Adidas

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Adidas AG (German: [ˈʔadiˌdas]; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike.[1]

Adidas was founded by Adolf “Adi” Dassler on August 18, 1949, in Herzogenauch, Germany. The company now also headquartered there and Adidas product products are traditionally marked with a three-stripe trademark, which remains an element in the company’s newer “trefoil” and “mountain” logos.[2][3]

By 2018, Adidas operates 1190 stores worldwide with 57,019 employees in total. Adidas successfully generates their revenue to €21.915 billion.[4]

Controversy

On May 30, 2020, Adidas posted a solidarity post towards Black Lives Matter movement on their official Instagram account, and soon was called out by their employees. Julia Bond, who is black and works as an assistant designer at Adidas, pointed out that the solidarity statement contrasts sharply with the culture inside the company’s North American headquarters in Portland, Oregon. In an interview, she explained that others at Adidas have had many quiet conversations about racism, but they have only spoken out anonymously and taken little action for fear of reprisal.[5]

The feud got bigger as on June 2, 2020, a 13-member coalition representing over 100 employees from the company's North American and German headquarters sent a 32-page deck to North American leadership titled "Our State of Emergency," which outlined a series of requests from the company to recognize and respond to racial injustices, with hard deadlines for each.[6]

Four demands, or "asks," were outlined in the document with various subsections. These asks include:

• Invest in Black employees.

• Invest in Black communities.

• Invest in the fight for racial justice and change for Black people.

• Be accountable.

The document gave timelines for certain asks as well. For example, the document requested a 31% representation of Black and Latinx people at every level of the company by December 31 and an end to the limiting of career advancement for Black employees immediately.[7]

As a response to the feud, Karen Parkin, Adidas’ Global Head of Human Resources announced that she will step down from her position and quit the company. In a statement issued by the world’s second largest sportswear maker Parkin said that she had always stood against racism and had “decided to retire and pave the way for change.”[8]

Reference