It is virtually difficult to imagine that the well-known three stripes originally belonged to a separate firm before they were adopted by Adidas since the Adidas emblem is so widely recognised and used.
Adidas Slogan
- Forever sports.
The significance and the past
When Adolf Dassler began creating athletic shoes in the laundry room of his home in Herzogenaurach, Germany, he probably didn’t even have the remotest idea that he was laying the groundwork for what would become one of the most successful sports companies in the world.
Rudolf, his elder brother, began working with him the next year in 1924. Their items eventually became well-known, which contributed to their success. By the time World War II had begun, Adolf and Rudolf had sold around 200,000 pairs of shoes per year.
What exactly is an Adidas?
The legendary sportswear manufacturer Adidas was founded in Germany in the year 1924. The company’s headquarters are located in Herzogenaurach. Today, the business is widely regarded as the biggest maker of sports fashion in Europe and the world’s second-largest sportswear brand overall.
After the brothers severed their ties with one another in 1947, each of them established his own business. Rudolf Dassler established a business under the name Ruda, while his brother Adolf registered Adidas AG. Although both brothers came up with the names for their businesses using the identical strategy (combining the initial letters of their given names and their family names), Adi’s acronym ended up being more successful, while Ruda’s name was changed to Puma rather quickly.
1924
Dassler, the second name of the company’s co-founders, was used in the first version of the company’s logo. You might see a boot being carried by a bird if you looked down below (the emblem probably was supposed to show how light the boots were). A shield was put over the design to protect it.
1949
The name “Adidas” wasn’t utilised for the corporation until after it had already been divided into two distinct businesses. The name of the firm was originally a part of the Adidas emblem. The shoe was being “held” by the extended ends of the “D’s.” Above it was emblazoned with the name of the company’s founder, Adolf Dassler.
1950
The only thing that was left was the company’s name. It was presented in white and contained inside a rectangle that had rounded sides. The points on the “a’s” became more acute as they progressed.
1967
The ends of the letters “s” became longer, the dot was changed into a square, and the sharp ends of the letters “a” were removed and replaced with ordinary ones. The overall feel of the design grew more weighty. This wordmark is still used often to this day.
1971
The addition of the trefoil, sometimes known as the trefoil, was made in addition to the wordmark. In addition to the three stripes that have become synonymous with Adidas products, the brand introduced a fourth stripe that was meant to illustrate the breadth of the company’s offerings. The Adidas Originals brand continues to utilise this particular iteration of the logo.
1991
The designer enhanced the emblem’s strength and weight while preserving its classic three-stripe configuration. The stripes became more distinct and began to alternate directions. Although it was first designed for the Adidas Equipment range, you may find this variation on goods from the Performance line. The original version was made for the Equipment range.
2002
In this instance, the three stripes take on an appearance that is lighter and more elegant. They are arranged in a circle that is black, and the name of the brand is put below them. Utilized throughout the Adidas Style product line.
2005
This particular Adidas emblem is the one that is used most often. The stripes that have become synonymous with adidas are positioned to the left of the brand’s name written in lowercase.
Previous mark (Three stripes)
How did the three stripes that have been an integral part of the Adidas logo for the past seventy years make their debut on the products of a different company?
In the 1940s, a Finnish firm known as Karhu Sports produced footwear that was decorated with three stripes. Adolf Dassler made the decision to purchase the item because he was so impressed by the pattern and the way it appeared on the sides of the shoes. Because of the impact that World War II had on Karhu Sports’ finances, the company’s owner ultimately consented to sell the trademark to the symbol in exchange for the American dollar equivalent of €1,600 and two bottles of whiskey. Adolf Dassler at this point began branding the sides of the footwear that his firm made with the iconic three stripes.
Following the conclusion of the Summer Olympics in 1952, the logo first appeared on a pair of Adidas shoes. Dassler himself was head over heels in love with the logo and even referred to his business as “The three stripes company.” [Citation needed]
Who was the creative mind behind the Adidas logo?
Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler
Nobody knows who came up with the idea for the three-stripe logo at first, hence no one knows who created it. The creator of the firm, Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler, purchased the symbol from a brand called Karhu Sports that is no longer in business. Dassler was also responsible for the selection of the trefoil emblem that was introduced in 1971.
However, it wasn’t the only logo that the brand used. For use in print and marketing materials, a second logo that is more intricate was designed. This image shows a pair of athletic shoes with the words “adidas sportschuhe” written below them and “Adolf Dassler” written above them. The shoe was wedged in there somewhere between the protruding points of the “d”s. The organisation decided to use one of the strong variations of the typeface known as ITC Avant Garde Gothic.
In addition to that, we shouldn’t forget to talk about the variant of the three stripes motif that was introduced in 1962. It was around this time that the now-iconic tracksuits with stripes running down the arms and legs were first worn. It goes without saying that tracksuits like these have achieved legendary status and may still be purchased today.
Trefoil symbol
The so-called Trefoil was shown to the public for the first time by the corporation in 1971, just in time for the Olympic Games to be held in Munich. It incorporated the instantly recognisable three stripes into three different forms that resembled leaves. Below it, the word “adidas” was written in a font that was a little bit different.
