The history of Adidas started in a small town in Bavaria, Germany. Adidas was founded in 1924 in Germany by two bothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler. The company was first named Dassler shoes and later became Adidas. By the Dassler shoes being seen in the Olympics this really helped the company get it’s name known. However, in 1948 Rudolf Dassler leaves to start his own company which is now known as Puma. Once Rudolf left his brother came up with the famous three stripes logo and changed the name to Adidas.
The 3 stripes were created to keep the foot stable, but ended up being the logo. Its iconic three stripes branding has its own history. Adidas used three stripes along the side of the shoes to keep the foot stable. Instead of introducing a new logo along with the three stripes, Adidas registered the stripes. It´s called that a modern and intelligent marketing play to turn the already iconic symbol as the brand logo.
From the mid-1960s, Adidas also started producing apparel and equipment, such as the footballs that have been the official match balls at major events since the 1970s. It came to dominate the sport, although Nike has renewed its attempts to become the major player in "soccer".
Throughout the years Adidas was seen in the Olympics, and it was the leading brand making their shoes highly sought after by Olympic athletes. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics where Adidas was perceived as the official sponsor of the games instead of Nike. Indeed, Adidas' tactics were so successful that the International Olympic Committee has since tightened the guidelines of the use of its logo by brands.
Adidas is, however, the official sponsor, supplier and licensee of the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa and the 2014 event in Brazil and a top tier sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games. An Adidas spokeswoman says: "We will use those events to showcase our brand and our innovative products."
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