The company was founded in Germany in 1924 by the brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler. They first named the brand "Dassler Shoes" that started getting popular thanks to sponsored athletes in the Olympics. In 1948, though, Rudolf decides to start its own company named Puma. That's when, in 1949, Adolf comes up with the three stripes and changes his company's name to Adidas whereby the word ‘Adi' from his nickname and 'Das' from Dassler.
Adidas was the leading brand among athletes community when, in 1978, Adolf Dassler passed and his wife Käthe, his son Horst, and his daughter Carry started running the business. That was a big transition that was completed in the 90's when Robert Louis-Dreyfus became Adidas CEO: Adidas started moving from being a manufacturing and sales based company to a marketing company.
From then on, Adidas grew rapidly because in year 1996, 6,000 sponsored Olympic athletes from 33 countries win 220 medals, including 70 gold. This leads to an increase in sales by 50%. Then in 1999, Salomon Company is bought by Adidas and its skates take off with high double-digit growth. Further in 2000, the European Soccer Championship EURO 2000 and the Olympic Summer Games, where swimmer Ian Thorpe takes three gold medals, contribute to the company's success. Later in 2006, Adidas closes the Reebok, which marks a new chapter in the history of the Group. (http://www.fragrancex.com/products/_bid_Adidas-am-cid_perfume-am-lid_A__brand_history.html)
Vision
Lead in all areas of the sports industry • Develop market and sports • Be perceived as a leader • Be the company teams, associations, athletes, customers, consumers want to be associated with • Set standards of the industry
Be a role model with the Adidas-Salomon group in China • Be a source of the best practice for others subsidiaries in the group and with other companies in China • Be the place where people want to work, recognized for its employees’ development and