It Girl's Choice: Adidas

Adidas has grown into one of the world’s most well-loved fashion brands, with the iconic Adidas stripes seen on countless celebrities and female fashionistas. The brand’s influence and longevity make it a force to be reckoned with, after experiencing a shift in the 1980s that cemented its status as a culture and style phenomenon. By becoming synonymous with fashion innovations and pioneering trends, it has since continued to prove itself as one of the biggest staples today in any fashion girl's wardrobe.

Kate Moss photographed by Denzil Mcneelance wearing Adidas Gazelles in 1993. Available via Harper’s Bazaar © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Adidas on the Rise
Founder Adolf Dassler originally was passionate about playing sports. However, World War I resulted in him turning to cobblery instead. Together with his older brother, they registered their first company, under ‘Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Factory’, Herzogenaurach. Their shoes were used in many sporting events, including the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Olympics, before they partnered with a National Track & Field German Track Coach to ensure many athletes wore their shoes.

Following WWII, the brothers parted ways, and Dassler founded a new company of his own under ‘Adolf Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik’. According to Adidas, this was also when Dassler created the iconic three-stripe logo and trademarked it under the company’s name. Every decade since, Adidas has released new product innovations that blew the sports industry away, such as the first pair of Sambas made for athletes in the 1950s and the iconic Adidas tracksuit in the 1960s. Much of this time, Adidas was focused on producing high-quality sportswear for athletes, but this would soon change in the 1980s.

Adidas’ Popularity Reaches New Heights
The 1980s marked a monumental shift for Adidas, allowing the brand to transcend its athletic roots and begin dipping its toes into various subcultures. This started with the release of the song “My Adidas” by hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. where the group showcased the three-stripe tracksuit and Adidas Superstar sneakers in the music video. This launched the shoe’s popularity within hip-hop culture and allowed the tracksuit to become the unofficial uniform of hip-hop. The brand then struck an endorsement deal worth over a million dollars with the group, which helped the brand continue to grow in popularity.

Other celebrities followed suit, such as the rock band The Beastie Boys and rapper LL Cool J, who soon became big proponents of the tracksuit. The 1990s were an excellent decade of growth across the world for Adidas, with the Harajuku style allowing Adidas to play with fun and hyper bright tracksuits that gained them a loyal following in Japan. However, the 2000s and 2010s truly cemented Adidas’s place in culture and fashion.

Athleisure and streetwear style became prominent mainstream movements in the early 2000s, and since Adidas was already established as a brand that promoted more casual wear of its products, hero pieces like the tracksuit had a second wave of popularity. The brand developed strategic partnerships with fashion legends and brands to further implement itself into the wider fashion space, such as Yohji Yamamoto (2001), Stella McCartney (2002), Pharrell Williams (2014), and Gucci (2022).

According to ModernRetail, the brand was also one of the earliest to utilize brand ambassadors in campaigns and collaborations. Adidas’ collaboration with Kanye West on the YEEZY collection was one of their most successful, worth billions of dollars at its peak. According to Business Insider, YEEZY hit #9 on fashion search platform Lyst and fashion trade publication Business of Fashion’s annual hottest brands list in 2018, showing the influence of the collaboration’s marketing efforts mixed both culture and art. It played heavily into the male-dominated “Hypebeast” culture of the time, selling based on a mix of exclusivity while marketing to the masses. The collaboration was successful until West’s antisemitic comments and additional misconduct, which, after surmounting public pressure, resulted in Adidas dissolving the partnership entirely.

The Girls Claim Adidas
The COVID-19 pandemic forced consumers to spend time at home, catapulting athleisure to new heights. Wanting to be comfortable but still maintain a sense of personal style, many women purchased athleisure pieces from brands like Adidas to integrate into their everyday wardrobe.

The brand continued to shape the athleisure segment, with more pieces being used to dress up rather than dress down after the pandemic because of the desire to go out more. Hero items from the brand, like the Sambas, Gazelles, and athletic shorts, were effortlessly and versatilely styled with other chic garments to blend masculine and feminine styles.

Many female “It Girls,” like Bella and Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Irina Shayk, Kaia Gerber, Emily Ratajkowski, Rihanna, and Zendaya have been seen wearing Adidas pieces. This then led to the more mainstream popularity of streetwear and sportswear for women, specifically those interested in fashion and the fashion industry. Adidas became the crowning jewel of these styles, lead by social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram that increased the demand for Adidas products among women.

Model styled in Adidas trainers. Photographed by Fujio Emura for Vogue, July 2024. Available via Vogue © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

The brand has been seen in many looks over the past few fashion weeks by both “It Girls” and consumers alike, and made so much of an impact in the 2020s that the Sambas were voted the 2023 Shoe of the Year by Footwear News. Seeing Adidas on social media influencers became commonplace, too, with the brand even utilizing over 100 influencers to promote its involvement in the FIFA World Cup in 2023, according to LinkedIn.

Adidas continues to provide a blend of comfort, style, and coolness in each one of its pieces, making it a beloved brand by consumers worldwide. The brand’s ability to remain relevant so many years later in the broader fashion and cultural landscapes is widely due to its ability to adapt and innovate. Adidas can find continued future success with its growing female audience by further aligning itself with innovation, product development, and developing partnerships with “It Girls” and other fashion figures.