Adidas just turned 65 years old, and the German athletic brand is still churning out sneakers, apparel, and sports gear. After more than six decades in the game, Adidas has amassed a huge history. And with the recent addition of Pharrell, Kanye, and Nigo to the brand's roster, there's newfound interest in the product, too.

To catch you up to speed, we compiled a list of things you should know about Adidas but might not. To test your knowledge or learn a thing or two, check them out.

1. The Stan Smith wasn't always called the Stan Smith.
We know Stan Smith, the man with the ever-present mustache, as the guy behind Adidas' most iconic tennis sneaker. But the sneaker wasn't always named after Stan, it was originally given to French tennis star Robert Haillet.

2. The Micropacer was the first sneaker to have computer technology.
It's the 30th anniversary of the Micropacer, a 1984 runner known for its computer display across the forefoot. Way before Nike was putting + chips in its sneakers, the Micropacer was letting runners know their pace and and calories burned. [via]

3. There was a place called "Adidas Park" in Boston, and you couldn't wear anything but the brand there.
According to hip-hop legend and Boston resident Ed O.G.: "We had a place called Adidas Park in Dorchester/Roxbury, and you couldn’t walk by there with any other sneakers or you’d get your sneakers taken and thrown in a tree. There was a tree full of Nikes and Pumas. It was full of everything but Adidas." [via]

4. Adidas wasn't the original name of the brand.
People know that Adi Dassler started Adidas, but his first footwear brand wasn't called that. It was founded in 1924 and known as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik. Rolls right off the tongue, huh? [via]

5. Adi Dassler's early designs were of track spikes.
Adidas and sports go hand in hand, even though the brand has a stronger lifestyle presence now. But when Dassler first started things, he—like Nike's Bill Bowerman would decades later—made shoes for track and field. [via]

6. Run DMC was given its endorsement deal after a performance at Madison Square Garden.
Run DMC and Adidas have an inseparable connection, but it's interesting how they got together in the first place. While performing at MSG in NYC, the group told the audience to hold their Adidas in the air. And they did. An Adidas exec on hand was so impressed that they offered them a $1M endorsement deal. [via]

7. Russell Simmons came up with the idea for "My Adidas" after smoking angel dust.
According to DMC, Russell was high on angel dust and ran up to Run and himself and blurted out the idea for them to rap about their sneakers. The rest is history. [via]

8. The Three Stripes are the most recognizable aspect of an Adidas sneaker, but they were put there for function.
What's an Adidas sneaker without the Three Stripes? But the brand originally put them there for stability, not style. [via]

9. The Trefoil logo is over 40 years old, but it's more than just a logo. It has a meaning.
As Adidas started to expand its business in the '60s, the brand knew it needed a logo. To represent Adidas' diversity, the Trefoil logo was created. It debuted in 1972 at the Munich Olympics. [via]

10. Jeremy Scott has a full line with Adidas Originals, but he worked with the brand way before that launched.
Jeremy Scott and Adidas have been cooking up eccentric ideas together for years, but did you know that they first worked together in 2002? The collab was on a Forum Hi printed with money which bore Scott's face. [via]

11. Adidas successfully sued Payless for $305M in 2008.
Moral of the story: Don't jack Adidas' Three Stripes by adding a fourth stripe to the equation and sell the sneakers for dirt cheap. It will cost you. [via]

12. The Superstar isn't the brand's best-selling sneaker.
It's the Stan Smith, and Adidas has sold over 40 million pairs and counting. [via]

13. Adidas gave signature sneakers to BMX riders Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist in the '90s and early '00s.
As of late, we've seen BMXers such as Nigel Sylvester get their own Nike SB collabs, but Adidas invested in the BMX scene way back in the '90s by giving riders their own sneakers. [via]

14. Nike tried to stop Adidas from selling its Primeknit sneakers in 2012.
Woven upper sneakers are the new trend. Adidas has Primeknit and Nike has Flyknit. But Nike didn't want Adidas to sell its Primeknit sneakers and took the brand to court. Thankfully, a judge reversed the early decision to ban Primeknit sneakers from being manufactured and distributed. [via]

15. Adi Dassler almost didn't make sneakers.
Before he started his shoe brand, Dassler had completed an apprenticeship as a baker. Instead, he followed in his father's footsteps and started to make shoes, too. Good thing. [via]

