It ’ s the instantly recognisable brand with the three stripes . Adidas has been setting the standard in sportswear for decades but its influence in the arenas of diversity , popular culture and sustainability have been just as enduring .

Diversity and united Throughout the 1980s Adidas ’ s tracksuits and its classic ‘ Stan Smith ’ tennis shoes were subverted by Black urban communities , graffiti artists and rappers in the US , who wore them as fashion statements rather than sportswear . Realising the potential of diversifying , Adidas signed a commercial ‘ kit supplying ’ deal with hip-hop act RUN-DMC . Similar deals have been struck with Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams , cementing Adidas ’ s status as pop culture icons .

Pace setters In 1989 Adidas banned the use of CFC . Not Chelsea Football Club – whose kit it produced from 2006 to 2017 – but chlorofluorocarbons . The company does not use this ozone harming substances and many others in the production of any of its products . In 1998 it produced its Workplace Standards manifesto and , the following year , became the founding member of the Fair Labor Association .

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