Adidas AG
is the second largest supplier of sportswear in the world, second
only to NIKE, Inc. Founded by Adolf Dassler and named after its
founder, the German-based company started making shoes in 1949.
Today, the Adidas range of sportswear products include footwear,
apparel and accessories for a wide variety of sport disciplines,
including soccer, basketball, golf, running, and fitness training.
Adidas AG is now part of the Adidas Group, which also consists of
Reebok (shoes and apparel), Taylormade (golfing equipment), and
Maxfli (golf balls). The Adidas Group now employs over 25,000
employees worldwide, with over 2,000 working at the company's
headquarters at Herzogenaurach, near Nuremberg, Germany. The
annual turnover for Adidas Group was listed as more than $13
billion in 2006, with a net income of around $650 million.
Adi Dassler had a unique vision, and that was to provide every
sportsman and sportswoman with the best performance footwear
available for their respective sport. Adi Dassler began making
shoes in his 20's, and owing to his lifelong quest for making the
perfect pair of sport shoes, there are now over 700 patents
worldwide registered under Adidas, almost 30 years after his death
in 1978.
The major turning point for Adidas came in 1954, when West Germany
won their first World Cup in soccer, with the German players
wearing what was then a true innovation - soccer cleats, or soccer
boots with screwed-in studs, invented by Adidas. Screw-in studs
allowed the players to change the length of the studs in order to
get a firmer grip on either dry (and hard) or wet (and slippery)
surfaces. It was considered the greatest innovation in soccer
shoes history, and fully demonstrated Adidas commitment to
innovate and deliver state-of-the-art sport shoes to the world.
Adidas is perhaps best known for their highly visible and
publicized sponsorship deals (footwear and sports kit) with
various national football teams and soccer clubs from all over the
world:
National Soccer Teams:
Argentina, France, Germany, Spain, etc.
Football Clubs:
Liverpool, Chelsea, DC United, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen,
Ajax Amsterdam, etc.
Similar
searches:
adidas shoes, adidas trainers, women's adidas, men's adidas,
Adidas Originals, adidas sandals, adidas running shoes, etc.
Other
search suggestions:
adidas footwear, adidas cross-trainers, adidas tennis shoes,
adidas soccer shoes, adidas soccer cleats, etc.
Adidas Sneakers & Adidas Soccer Cleats - Men's & Women's
Adidas Trainers Online.
External links:
Wikipedia
(article on Adidas, the company), History
of Adidas. |