16. Adidas didn't become "Adidas" until 1949.
Adi started Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik with his brother, Rudolph Dassler (who eventually founded Puma), but the two split ways in 1948. After this happened, Adi formed Adidas, and made the company official the next year. [via]

17. Adidas is the parent company to Reebok, Rockport, and Taylor Made.
Further showing that Adidas has diverse interests, its brand umbrella is just as broad. [via]

18. Adidas almost went bankrupt in the early '90s.
Although we reminisce over Adidas' sneakers from this era, the brand, according to its own admission, made poor strategic decisions, and almost went broke because of it. [via]

19. The Superstar isn't just an iconic part of hip-hop, but it was also a first in basketball, too.
The Superstar was actually the first low-cut basketball sneaker with an all-leather upper, which meant it started as a technically advanced hoops shoe. [via]

20. Michael Jordan almost signed with Adidas, but he also wore the brand back in high school.
The biggest what-if in footwear history.

21. Jesse Owens wore Adidas track shoes to win gold in the 1936 Olympics.
The 1936 Summer Olympics took place in Berlin, Germany and will forever be associated with Adolf Hitler and his intentions to push the agenda of the Nazi party. But Jesse Owens, an African-American runner, won four gold medals at the games, despite Hitler trying to showcase the "superiority" of the Aryan race. And Owens did it wearing track shoes from Adidas, which were handmade in Germany by Adi Dassler.

According to Adidas, "Adi Dassler wanted his shoes to be worn by as many athletes as possible in Berlin, without distinction, but he had no marketing or promotional apparatus even to make them aware of the virtues of his products." [via]

22. The Adidas EQT series was seen as a status symbol.
The Adidas EQT line has made a comeback in 2014, thanks to many retros. But when the sneakers first released in Germany, they held a similar status to Air Jordans in the U.S. According to a Sneaker Freaker interview with Mr. EQT, an Adidas collector, "EQTs were also very popular in the Eastern part of Germany as a statement of affluence." [via]

23. The Superstar was a popular skate shoe in the '90s.
There's now an Adidas Skateboarding team and line, but the brand has serious roots in '90s skating. According to Chris Hall, "Shelltoe Superstars were good, man. Even The Pro Model, the high top. Personally I’m into high tops—the all black with white stripes were hot, great skate shoe. You can’t really ruin the rubber on the front and companies just ripped that off."

24. Matt Bonner landed his sneaker deal with Adidas thanks to a Twitter conversation.
Matt Bonner used to be known as the red-headed NBA player from New Hampshire who wore New Balances, and then the Boston-based brand stopped sending him product. During an #askbonner session on Twitter, Bonner had a convo with New Balance about sending him more product and, hopefully, re-signing him. That didn't happen, but Adidas snatched the San Antonio Spurs sniper up. [via]

25. Adidas' Tubular technology is actually inspired by car tires.
If you throw some "new shoes" on your car, it means that you put new tires on it. But Adidas' Tubular soles, which have come back into the fold thanks to the Tubular Snake, draw their design inspiration from tires and their tread. 

26. Horst Dassler convinced Olympian Mark Spitz to hold a pair of Adidas Gazelles in his hand as advertisement.
Mark Spitz was racking up gold at the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, Germany. Horst Dassler, son of Adi Dassler, wanted Spitz to wear Adidas to give the brand more visibility. Spitz thought his warm-up pants were too baggy to show the sneakers properly, so, instead he held the sneakers in his hands. [via]

27. World War II might have caused the split between Adi Dassler and his brother, Rudolph.
Being located in Germany, the Dasslers could not escape World War II and the carnage that it presented. In 1943, as Adi and his wife went to hide in the same bomb shelter as Rudolph, Adi said, "The dirty bastards are back again," in reference to the Allied Forces. But Rudolph thought it was about him and his family. The brothers split eight years later. [via]

28. There was an Adidas "Jeans" sneaker, but it wasn't made of denim.
Instead, it was a suede runner in shades of blue with a gum bottom.

