Adidas AG

http://www.all-keyboard.com/,http://www.laptopfan-shop.com/,http://www.laptop-fan-shop.com/ Adidas AG (German pronunciation: [ˈadiˌdas]) is a German multinational corporation that designs and manufacturers sports clothing and accessories based in Herzogenaurach, Germany. It is the holding company for the adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company (including Ashworth), and Rockport. Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery Besides sports footwear, Adidas also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear, and other sports- and clothing-related goods. Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Germany and Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world.^[3] Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf Dassler, following the split of Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik between him and his older brother Rudolf. Rudolf later established Puma, which was the early rival of Adidas. Registered in 1949, Adidas is currently based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, along with Puma. Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo.^[4][5] The company revenue for 2010 was listed at €11.99 billion. Christoph Von Wilhelm Dassler was a worker in a shoe factory, while his wife Pauline ran a small laundry in the city from the city of Nuremberg. Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery After leaving school, their son, [Rudolf Dassler]Rudolf "Rudi" Dassler, joined his father at the shoe factory. When he returned from fighting in World War I, Rudolf received a management position at a factory, and later in a leather wholesale business in Nuremberg. Adolf "Adi" Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria after his return from World War I. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery In July 1924, his brother Rudolf returned to Herzogenaurach to join his younger brother's business, which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered. The pair started the venture in their mother's laundryPerennial|year=2009|location=New York| but, at the time, electricity supplies in the town were unreliable, and the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment. Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery By the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owensto use them, the first sponsorship for an African American. Following Owens's haul of four gold medals, his success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery Letters from around the world landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year before World War II.title=How Adidas and was born Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party than Adolf. Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery During the war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in 1943, when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in: "The dirty bastards are back again", Adi said, referring to the Allied war planes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family. Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery After Rudolf was later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, he was convinced that his brother had turned him in.^[7] The Dassler factory, used for production of anti-tank weapons during the war, was nearly destroyed by US forces in April 1945, but was spared when Adi Dassler's wife, Käthe, Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery convinced the GIs that the company and its employees were only interested in manufacturing sports shoes. American occupying forces subsequently became major buyers of the Dassler brothers' shoes.^[8] The brothers split up in 1947,^[6] with Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda – from Rudolf Dassler, Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery later rebranded Puma, and Adi forming a company formally registered as Adidas AG from Adi Dassler on 18 August 1949. Although it is popularly claimed that the name is an acronym for All Day I Dream About Sport, that phrase is a backronym; the name is actually a portmanteau formed from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").^[1] Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery Puma and Adidas entered a fierce and bitter rivalry after the split. The town of Herzogenaurach was divided on the issue, leading to the nickname "the town of bent necks"—people looked down to see which shoes strangers wore.^[9] Even the town's two football clubs were divided: ASV Herzogenaurach club supported Adidas, while 1 FC Herzogenaurach endorsed Rudolf's footwear.^[7] Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery When handymen were called to Rudolf's home, they would deliberately wear Adidas shoes. Rudolf would tell them to go to the basement and pick out a pair of free Pumas.^[7] The two brothers never reconciled, and although both are buried in the same cemetery, they are spaced apart as far as possible. Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery In 1948, the first football match after World War II, several members of the West German national football team wore Puma boots, including the scorer of West Germany's first post-war goal, Herbert Burdenski. Four years later, at the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1500 metres runner Josy Barthel of Luxembourg won Puma's first Olympic gold in Helsinki, Finland. Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery At the 1960 Summer Olympics Puma paid German sprinter Armin Hary to wear Pumas in the 100 metre sprint final. Hary had worn Adidas before and asked Adolf for payment, but Adidas rejected this request. The German won gold in Pumas, but then laced up Adidas for the medals ceremony, to the shock of the two Dassler brothers. Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery Hary hoped to cash in from both, but Adi was so enraged he banned the Olympic champion. After a period of trouble following the death of Adolf Dassler's son Horst Dassler in 1987, the company was bought in 1989 by French industrialist Bernard Tapie, for ₣1.6 billion (now €243.9 million), which Tapie borrowed. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery Tapie was at the time a famous specialist of rescuing bankrupt companies, an expertise on which he built his fortune. Tapie decided to move production offshore to Asia. He also hired Madonna for promotion. He sent, from Christchurch, New Zealand, a shoe sales representative to Germany and met Adolf Dassler's descendants (Amelia Randall Dassler and Bella Beck Dassler) and was sent back with a few items to promote the company there. Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery In 1992, unable to pay the loan interest, Tapie mandated the Crédit Lyonnais bank to sell Adidas, and the bank subsequently converted the outstanding debt owed into equity of the enterprise, which was unusual as per the prevalent French banking practice. Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery The state-owned bank had tried to get Tapie out of dire financial straits as a personal favour to Tapie, it is reported, because Tapie was Minister of Urban Affairs (ministre de la Ville) in the French government at the time. In February 1993, Crédit Lyonnais sold Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a friend of Bernard Tapie for a much higher amount of money than what Tapie owed, 4.485 billion (€683.514 million) francs rather than 2.85 billion (€434.479 million). Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery They also purposely bankrupted Tapie's company that owned Adidas, because only the company had the right to sue them. Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the new CEO of the company. He was also the president of Olympique de Marseille, a team Tapie had owned until 1993. Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery Tapie filed for personal bankruptcy in 1994. He was the object of several lawsuits, notably related to match fixing at the football club. During 1997, he served 6 months of an 18-month prison sentence in La Santé prison in Paris. In 1994, combined with FIFA Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages became the main beneficiary. Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in ski wear, and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the Taylormade Golf company and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf. Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA over their rules limiting the size and number of commercial logos on team uniforms and clothing. Adidas withdrew the suit, and the two groups established guidelines as to what three-stripe designs would be considered uses of the Adidas trademark. Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery In 2003, Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World Trading's use of a two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court ruled that despite the simplicity of the mark, Fitness World 's use was infringing because the public could establish a link between that use and Adidas's mark.^[11] Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery In September 2004, top English fashion designer Stella McCartney launched a joint-venture line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the corporation. This line is a sports performance collection for women called "Adidas by Stella McCartney",^[12] and it has been critically acclaimed.^[13] Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company Salomon Group for €485m to Amer Sports of Finland. In August 2005, Adidas declared its intention to buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion (US$). This takeover was completed with partnership in January 2006^[1] and meant that the company would have business sales closer to those of Nike in North America. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery The acquisition of Reebok would also allow Adidas to compete with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world.^[14] Adidas has global corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business locations around the world such as Portland OR, Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan, England, Japan, Australia, and Spain. Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots of assets from these countries and is expanding to more oversea countries.In 2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to use a microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe", it features a microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per second that automatically adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its environment. Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery The shoe requires a small, user-replaceable battery that lasts for approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November 2005, Adidas released a new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning, allowing the shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more torque. Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the official NBA clothing provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and WNBA jerseys and products as well as team-coloured versions of the "Superstar" basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million) takes the place of the previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001. Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar Salvation 3, the adiStar Ride 3 (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the Supernova Sequence 4 (the replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the Supernova Glide 3, among others.^{[dated info]} In addition, their performance clothing is widely used by runners. Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make their more expensive shoes. One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment. Adidas remain a major company in the supply of team kits for international football teams. Adidas also makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the world. Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport, with notable examples including the 1979 release of the Copa Mundialmoulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches. It holds the accolade of the best selling boot of all time. The soft-ground equivalent was named World Cup and it too remains on the market, timeless and iconic. Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery Some of the most famous football teams are currently sponsored by Adidas. Adidas became renowned for advancing the Predator boot design developed by ex-Liverpool and Australian international playerCraig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the ball when struck; Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more easily when wearing this new contoured design.The Predator also features the Craig Johnston-invented Traxion sole. FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs for use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery The balls supplied for the 2006 World Cup, the Teamgeist, were particular noteworthy for their ability to travel further than previous types when struck, leading to longer range goal strikes that were intended to increase the number of goals scored.Goalkeepers were believed to be less comfortable with the design, claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight. Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery Adidas also introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was designed and developed by Loughborough University in conjunction with Chelsea FC. It received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for being too hard to control.The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many shots and passes being over hit. Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery The Jabulani was widely blamed for the low numbers of long range goals or even remotely accurate attempts in the opening stage of the tournament. In Germany, Adidas sponsors the German national team and Bundesliga clubs Bayern Munich, Schalke, Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen, and VfL Wolfsburg. Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery Current footballers that Adidas officially endorses includes (but is not limited to): Mats Hummels, Lionel Messi, Nani, Shinji Kagawa, Daniele De Rossi, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Salomon Kalou, Kaká, Xabi Alonso, David Villa, Jermain Defoe, Steven Gerrard, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Tobias Hysén,Dimitar Berbatov, Alessandro Del Piero, Xavi, Atsuto Uchida, Hiroshi Kiyotake, and Karim Benzema. Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery As well as the aforementioned Predator boot, Adidas also manufacture the F50 and adiPure range of football boots. Adidas also provides clothing and equipment for all teams in Major League Soccer. They are also set to produce kits for Premier League giants Arsenal from 2014. Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets. Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model.^[17] Adidas sponsors the following professional players with mainly clothing and footwear: Ana Ivanović, Andy Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin, Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik, Fernando Verdasco, Marcos Baghdatis, Gilles Simon, Fernando González, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and Sorana Cîrstea. Adidas tennis clothing contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.^[18] In November 2009 World Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's highest paid star with a 5 year contract reported to be worth $24.5m. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery Players sponsored by Adidas can take advantage of the Adidas Player Improvement Program, where the company provides coaches, fitness trainers and sports psychologists to players in order to further their careers. The program includes legendary coaches such as Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld. In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis Tournament in Mason, they have also sponsored the ball-boy and ball-girl uniforms. Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery Adidas Golf is part of Adidas, a German-based sports clothing manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists ofReebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company, and Rockport. The Adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry offering a wide range of products around the three core segments of Adidas, Reebok, and TaylorMade-Adidas Golf. Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery Adidas Golf sells and manufactures Adidas-brand golf clothing, footwear, and accessories. In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in alpine ski wear, and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the TaylorMade Golf company and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf. Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery Salomon sold its controlling interest in TaylorMade and its other sports equipment companies to global giant Adidas AG. In 1998, Adidas Golf USA moved its business operations from Tualatin, Oregon, to the Carlsbad, California headquarters of TaylorMade Golf, acquired by Adidas-Salomon. Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery Adidas Golf USA had thirty employees to relocate. Carlsbad is also the headquarters of one of its primary competitors, Callaway Golf Company. In 1999, TaylorMade and AdidasGolf USA, were merged into a new company—called TaylorMade-Adidas Golf—with world headquarters in Carlsbad. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery Mark King was named president of the company he had begun his career with in 1981 as a sales representative after a short stint as vice president of sales and marketing at Callaway Golf Ball Co. in 1998. In November 2008, Ashworth (clothing) became a wholly owned subsidiary of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf, complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of Adidas Golf. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery Adidas Golf sells clothing, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer and eyewear. Women's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, outerwear, base layers, and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and girls footwear, clothing, and eyewear. Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery In the 1990s, Adidas signed world's iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar of India and made shoes for him.^[20] Tendulkar still wears Adidas shoes while playing matches. Since 2008, Adidas has sponsored the cricket bat used by Sachin Tendulkar. It created a new bat, 'Adidas MasterBlaster Elite', personalized for him. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery In 2008, Adidas made their move into English cricket market by sponsoring English batting star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they ran into financial difficulties.