Adidas

All day I dream about sports

Known today for the 'three stripes' Adidas bought this design trademark from Karhu, a Finish sports brand. Initially starting as the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory in 1924 by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler in Germany. After a falling out the company split with Adolf setting up Adidas and Rudolf going on to start Puma, which naturally became a business rival. The 'three stripes' are an Urban fashion staple, probably the only other brand that can stand up to Nike. It is the largest sportswear brand in Europe and the second-largest sports brand after Nike in the world. Over the years Adidas has sponsored many sports and top athletes, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lionel Messi, Andy Murray, Lasith Malinga and a lot more. Urban legends used to say Adidas stood for 'All day I dream about sports', when in actuality the name is a portmanteau of the creators first and last name, 'Adi' from Adolf and 'das' from Dassler. The famous hip-hop crew called Run-DMC is famous for wearing the 'three stripe' Firebird tracksuits and also singing a song called "My Adidas". The song led to them being a new kind of partner to endorse with a 1.6 million dollar deal in 1986, something no sporting brand had done before. This greatly helped market Adidas as Run-DMC is considered one of the most influential crews in hip-hop history, this cultural influence also lead to the signing of Missy Elliot and Big Sean to the brand. The legendary Jesse Owens wore a pair of the original Dassler Brothers shoes at the famous 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, winning 4 gold medals. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier also wore Adidas boots in the “Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York. David Beckham has a lifetime endorsement deal of 160.8 million dollars; another deal not heard of before. 

Products of Adidas

Adidas produces clothes for all kinds of athletes. From their classic Firebird tracksuits to sports bras, Adidas has a complete range of sporting attire. Due to the street style appeal that Adidas has garnered over the years they also make longer skirts and dresses. The shoe variety with Adidas is sport-specific, with shoes for running, soccer, basketball, hiking, skateboarding and many more. The shoe one chooses depends on what sport one will be playing or the sneaker style you like. Aside from the clothes and shoes, Adidas also has a range of accessories like backpacks, duffle bags, P-caps, beanies and sports equipment. With a range of underwear and other products such as yoga mats, watches, phone covers, shin guards and joint support sleeves. For years Adidas has produced the footballs used in the FIFA World Cup series and also for the UEFA Champions League. As Adidas sponsors a lot of professional teams they have a section that has all the official jerseys with team crests available for fans.

Design and materials

The design factor of Adidas is sleek with block colours and art at times. Mostly though their stripes make an appearance with the three-leaf logo. The colour assortment is vast, with lots of bright options and then a whole segment of more blacks, greys and browns. The fit is generally slick, making for better performance and comfort; this being crucial to performance athletes. The clothes are designed with such people in mind, the fact that the quality trickles into the public is a separate matter. The Adidas materials are top of the line as well, making for better breathing and drying up. With the material playing a large part in helping with the comfort and fit of the design, Adidas also does research into their materials to keep developing better. The brand has also developed processes to make plastics and polyester from recycled materials found in our oceans, in a bid to clean up what they can. These shoes can be reground and the materials can be used over and over again, essentially reducing the waste problem by a massive leap. Adidas plans to move to entirely recycled polyester by 2024, to reduce the plastic footprint of their brand. 

Key collaborations

With many collaborations over the years, Adidas has helped themselves grow into a lot more than just a brand making shoes. The more notable collaborations are the two, one with Stella McCartney and the other with Kanye West. Stella McCartney is a fashion designer who has worked with Adidas to produce a line of shoes different from their normal styles. She is the daughter of famed Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney. The other more effective collaboration has been with Kanye West, to make the YEEZY line of shoes. The YEEZYs are a cultural badge of our time, they are today what the Jordans were in the 90s. A huge segment of the street style trend has taken to YEEZYs making them super successful. A costly shoe which sells out in mere hours on their release dates. Another sub-brand that Adidas has collaborated onis 'Y-3', designed by Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. Yohji has learned at the BUNKA Fashion College Tokyo and is known for his oversized silhouettes in black, often featuring drapery in varying textures. On the first Virgin Galactic flight passengers, including Leonardo Di Caprio and Richard Branson, will wear jumpsuits and boots designed by Y-3.

Adidas also owns shoe brand Reebok; and Runtastic, a digital athletic solution. Runtastic is a fitness app that is in line with current trends of the 'Quantum Self' movement. The prices of Adidas products is toward the higher end, but with the best materials, good design and high-quality production they are worth the money. In Pakistan, Adidas has stores in major cities, with their famed FIFA World Cup footballs having been produced in Sialkot for many years.