29. The original Superstars weren't made in Germany, but France.
If you're looking for O.G.s, check where they were produced. They should also have a golden adidas logo on the tongue. [via]

30. Adidas is currently the global leader in the soccer market.
The 2014 World Cup in Brazil was a showdown between Nike and Adidas, with two Adidas squads, Argentina and Germany, playing in the final. The ball was an Adidas product as well. Reportedly, Nike amassed $2.3B in football revenue this past year, while Adidas is on track to earn $2.7B. So, Adidas is winning right now. [via]

31. Adidas invented the adilette sandal to protect German soccer players from dirty showers.
Communal showers are gross, and they can also be unhealthy. While most of us wore Adidas slides to shower in college, this was actually the sandal's original purpose. Adidas didn't want German soccer players catching diseases in showers, so they outfitted them with these cozy slides. [via]

32. Peter Moore, the man who designed the Air Jordan 1, also designed something for Adidas.
After leaving Nike, Peter Moore was the man responsible for the three-bar logo that will forever be associated with the Adidas Equipment line. He also designed other Adidas sneakers. [via]

33. The Three Stripes used to belong to another European sneaker brand to Adidas' north.
Karhu is a Finnish sneaker brand with an Olympic history just like Adidas, and it put the Three Stripes on footwear before Adidas. But Karhu sold its stripes to Adidas for 1,600€ and two bottles of "good whiskey." [via]

34. There was an Adidas Kobe III, but it never got released.
Kobe Bryant is on his ninth signature sneaker with Nike. But before he signed with the Swoosh, he had a deal with Adidas. It's easy to remember the Crazy 8, KB8 II, and Kobe One, because they were all retroed recently. There's one shoe, though, that most likely won't be coming back, the Kobe Three, which took design cues from the space-age Kobe Two. It never made it to production besides a few samples. [via]

35. The University of Michigan has Adidas' full attention.
It took roughly $80M to lure longtime Nike school Michigan over to the Three Stripes side of things. And in the school's contract, it says that Michigan needs to be Adidas' no. 1 collegiate priority. [via]

36. Derrick Rose, Adidas' highest-paid athlete, wouldn't mind collaborating with Kanye West.
They're both from the Chi, so why not? [via]

37. Adidas' HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany had a previous life.
Before it was the "World of Sports," Adidas' campus was a U.S. military base. [via]

38. The ZX 8000 was the first Adidas sneaker to use Torsion technology.
Debuting in 1988, Torsion gave arch support to runners while allowing for flexibility in the forefoot and heel. It just so happens that the technology was first seen on a runner that is still chased after. [via]

39. The Samba wasn't designed as an "indoor soccer shoe," it has a deeper history.
The Adidas Samba has become synonymous with indoor soccer, but it was originally made for players to get traction on the hard and icy winter fields of Europe. [via]

40. A former Adidas CEO was related to a Seinfeld cast member.
Former Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away in 2009, was a cousin of Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Yes, Elaine from Seinfeld. Too bad they couldn't get Jerry in some EQTs. [via]

41. Adidas launched a program to sell $1 sneakers in India in 2011.
Over a billion people live in India, and Adidas wanted to get into this market. "The shoe will be sold in villages through a distribution network. We want the product to be self-funding," Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said. [via]

42. If you ask someone outside of the U.S. to pronounce ZX they'll say....
"Zed X," not "ZX." That's because the letter Z is pronounced differently in England. It's not just a different nickname for the sneaker. So, you can call them the Zed X Flux and not be wrong. [via]

43. Adidas made some T-shirts that were too risque for the 2014 World Cup.
Brazil is home to beautiful women, and Adidas saw this as a chance to sell a few T-shirts in the U.S. for the 2014 World Cup. The Ts read, "Lookin' to score," and "I love Brazil," with the latter having the heart being an innuendo for a butt. Brazil asked Adidas to pull these shirts, and the brand did. [via]

44. The word "Equipment" was used for the Adidas line because...
"We called it Equipment, because, at least in America, the word 'Equipment' is a no-bullshit word. You don't have a piece of equipment to have fun with, you have a piece of equipment to do something with," Peter Moore said. [via]

45. Adidas didn't plan for Kevin Garnett to say, "Anything is possible."
After the Celtics won the NBA Championship in 2008, Garnett's emotions were through the roof. But when he yelled, "Anything is posssssibleeee," he didn't mess up Adidas' slogan, "Impossible is nothing." According to the brand, "If we were going to do anything with him, we would have definitely made sure the messaging was correct." [via]

46. Adidas ZX series designer Jacques Chassaing thought about elements of "barefoot running," while making sneakers with stability.
The Adidas ZX series doesn't apply modern barefoot or minimal running technology or designs. But co-designer of the series Chassaing said, "In a running shoe, you should be able to wear the shoe barefoot. That means that comfort has to be maximum." [via]

