Happy Birthday adidas -
75 years of Trefoil and 3 stripes

adidas celebrates its 75th birthday on August 18th. To mark this anniversary, we want to take a look at the rich history of the brand with the 3 stripes. We take you on a journey through time and look at the milestones of adidas and, of course, the collaborations between adidas and Overkill.

The Dassler brothers and the founding of adidas

Back in the early 1920s, the two brothers Adolf, known as Adi, and his brother Rudolf produced the first sports shoes in their mother's laundry room in Herzogenaurach, Franconia. Rudi Dassler was an accomplished businessman and the more extroverted of the two brothers. Adi, on the other hand, was more introverted, but very talented as a craftsman and therefore responsible for the production of the shoes. In the beginning, the "Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik" portfolio mainly comprised sports shoes for football and running. The first Dassler sports shoes were used as early as 1928 at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam and won gold. Probably the greatest success of these early years was achieved during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, when Jesse Owens wore Dassler sports shoes and won four gold medals. During their years together, there were various differences of opinion, which led to the separation of the two brothers after the Second World War. Rudolf Dassler then founded Puma in 1948, before adidas was registered as a trade mark in 1949. The joint employees had the choice of working for Puma or adidas and so it came about that two of the largest sporting goods manufacturers had their headquarters in a small town in Bavaria. There are many myths about the separation of the brothers. Lots of books and films have been made on the subject, but there is no real certainty about the actual reasons.

On 18 August 1949, adidas was founded with 47 employees and on the same day, Adi Dassler patented a sports shoe and registered three parallel stripes as a trademark. Adi Dassler was driven by the desire to design the best possible shoes for athletes in their discipline. As he was active in athletics himself and spent a lot of time talking to athletes, he managed to make a name for himself and his sports shoes sold like hot cakes.

The miracle of Bern and the rise of adidas

The football boots that Adi Dassler designed were also highly appreciated by the German national team. In the so-called "Miracle of Bern" during the 1954 World Cup, the players wore shoes with the three stripes. In addition to the low weight, one of adidas' many innovations were replaceable studs in the soles. Legend has it that this was the decisive factor in the victory, as Adi attached different studs to the players' shoes shortly before the final. Through the first television broadcast of the tournament, adidas shoes became known to a worldwide audience.

In the late 1960s, at the request of national team coach Sepp Herberger, Adi Dassler ordered training pants and jackets with three stripes exclusively for the national team from the Schwahn company. The Schwahn company was later bought up and, together with Franz Beckenbauer as the first brand ambassador, a tracksuit named after him was created in 1967. This was the first item of clothing from the brand that was available for purchase by the end consumer. The adidas Beckenbauer track top is still a bestseller today.

Footballs have been part of the adidas portfolio since 1963 and every World Cup since 1970 has had an official match ball. Here too, adidas knows how to inspire with innovations. For the first time, the adidas football Telstar had an upper material made of black and white pentagons; previously, the balls were mainly made of brown leather. This innovation made it easier to recognize the ball during television broadcasts, as the majority of TVs were still black and white.

During the 1960s, adidas steadily expanded its business. adidas was now available on all five continents and helped athletes around the world achieve new heights of performance.

Horst Dassler - Adi's son

Adi Dassler and his wife Käthe had a total of five children, with Horst Dassler being the only son. From an early age, Horst helped out in his parents' company and quickly learnt the business from the ground up. However, he quickly annoyed his parents with his inventiveness. In 1960, the Dasslers left their son in charge of the adidas factory in Dettwiller, France. Horst Dassler was just 23 years old at the time, but his work and what followed from it can still be felt today. The young Dassler offspring was a personality in world sport and had great influence. Even then, he recognized the influence of the Olympic Games and other major events such as the Football World Cup. He expanded his influence through skillful marketing and the founding of other companies. Or rather, the influence of adidas and the advertising for the brand's products. The French production facility designed countless shoes that were far ahead of their time and recognized worldwide. The adidas Superstar, the adidas ZX 500, adidas Top Ten, adidas Forum are just a few of the models from adidas - Made in France. After the untimely death of Adi Dassler in 1978, Horst Dassler was brought back to Herzogenaurach, where he ran the company together with his mother Käthe until her death in 1984. With his ideas, he laid the foundation for adidas to become a lifestyle brand and to offer shoes and clothing for leisure as well as sports equipment for professional athletes. Unfortunately, Horst Dassler died shortly afterwards in 1987 and the turbulence surrounding adidas began.