^[21] The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan opening batsman Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery Having made cricket footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in 2008. Now the range includes Pellara, Incurza, Libro and M-Blaster. Currently the sponsored cricketers include Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery Adidas manufactures uniforms for the England cricket team. Adidas signed with Cricket South Africa in 2011 and the uniforms worn by South African Cricket Team during and after the Cricket World Cup 2011 will be manufactured by the German giant.^[22]The Australia cricket team were previously sponsored by Adidas till late 2011. Now they also sponsor the South Korea national cricket team. Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas are the official apparel sponsor for the teams Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors India.^[23][24] Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one of the leading basketball brands in the world. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery They are most famous for their late 1960s iconic Superstar and Pro Model shoes, affectionately known as "shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box.These were made very popular in the 1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas's stripe-sided polyester suits.Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger) and sponsors numerous players past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Quincy Pondexter,Brandon Knight, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith and Tim Duncan. Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery Adidas endorsed Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment KB8 as his first signature shoe until July 2002.^[25] The company also endorsed Kevin Garnett until he opted out of his contract in 2010.^[26] Gilbert Arenas was an Adidas endorser until 2010.^[27] In 2007, Adidas announced the future production of lacrosse equipment, Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery and will sponsor the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic in July 2008 for the top 600 high school underclassmen lacrosse players in the United States.^[28] Adidas makes rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit and ball supplier to the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, the French National Team Les Bleus, Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery the Italian national rugby team and the South African Stormers andWestern Province rugby union teams among others. Adidas are also the official match ball supplier to the Heineken Cup. Since 2000, Adidas has provided men's and women's gymnastics wear for Team USA, through USA Gymnastics. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery In 2006, Adidas gymnastics leotards for women and Adidas men's comp shirts, gymnastics pants and gymnastics shorts have been available in the USA, with seasonal leotards offered for Spring, Summer, Fall and Holidays. Starting in 2009, Adidas gymnastics wear has been available worldwide through GK Elite Sportswear. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery Adidas, like other sports brands, is believed to engender high consumer brand loyalty. Brand loyalty towards Adidas, Nike, Inc., Puma AG and several other sportswear brands was examined in a recent study.^[35] The study found consumers did not exhibit unduly high loyalty towards such brands. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery During the mid to late 1990s, Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a separate focus: Adidas Performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the athlete; Adidas Originals was designed to focus on fashion and life-style; and Style Essentials, with the main group within this one being Y-3. Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery "Adidas is all in" is the current global marketing strategy for Adidas. The slogan aims to tie all brands and labels together, presenting a unified image to consumers interested in sports, fashion, street, music and pop culture. "Impossible is Nothing" was the previous mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery This campaign was developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work being done by TBWA/Chiat/Day in San Francisco – particularly for its basketball campaign "Believe In Five".TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned Zane Peach^[36] to produce images for 2007 international ad campaign. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery Unhappy with the local price of the Adidas replica All Blacks jersey, New Zealand-based All Blacks fans have asked for price cuts and begun purchasing the jersey from overseas vendors after it was revealed that the local price of $NZ220 was more than twice the price offered on some websites.^[39] Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery Adidas has responded by enforcing cross-border agreements to stop overseas retailers from selling to New Zealand residents. It has been labelled a public relations disaster by leading New Zealand PR firms and Consumer advocate groups. The largest New Zealand sportswear retailer Rebel Sport has stated it is angry and is considering selling the All Blacks Jerseys to the general public below cost. Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery As of 9 August 2011, Rebel Sport has decided not to stock the Adidas Rugby Union Jumper.^[40] On 14 June 2012 Adidas posted on their Facebook page a picture of a pair of shoes containing shackles. The picture was of a planned shoe line that Adidas intended to release in August. The photo quickly caused controversy including that of Jessie Jackson who was quoted as saying "Sony VAIO VGN-AW110J/H Battery The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive".^[41] Jackson threatened a boycott, and NBA commissioner David Stern was at one point reportedly contacted in hopes that he would intervene.^[41]Shortly after the outcry the company canceled the product.^[41] Sony VAIO VGN-AW11M/H Battery Adidas has been criticized for operating sweatshops, particularly in Indonesia. Between 2006 and 2007, Adidas rejected many of its suppliers that supported unions for subcontractors with less reputable labor rights records.^[42] By subcontracting work to different suppliers, it is more difficult for Adidas to ensure company labor standards are enforced. Sony VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Battery