Adidas is a German shoe and sportswear brand founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach. Adidas is the largest sportswear brand and manufacturer in Europe, and the second-largest in the world, behind Nike.
The adidas Group currently owns Reebok, the iconic sportswear company, a small ownership stake in the German football club Bayern Munich, and Runtastic, an Austrian fitness technology company.
The company was founded by Adolf Dassler and originally operated out of his mother’s house. Adolf’s older brother Rudolf joined him in 1924 and the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory was born.
Dassler assisted in the creation of spiked running shoes and switched out the traditional metal spikes for rubber, making the shoe lighter and better suited for competition. Dassler actually convinced the great Jesse Owens to use his shoes during the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Then, in 1949, the two brothers had a falling-out and Rudolf left the company. Rudolf would go on to create another shoe brand you might have heard of: Puma. Adolf would end up changing the company’s name to adidas and the brothers would continue their feud for the rest of their lives.
The adidas logo which consists of three stripes was actually purchased in 1952 from a Finnish sports company by the name of Karhu Sports for the equivalent of $1,897 euros and two bottles of whiskey. Awesome!