1968 - adidas Gazelle

Released as Mexicana for the 1968 Olympics.
Timeless design, a real adidas classic.
adidas Gazelle Indoor followed in the 1980s. 1969 - adidas Superstar

The iconic basketball-sneaker with
the shell-toe. Adapted by B-Boys and
Girls, a important part for Hip-Hop
culture and immortalized by Run DMC. 1971 - adidas Stan Smith

The father of all white sneakers!
Tennis icon Stan Smith gets his own
signature shoe and until today over
50 million pairs were sold. 1972 - adidas Samba

Already released in the 1950s, the adidas
Samba gets his current silhouette in 1972.
A true adidas classic and sneaker of the year 2024. 1972 - adidas Adilette

At the request of the German national football team,
the Adilette was designed for showering after matches.
To this day, the adidas Adilette is a cult object. 1980 - adidas Campus

Originally released as tennis-sneaker
adidas Tournament the shoe was renamed
to adidas Campus in the 1980s. 1983 - adidas New York

This iconic running sneaker,
equipped with Dellinger-Web,
was named after the city that
never sleeps. 1984 - adidas Forum

The best basketball-sneaker of its time.
Available as High-Top or Low-Top sneaker. 1984 - adidas ZX 500

The first sneaker of the legendary ZX-Series
was named after a motorcycle.
Dozens of 3-digit adidas ZX models were to follow. 1984 - adidas Micropacer

The first sneaker with an integrated computer.
The build in mini computer placed in a lace
cover was able to stop time, count steps or calories. 1986 - adidas Rivalry

The Rivalry is an iconic adidas Basketball-sneaker.
You can choose a low-top or high-top cut. 1989 - adidas ZX 8000

The adidas ZX series continues with the
release of the adidas ZX 8000 in the Aqua colourway.
To this day, the model is the epitome of the adidas
running sneaker. 1991 - adidas Equipment

The adidas Equipment range was the best on the market
at the time. A whole series of shoes and clothing
are released under the name adidas Equipment. 2002 - adidas Climacool

Climacool was the name of an adidas
footwear innovation featuring a 360º ventilation. 2003 - adidas Y-3

The collaboration between renowned Japanese
fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto and sports brand adidas
has been going on since 2003. 2005 - adidas 1

The adidas 1 is after the Micropacer
the second shoe of the brand which has
a build-in computer. 2012 - adidas Primeknit

The invention of Primeknit is another innovation from adidas.
It is a lightweight upper material knitted from synthetic fibres. 2013 - adidas Boost

Boost heralds a new era in shoe cushioning.
In combination with Primeknit, performance
trainers were created that also work in
the lifestyle segment. 2015 - adidas Yeezy Boost 750

With the adidas Yeezy Boost 750,
the first model from rapper Kanye West and
adidas was released. 2017 - adidas Futurecraft 3D

This model heralded the future of shoe production.
A sole made entirely from a 3D printer
and an upper made from Primeknit.
The story of the adidas Trefoil and the three stripes

Few logos in the world are so striking that the brand name immediately springs to mind. The Trefoil is one of the most recognizable logos in the world and remains one of adidas' trademarks to this day. Although Adi Dassler forbade his son Horst from entering the swimwear market, he founded the Arena brand in 1972 via Adidas France. Arena was sold in 1990. Horst had previously secured the production and distribution rights from adidas France and thus built up a textile company in France. While Horst was interested in adidas clothing, his father remained skeptical about adidas apparel and leisure fashion in particular. At the insistence of his wife Käthe, Adi had a logo designed for the 1972 Summer Olympics, known as the Trefoil. This logo later became the official company logo and was used for all clothing products. Previously, the brand's logo was a globe, which served as the inspiration for the trefoil. The three individual parts of the Trefoil forms a closed sphere. To this day, the adidas Trefoil is one of the adidas logos and has been the trademark for the adidas Originals line in particular since the 1990s.

The three stripes are without doubt another trademark. The stripes on the sides of the shoes were designed to give the wearer extra grip. Adi Dassler experimented with different numbers and widths of stripes before deciding on three. Another advantage was that the adidas shoes were easily recognizable from a distance, which was particularly useful for sports broadcasts on television. At the 1952 Summer Olympics, however, Dassler noticed that the Finnish brand Karhu was also fitting its shoes with three stripes. Legend has it that adidas only paid Karhu €1600 and two bottles of whiskey for the rights to the three stripes.

In 1989, a new logo was developed with the help of visionary designers and creative experts. In 1991, the adidas Equipment logo was released, consisting of the three stripes and the lettering. Initially, the logo was used exclusively for the adidas Equipment series and in the newly developed sports green colour, it adorned shoes and clothing from this series. This performance logo, without lettering, just the three diagonal stripes, is still the main logo of the adidas brand today.

