When you’ve got Kanye West and Stella McCartney collaborating together with you, you recognize your brand has a moment – and Adidas is always that brand. But if you recognize Adidas’s long history, its current success provides no surprise. Adidas went from purely producing athletic footwear, to getting its apparel and shoes intertwined with popular culture. That famous trefoil logo is here a long way – simply stands for being more successful sometime soon.
Brothers Rudolf and Adolf Dassler created Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) together of their small Bavarian hometown in 1924. Their mission? To create running sneakers based on their particular experiences as accomplished amateur athletes. In 1936, Adolf drove to Olympic Village, spikes along, trying to convince Olympic athletes to use their shoes. He won over sprinter Jesse Owens which has a pair of remarkably light shoes with handmade spikes- the primary athletic sponsorship on an African American. When Jesse Owens won gold in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, athletes worldwide were asking following Dassler’s shoes.
After many disagreements during WWII, the Dassler brothers went their separate ways. Rudolf would embark on to form Puma, while Adolf developed a portmanteau of his nickname, “Adi”, with the exceptional surname, “Dassler”, to make “Adidas”, that he officially registered in 1949. In 1952, Adidas acquired its signature three bars logo from another company for that equivalent of €1600 and a couple bottles of whiskey.
Adidas became a household name in the event the German national football team won the 1954 World Cup final- several folks the team were wearing Adidas shoes. Germany’s unlikely win against Hungary catapulted the German National team and Adidas in the international spotlight.
1967 brought further changes for the Adidas brand. In a landmark decision for that company, Adidas launched its first bit of apparel, the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit. Named to the famous German footballer, the sleek model combined style and practicality, and opened the threshold to Adidas’s forays into apparel.
In the 70s, Adidas went beyond making shoes for footballers, expanding its athletic footwear ranges into mountaineering and gymnastics. The production of apparel also expanded, however the focus was much more on utilitarianism than fashion. Bold graphics featuring the Adidas trefoil logo were plastered on t-shirts, shorts, along with other sportswear. Tracksuits removed in disco culture- seeing an Adidas tracksuit within the dancefloor became commonplace. In 1978 Adi Dassler perished. His son Horst brings Adidas in the 80s having a greater target apparel.
The 80s ushered in a very fitness craze, with athleticwear becoming not merely practical, but fashionable, as better tailoring and synthetic fabrics like Gore-Tex shot to popularity. But jazzercise wasn’t the one area where Adidas shined. Hip hop stars were remaking the standing of Adidas. The tracksuits were simple to dance in, and also the bright colors and graphics suited the bold stylings of gangster rap. American gangster rap group Run DMC even released a song called “my adidas.” At a concert, the group held up Adidas shoes facing a crowd of 40,000 fans. Adidas became street fashion approved, with one of the 1st non-athletic sponsorships for any sportswear brand.
The early 90s brought financial trouble to your Adidas corporation. Horst Dassler’s death left the corporation with questionable leadership along with the company suffered historic losses in 1992. After Robert Louis-Dreyfus took the helm, Adidas was back on track. Some of Adidas’s most classic shoes were made or reissued during this time period, for example the Gazelle, that was favored by models, Britpop stars, and reggae musicians. Adidas became a favorite of stars like Jay-Z and Diddy, who solidified the technique of being so wealthy you didn’t should “get dressed.” The soccer-centric casual audience from the UK also loved Adidas, that was fashionable and accessible.
Adidas has boomed inside 2000s. The company searched for collaborations with fashion moguls like Stella McCartney, Mary Katrantzou, and in some cases Kanye West. The tracksuit is making a comeback from the Grime scene, as well as the casual lifestyle that Adidas promotes might be more desirable than previously. From a tiny town in Bavaria to defining the athleisure wave, Adidas comes of age, and possesses a bright future of accessible fashion before it