60 years of adidas
As we celebrate our 60th anniversary on August 18, 2009, we are looking back on the greatest moments athletes celebrated in 3-Stripes. But at the same time, we are looking forward. The passion and spirit of our founder still lives on in adidas employees around the world today and all of us strive to create the perfect equipment for every athlete so that they can achieve their dreams. Because to us Impossible is Nothing.
Download the pdf file with 60 amazing stories from 60 years of adidas...
...or read some of our highlight stories here:
On August 18th, 1949, Adi Dassler first registered adidas in the commercial register (Handelsregister) in Fürth (near Herzogenaurach). The official name of the company back then was “Adolf Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik”. First used in 1949, the 3-Stripes would not stay confined to their birthplace Herzogenaurach but started their victory lap around the world early on to become the most famous symbol and key identifier of adidas.
We still refer to the 1954 World Cup as the Miracle of Bern for so many reasons: Germany, crushed after World War II, had more pressing matters to deal with than a football tournament in Switzerland. But in the end, it was exactly what the country needed.
Facing the unbeatable Hungarians in the final, a victory seemed out of reach for the underdog Germany. Enter Adi. A close friend of team coach Sepp Herberger, he provided the players with a whole new boot made out of thinner, lighter leather and with screw-in studs. While the Hungarians struggled during the rainy final wearing heavy rain-soaked boots with studs too short to find a grip on the muddy field, the German team went on to score the game-deciding goal with more grip and a better feel for the ball.
For Germany, the victory brought new confidence, for adidas and Adi Dassler the innovative football boots brought international recognition and a market leadership in the football business.
Adi Dassler extended his company’s portfolio in 1963 when he developed the first adidas football. Called Santiago, it was made up of 18 leather panels and used as a “back-up ball” for the 1966 World Cup in England. However, it wouldn’t take long until the first official World Cup ball called Telstar was produced in 1970.
When you are already wearing a shoe called “Weltrekord” (World Record) for your competition, you might as well fulfil its destiny. Bob Beamon’s legendary long jump into history took place under dark cloudy skies in Mexico City during the Olympic Games in 1968. Beamon took off like a missile, hanging impossibly long in the air and landed well beyond expectation – and the measurement tape. After organisers hastily got an additional tape to the long jump pitch, the unbelievable World Record of 8.90m, which would stand for 23 years, was confirmed - and a shoe’s destiny fulfilled.
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. Who doesn’t know Muhammad Ali’s famous quote? And a special fighter needs a special shoe: In December 1970, Ali was fighting Argentinean boxer Oscar Bonavena in New York’s Madison Square Garden. For this fight, Ali asked adidas to produce a special boxing shoe only 24 hours before the fight started. Ali was dreaming of a shoe inspired by outfits featuring tassels worn by elegantly moving female dancers. The solution: a unique 3-striped boot with red tassels. Needless to say that these boots called Ali-Shuffle were the talk of the town after the fight.
The first adidas tennis leather shoe was created in collaboration with Robert Haillet, a retired French player, providing more support, thus preventing twisted ankles and other slip injuries. In 1971, the shoe was renamed to Stan Smith as Stan was the world's No. 1 ranked tennis player at that time. The shoe became a smash hit with players and was even worn by Stan’s opponents.
At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10. And while it’s impossible to top perfection, Nadia was able to equal it with six more perfect scores during those Games. It is because of her amazing performance that scoreboards are equipped to display a four-digit 10.00.
In 1986, Run-DMC came out with their song “my adidas”. Their motivation to write a song about adidas sneakers, namely the Superstar, came about after a prominent member of Run-DMC’s Hollis, Queens neighbourhood, Dr. Dees, wrote in one of his editorials that people wearing the adidas sneakers, new Lee Jeans and gold chains were felons. With the song "my adidas", Run-DMC not only made these sneakers culturally acceptable, but also turned them into a true fashion statement.
The Olympic Gold Medal, Wimbledon, the French Open, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open… in two words: the Golden Slam. Stefanie Graf is the only one player in tennis history to have achieved it. And she won them all wearing adidas. Throughout her illustrious career, Stefanie was the No.1 world-ranked female player for a record 377 total weeks – the longest of any player, male or female, since rankings began. Deservedly so, in December 1999, she was named the greatest female tennis player of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by the Associated Press.
Up until 1989, critical requirements such as cushion, support and guidance were all combined into one shoe. With the TORSION® era came different shoes designed specifically for different types of running styles and runners: the ZX 7000 for guidance, the ZX 8000 for cushion and the ZX 9000 for support.
As the first biomechanical shoe, the ZX 8000’s unique TORSION® technology worked with the foot’s natural ability to have an independent motion of the heel and the forefoot to better adapt to the ground and create greater stability and control. Runners appreciated the fact they had more flexibility and comfort.
If you want to become adidas’ best-selling football boot, you have to bring it all to the table. The Predator®, first introduced for the 1994 World Cup in the US, featured rippled fins which gave players more control, more power and more swerve on the ball. In combination with the new Traxion technology on the outsole, the Predator® was the biggest revolution in football boot design since the 1954 football boot. For the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, the Predator® will go into its 10th generation.
Ever heard of a shoe that “comes to life”? Until 2005, neither had anyone else. With the introduction of the adidas_1, adidas took sport electronics and personalisation to a new level. The first intelligent shoe not only senses every step you take, but understands that your cushioning needs change with faster or slower speed and the different surfaces of the ground - and adapts the cushioning respectively. What’s in it for you? The most personalised run of your life.
For the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany, adidas revolutionised the football world once again and introduced Teamgeist™, the first 14-panel configuration reducing the amount of three-panel touch points by 60% and the total length of the panel lines by over 15%, forming a smooth and perfectly round exterior allowing players significant improvements in accuracy and control. The not-so-secret star of the four-week tournament also proved to be aptly named: “Teamgeist” is based on the single most decisive characteristic every team needs to have in order to lift the trophy: it is the German word for team spirit.
2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the iconic 3-Stripes brand. In keeping with this important milestone, adidas unveiled its largest global brand campaign ever for adidas Originals called “60 Years of Soles and Stripes”. The campaign was set against the backdrop of a house party hosting an electric mix of people from the worlds of music, fashion and sport.
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