"Adidas AG is an international company, established and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that designs and makes shoes, garments and also accessories. It is the largest sports apparel maker in Europe, and the 2nd largest on the planet, after Nike. It is the holding firm for the Adidas Team, which includes the Reebok sportswear business, 8.33% of the German football club Bayern Munich, and Runtastic, an Austrian fitness modern technology firm. Adidas' income for 2018 was noted at EUR21.915 billion.

The business was begun by Adolf Dassler in his mom's house; he was signed up with by his senior brother Rudolf in 1924 under the name Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Dassler assisted in the growth of spiked running shoes (spikes) for several athletic contests. To enhance the high quality of spiked sports footwear, he transitioned from a previous version of heavy metal spikes to utilising canvas as well as rubber. Dassler encouraged U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to utilize his hand-crafted spikes at the 1936 Summer season Olympics. In 1949, adhering to a malfunction in the partnership in between the siblings, Adolf developed Adidas, and Rudolf established Puma, which ended up being Adidas' organisation rival.

Adidas' logo is three red stripes, which is made use of on the business's apparel and also footwear styles as a marketing help. The branding, which Adidas purchased in 1952 from Finnish sports business Karhu Sports for the equivalent of 1600 euros as well as two bottles of bourbon, became so successful that Dassler explained Adidas as "" The three stripes company""."