"Adidas AG is an international corporation, founded and also headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that designs as well as produces shoes, clothing as well as devices. It is the largest sports apparel maker in Europe, and also the 2nd biggest worldwide, after Nike. It is the holding firm for the Adidas Group, which contains the Reebok sportswear company, 8.33% of the German football club Bayern Munich, as well as Runtastic, an Austrian physical fitness technology business. Adidas' income for 2018 was listed at EUR21.915 billion.

The business was begun by Adolf Dassler in his mother's home; he was joined by his older bro Rudolf in 1924 under the name Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Dassler aided in the growth of spiked running shoes (spikes) for numerous athletic events. To improve the high quality of spiked sports footwear, he transitioned from a previous version of heavy metal spikes to making use of canvas as well as rubber. Dassler encouraged UNITED STATE sprinter Jesse Owens to utilize his handcrafted spikes at the 1936 Summertime Olympics. In 1949, complying with a breakdown in the relationship in between the brothers, Adolf produced Adidas, as well as Rudolf established Puma, which ended up being Adidas' organisation rival.

Adidas' logo design is 3 red stripes, which is utilized on the business's clothing as well as shoe styles as a marketing aid. The branding, which Adidas acquired in 1952 from Finnish sports company Karhu Sports for the matching of 1600 euros as well as 2 containers of bourbon, became so effective that Dassler defined Adidas as "" The 3 stripes business""."