When Adi Dassler died in 1978, adidas was the world market leader for sporting goods. In 1989, adidas ceded this position to the US brand Nike, as the demand for jogging and running articles in particular had been underestimated. In the same year, adidas was transformed into a public limited company and between 1990 and 1992, the remaining members of the Dassler family sold their majority shareholding. This was the first time since its foundation that the company was no longer owned by the Dassler family. After various changes of ownership and questionable management decisions, adidas regained its former strength at the beginning of the 2000s and has consolidated its second place as the most successful sporting goods manufacturer to date.

adidas and its collaboration partners

As a sporting goods manufacturer, it is only natural to enter into collaborations with successful athletes. The German national football team and its players, successful track and field athletes or other sportswomen and men, adidas has always offered the best equipment for them. adidas is also aware of the charisma of many athletes and this sometimes goes far beyond sport and is only too gladly used for advertising purposes. From Franz Beckenbauer to Lionel Messi in modern times, adidas has always had the best athletes under contract.

We have already mentioned that adidas also quickly entered the lifestyle sector. By the 1980s at the latest, sneakers and training jackets were also being worn by non-athletes. adidas recognized the potential of the American sportswear market and adidas USA was founded in 1986. By this time, the adidas Superstar had gone from technical basketball sneaker to street fashion. The brand's cult status was confirmed when US Hip-Hop group Run DMC began wearing adidas as part of their signature look. Their love of adidas trainers was immortalized in the song "My adidas". adidas itself only found out about this fondness when an employee attended a Run DMC concert and saw them lift their adidas shoes into the air in front of 40,000 fans. This event kicked off the first ever advertising deal between a music group and a sports company and started a lifelong relationship that continues to this day. This was to be the cornerstone for many other musicians who worked with adidas in the years that followed. In the early 2000s, Missy Elliot was regularly dressed from head to toe in adidas and had her own collection of clothing and sneakers. Beyonce and her label Ivy Park had a partnership and several apparel and sneaker releases. All this long-standing relationship between hip-hop and adidas culminated in the release of the first adidas Yeezy model in 2015. Rapper Kanye West left competitor Nike shortly before and was allowed to release the first sneakers with his label Yeezy. The adidas Yeezy Boost 750 was the first model from the collaboration between West and adidas. In the following six years, more than 200 colorways for 19 different models were released. The Yeezy Boost 350 in its variants is one of the most successful models in the series. Speaking of success, the collaboration paid off for both parties; no collaboration between a non-athlete and a brand has ever been as financially successful as the one between adidas and Kanye West. The collaboration came to an abrupt end when KW's disturbing statements and ever-increasing faux pas forced adidas to terminate the joint contract.

Overkill x adidas

While we're on the subject of collaborations, we can't forget our own! Overkill and adidas have a long-standing partnership that has been celebrated in some ground-breaking sneaker collaborations in addition to selling the general products. Starting with the adidas Equipment Racing "Taxi" which was released in 2015. It continued with the EQT Support ADV and the EQT Support Future in 2017, two models that were to lead the legendary Equipment series into the future. 2017 also saw the launch of the Consortium Sneaker Exchange program, which focused on two Wmns models. Another pioneering project was realized with the AM4 Overkill from the adidas Speedfactory. This was followed in 2019 by the global market launch of the adidas ZX 10,000, a model that expanded the adidas ZX series. True to the motto: I can if I want, we have combined a pair and a single shoe in one big box, this kind of marketing is still a milestone from
Overkill. In the same year, the "Game Overkill" followed, another adidas ZX 10K inspired by the Game Boy. In 2021, the adidas CSG 91 got an Overkill makeover. The model is a hybrid of three different sneakers from the adidas Equipment series. The continuation of the adidas AZX series led to the extremely loud and graffiti-inspired adidas ZX 8500, another hybrid model released in 2021. However, we celebrated our 20th anniversary with a little delay but three times. The "Anniversary Pack" consisted of the adidas ZX 6000, Equipment Guidance and the Y2K Running model Spiritain. The Overkill x adidas ZX 8000 Heimspiel was released as the last model for the time being and in the course of the European Football Championship. A declaration of love for football and inspired by the jerseys and the national colors. It will be interesting to see what else adidas and Overkill come up with together in the future.

75 years of adidas, a time full of highs and also a few lows, full of records and innovative milestones. Happy birthday adidas and here's to a bright future!

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