How Adidas Earned Its Stripes

The Adidas story began in 1924, when brothers Adolf (Adi) and Rudolf Dassler founded the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik in Herzogenaurach, Germany, where they made athletic shoes by hand. Their footwear first gained international attention at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where the USA Team sprinter Jesse Owens wore the brothers' spiked track shoes to win the Gold medal in the 100 metres. 

Following their famous falling out, the Dassler brothers split the company in 1949. Adi formed Adidas, a combination of his nickname and part of his surname. Meanwhile Rudolf went on to found Puma. Today their rivalry continues and their head offices still keep tabs on each other from across the river in their old hometown in Bavaria. 

Adidas three-stripe logo, which Adi trademarked in 1949, is now one of the most recognisable symbols in the world, which is reflected in the value of Adidas’ brand - currently around $50 billion NZD! 

Adidas has always viewed innovation as a mainstay of its brand. Adidas come up with the revolutionary replaceable screw-in studs for football boots that helped West Germany win the 1954 World Cup final. The game was unexpectedly held in the rain, and the German team was able to swap the short studs for longer ones that gave them much better traction than their opposition. Winning as massive underdogs, this game was dubbed the ‘Miracle of Bern,’ and much of it is thanks to Adidas.  

Today, Adidas is the world's second largest sportswear manufacturer, known for blending its innovative high-performance technology with fashion. It makes many collaborations with athletes and fashion brands and has a vast global product range – some of which is available now at Outside Sports stores in Te Anau, Queenstown, Arrowntown, Wanak, and Tekapo and from our online store. 

The key part of the Adidas range at Outside Sports for winter 2026 is their all-new Terrex shoes.

The Adidas Terrex range includes fast, technical trail running shoes to water-proof all day companions for long-distance hiking over difficult terrain. 

You can read about them in detail in our write up, and try them on for size at our stores.