One of the reasons why the brand would want to change the previous Adidas logo was because the firm was seeking to emphasise how much it had expanded since Adolf Dassler started it in 1948. This was one of the reasons why the brand would want to change the old Adidas logo. However, the company hasn’t completely done away with the old emblem; in fact, you may find it on some of the products they sell even now. For instance, the Trefoil logo is used on the Originals line of footwear and apparel, including the Pharrell Williams Tennis Hu shoes and the California t-shirt, both of which include the designer’s name.
Mountain emblem
At the close of the 1980s, the corporation began looking at various methods that would allow it to modernise its brand identity. This was a dilemma, however, since the logo needed to maintain its ability to be recognised at a glance and have some semblance of its relationship to the famous trefoil that came before it. This might have been the reason why there was a delay of up to seven years between the time that the logo was conceived in 1990 and the time that it was shown to the public in 1997. (1997).
After this, the three bars were arranged so that they were vertical, and then they were rotated by 30 degrees to form a mountain. The idea of a mountain was utilised to symbolise the doggedness with which an athlete approaches his sport, as well as his singularity of purpose and commitment to reaching his goals. By doing so, the corporation was attempting to convey the idea that the gear wearing the mountain emblem was created with the purpose of assisting individuals in accomplishing their lofty ambitions.
Taking into account the Adidas meaning that was discussed earlier, it was only logical that the emblem was first employed as a sport logo, which means that it was exclusively put on sporting equipment. However, over the course of time, it earned the position of the standard logo across all clothes.
Horizontal stripes
The passage of time made it very clear that a new company logo was required. Again, a whole new impression was generated with nothing more than a simple rearrangement of the recognisable stripes. At this point, the black stripes have been arranged in a horizontal fashion. Their lengths were also altered: the line that ran along the bottom was the longest, the line that ran along the top was the smallest (approximately one-third of the length of the longest line), and the one that ran down the middle was twice as long as the line that ran along the bottom. The wordmark insignia, which was put next to the stripe pattern, seems to have been left unaltered.
Alternate formulations
Since there is more than one logo in use by the firm these days, the logo that appears on the shirt depends on the range to which it belongs. For example, the Adidas Style Essentials line, which focuses on the fashion industry, often employs the logo in which the recognisable three stripes are arranged inside a form resembling a circle. This particular range is known as “Style Essentials.”
In addition, in anticipation of the Olympic Games in 2008, the corporation introduced a new logo, which consisted of a mashup of the trefoil sign and the Olympic flame.
Who was the designer behind the logo?
Although the company has not disclosed the names of all of the team members, we do know that Peter Moore, one of the most influential names in the athletic footwear industry, served as the Global Creative Director at Adidas during the time that the Three Bars Adidas logo was being developed. This is something that we know despite the fact that the company has not revealed the names of all of the team members. He was a significant contributor to the overall idea.
Moore has more than thirty years of expertise in the field of sportswear. He was one of the people who was instrumental in Nike achieving its present position and became the company’s first global creative director at the same time. After conceiving the original design for the Air Jordan shoe with his coworker Rob Strasser in the middle of the 1980s, he left the firm to co-found a sports marketing company called Sports Inc. located in Portland. Rob Strasser was one of his colleagues. Additionally, as a consequence of his collaboration with Rob Strasser, Adidas America Inc. was established in Portland, and Moore was promoted to the position of Worldwide Creative Director at the company.
Font
The selection of font seems to be a wonderful match for the streamlined, even austere brand identity that is typical of Adidas. Since the establishment of the business in 1949, when ITC Avant Garde Gothic was chosen to serve as the foundation for the company’s logo.
There has been some experimentation with the intricacies of the form of the letters and their weight in the Adidas symbol. This experimentation has included playing around with the shape of the letters. Later versions were more daring than the ones that came before them; the “a’s” had a slightly altered top right end, and in 1971, the dot that was supposed to be above the I became a square instead of a circle. Additionally, beginning in 1971, the proportions of the letters “d” became more comparable to those of the letters “a.” However, the glyphs’ fundamental structure and the manner in which they were arranged remained unchanged throughout this process. Because of this, the overarching impression that one gets remains completely unchanged. If you do not examine the several iterations of the logo side by side, it will be almost impossible for you to distinguish between the variants of the logo’s typography.
Color
The major logo of the corporation has maintained an extraordinarily constant colour palette throughout the company’s history. Since the beginning of the firm’s operations, the corporation has always used the black logo against the white backdrop. It is only normal for a designer to have to alter the colour of the symbol each time since this sort of emblem is put on a broad variety of items that are a variety of colours. However, this is the type of emblem that is placed on products.
In the case of a white logo on a black backdrop, for example, this seems like a perfectly suitable choice. In addition to that, it is often seen on garments of a wide variety of other hues, including blue and dark purple. The official Brand Guidelines for the firm now describe this version of the logo as an obsolete one, despite the fact that at one point in time the corporation made considerable use of a blue logo. In addition, the agreement prohibits making any changes to the colour scheme of the insignia, such as giving it a violet or a green hue.
