of+Callaway+official+for+key+post+could+trigger+lawsuit&pqatl=google

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/board-management-changes/10623278-1.html

External links

• Official website
  • Adidas brand website

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