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General History
The global footwear market is a growing market with an increase in consumer demand based on globally increasing consumer incomes. The sports footwear market is significantly characterized by the high speed of innovation, which forces the companies to invest more in development initiatives. At the same time the companies are trying to reduce costs through decreasing supplier prices in order to stay competitive. Looking forward, the footwear market is expected to steadily keep growing.
The Adidas Group is a worldwide operating German sports apparel manufacturer with its head office in Herzogenaurach. The company was founded in August 1949 and named after its founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler. With the winning of the World Cup 1954 in Bern by the German national team, the Adidas soccer shoes became world-famous. The German team played with Adidas soccer shoes where you could replace the studs – a new innovation in those days. In the following years Adidas expanded its production beyond athletic footwear and produced sportswear and equipment. In 1989 the company became a corporation. In 2006 Adidas took over their British rival “Reebok” with the goal to accelerate its drive in the U.S. market and to approach Nike, the world market leader in the athletic footwear industry. Today, Adidas is still trailing Nike. The Adidas Group consists of the brands Adidas, Reebok and Tailor-Made.
Important past trends:
Adidas has always been a company that stands for revolutionary inventions in the athletic shoe industry. Adidas reported in 1996 one of the most successful years in its history after implementing new sales and marketing strategies. This could only be topped in 2001 where Adidas-Salomon achieved record-breaking sales. Another significant trend lies in long-term sponsoring contracts that Adidas gained within the last few years. In April 2006 they signed a contract to become the official NBA apparel provider for
Cited: 1. "About Us." Adidas Group. 26 Feb. 2008 <www.adidas-group.com>. 2. Business Source Premier: Footwear Industry Profile: Germany (Oct. 2005) Sports Equipment Industry Profile: Europe (2005) Apparel & Textiles Industry Profile: Global (March 2007) 3. Lexis-Nexis Academic: Wall Street Journal, “Team Adidas finds itself playing defense” (April, 2006) 4. Numbers from 2000 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_April_7/ai_61368089 7. "Adidas United States." Adidas. 29 Feb. 2008 <http://www.adidas.com/us/shared/home.asp>. 8. "Shop Adidas." Shop Adidas. 01 Mar. 2008 <http://www.shopadidas.com/home/index.jsp>.