Adidas

Adidas is a German sportswear company headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and sells footwear, apparel and accessories for sport and everyday wear. Its annual report for 2025 gives net sales of 24.811 billion euros and an operating profit of 2.056 billion euros.

History of Adidas

The company grew out of a small workshop. In the early 1920s Adi Dassler, a trained baker, began making sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room in Herzogenaurach, a town in Franconia. In 1924 he and his brother Rudolf founded the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik, a shoe factory that specialized in sports shoes.

The brothers’ shoes quickly reached major events. In 1928 the athlete Lina Radke, who was equipped by the brothers, won the 800-meter Olympic gold medal in Amsterdam. In 1936 the brothers exchanged ideas with the American sprinter Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics.

After the Second World War the brothers split up. Adi Dassler’s company was entered in the commercial register on August 18, 1949, under the name Adolf Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik, and the company dates its founding to that year, when it had 47 employees. Rudolf Dassler’s separate company became Puma, which is also based in Herzogenaurach.

Football gave the company one of its best-known moments. At the 1954 World Cup in Bern, the West German team won its first world title wearing football boots with screw-in studs made by adidas. In 1967 Kathrine Switzer ran a marathon in adidas shoes, and in the 1980s the hip-hop group Run-DMC’s song “My adidas” helped the brand reach a lifestyle audience.

In 2006 the company completed its acquisition of the American sportswear maker Reebok, which it later sold to Authentic Brands Group in 2022. The purchase made it the second-largest sportswear company at the time, and the sale allowed it to focus on its own brand.

Football has remained central to the brand ever since. The company’s annual report recalls the 2014 World Cup final, in which Mario Götze scored in the 113th minute against Argentina to make Germany champion, and it says the company is looking forward to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The company has also supplied official match balls for several tournaments.

Products and services

Adidas sells footwear, clothing and accessories for football, running, basketball, tennis, training and many other sports. Its lifestyle lines include the Samba, Superstar and Stan Smith shoe families, which began as sports shoes and became fashion items. The company is also known for the three stripes, which appear on many of its products, and for supplying match balls and kits to football competitions, including the FIFA World Cup.

It sells through its own stores and websites, through wholesale partners such as sporting goods retailers, and through partnerships with clubs, federations and athletes.

Corporate structure and operations

Adidas AG is a publicly traded German company, listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Its headquarters are in Herzogenaurach, where its campus is known as the World of Sports. Like most sportswear companies, it does not make most of its products itself and relies on independent manufacturing partners, mainly in Asia, which makes supply chain management a key function.

The 2025 annual report shows how results have moved over three years, in millions of euros:

• Net sales rose from 21,427 in 2023 to 23,683 in 2024 and 24,811 in 2025.
• Operating profit rose from 268 in 2023 to 1,337 in 2024 and 2,056 in 2025.
• Gross margin, which is the share of sales left after production costs, rose from 47.5 percent in 2023 to 50.8 percent in 2024 and 51.6 percent in 2025.

Net sales are the money the company receives from selling its products after discounts and returns, while operating profit shows what is left after operating costs such as marketing and administration. Net sales therefore grew by about 4.8 percent in 2025, while operating profit grew by more than half. The sharp rise in profit over two years followed a weak 2023, when the company was working through large inventories of unsold products.

Impact of Adidas

Adidas has influenced how athletes and fans dress. Its football boots, running shoes and tracksuits became part of everyday clothing in many countries, and its collaborations with designers, musicians and clubs have turned some models into collectibles. The company is a major example of sport sponsorship, since its deals with teams, federations and athletes link the brand to the results and image of sport.

It also competes with companies such as Nike, which sells through a similar mix of direct and wholesale channels. The two companies are often compared in studies of brand equity in sportswear.

The annual report presents sustainability under environmental, social and governance headings and says the company recognizes a responsibility to respect human rights along the entire value chain.

The company competes with Nike, Puma and many regional and fast-growing brands, and it depends on fashion trends as well as on sports results. A product line that is popular in one season can sell poorly the next, which is why managing inventory is as important as design.

Criticism and controversies

The company’s early history includes the period of Nazi rule in Germany. Both Dassler brothers joined the Nazi party in 1933, according to historical accounts, and during the Second World War the factory supplied equipment to the German military. Historians have examined this period, and the company’s own history is now more openly discussed than in the past.

Adidas has also faced criticism, as other sportswear companies have, over conditions in supplier factories in Asia, and it has responded with supplier standards and monitoring programs. In 2022 the company ended its partnership with the rapper and designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, after antisemitic remarks, and it later faced questions about how it handled unsold products from that line. The information here is general background and not investment advice.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue