"Adidas AG is a multinational firm, started as well as headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that styles as well as produces shoes, apparel as well as accessories. It is the largest sports apparel maker in Europe, and also the 2nd largest on the planet, after Nike. It is the holding business for the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sports apparel business, 8.33% of the German football club Bayern Munich, and also Runtastic, an Austrian health and fitness innovation business. Adidas' revenue for 2018 was provided at EUR21.915 billion.

The business was begun by Adolf Dassler in his mom's residence; he was joined by his older brother Rudolf in 1924 under the name Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Dassler assisted in the advancement of spiked running shoes (spikes) for multiple athletic contests. To enhance the quality of spiked athletic shoes, he transitioned from a previous version of heavy metal spikes to making use of canvas and rubber. Dassler convinced U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use his hand-crafted spikes at the 1936 Summertime Olympics. In 1949, complying with a failure in the partnership in between the siblings, Adolf created Adidas, and also Rudolf established Puma, which ended up being Adidas' service opponent.

Adidas' logo is 3 stripes, which is used on the company's clothes as well as footwear layouts as a marketing aid. The branding, which Adidas bought in 1952 from Finnish sports company Karhu Sports for the matching of 1600 euros and two containers of bourbon, became so successful that Dassler described Adidas as "" The 3 stripes company""."