47. Adidas and Puma have squashed their beef, sort of.
After a long-standing rivalry, Adidas and Puma played a friendly game of soccer in 2009. People in Herzogenaurach, where Adidas is located, believe that it will take much more than a soccer match and handshakes to sort out their issues, though. [via]

48. People who lived in Herzogenaurach looked at people's sneakers to decide if they wanted to talk to them.
Sneakerheads have long looked at another's footwear choice and made judgments. But they started to do this in Adidas' birthplace, too. The town's citizen's became known as "Bent Necks," as they would look at each other's footwear before they decided to be friendly. If a Puma person was wearing Adidas, an Adidas person didn't want to associate with them. [via]

49. Puma signed tennis star Boris Becker in the '80s to spite Adidas.
The rivalry between Adidas and Puma was so fierce that when Boris Becker's contract with Adidas ran up in 1984, Puma picked up Becker just so Adidas couldn't have him. [via]

50. Adidas didn't invent "custom" sneakers, but it was the first brand to sell the idea of self-customization.
The Adidas adicolor program was originally about selling a pair of all-white sneakers with a pack of markers, so the wearer could customize them any way they wanted. This started in 1985 with the Adidas adicolor H.

SEE ALSO: Why Nike Is Destroying Adidas Right Now

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SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG / WORLDCRUNCH

Soccer isn't everything. At least not in the sports equipment business. Adidas is learning that the hard way. The brand with the familiar three-stripe logo used the World Cup in Brazil to its advantage — far better than global leader Nike — but the hoopla died when the games ended.

Adidas is in big trouble, primarily because of the weak market for golf equipment and flucuations in exchange rates. The company has been forced to retreat from previously announced goals, and the stock has taken a corresponding nosedive. Meanwhile, the gap with Nike widens as the American company springs ahead.

"I'm a striker, and I want to win," Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer recently said defiantly when he presented his plan to steer the company out of its rut. The 60-year-old hobby soccer player said the company would have to fight hard to win back trust lost with the financial markets, investors and the public. 

The Americans may be No. 2 to Adidas in soccer equipment sales, but in all other product categories and many regions, they surpass Adidas. They’re also growing significantly stronger — even on Adidas' home turf of Germany. The gap is largest in North America, the most important market for the sports equipment industry. There, Adidas is slumping despite the fact that it is the exclusive sponsor of the NBA, one of the most important U.S. sports leagues.

Adidas hasn't been helped by its 2006 decision to narrow the gap with Nike by spending billions to buy the U.S. brand Reebok. Since the takeover, Reebok has been a problem child for Adidas.

It’s not as if business for the Adidas and Reebok brands is terrible. Allowing for exchange rate fluctuations, they showed increases of 14% and 9%, respectively, in the second quarter. Adidas shirts and shoes are strong sellers in Western Europe and do exceptionally well in South America.

Investors demand better performance

But investors are not impressed. The global problems appear to them to be too great, and management lost a lot of credibility by issuing three profit warnings within the space of a year. The Adidas stock price sank to 55.5 euros per share Aug. 7, its lowest in two years. At the beginning of the year, its stock price was down by a third, more than any other stock in the German DAX index. So something has to happen fast.

Hainer, who's been CEO since 2001, believes the way out involves a mix of investment, savings and reorganization. He has announced more stringent organizational structures in marketing and sales. The jobs of those working with the TaylorMade golf brand, which has lost over a fourth of its business in the first half of the year, are on the line, although just how many will be lost is still unclear.

In view of the uncertain ruble and the Ukraine crisis, Adidas will open only 80 of the previously planned 150 shops in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States countries this year and next. The prices for shoes and jerseys have already been lowered in those markets.

The sports equipment manufacturer wants to invest primarily in marketing. Its efforts during the 2014 World Cup demonstrated how successful Adidas can be when it engages in intense, direct communication with its customer base, Hainer said. So the advertising budget is being increased. Hainer called the 1.8 billion euros that will be funneled into advertising and marketing next year "the most ambitious marketing campaign of all time."

Still, a number of recent company predictions aren't quite panning out. For example, 2014 profits are expected to be a fifth less than anticipated. Other key figures such as operating margins were less than projected as well, and figures for the second half of the year aren’t expected to be much better. The cost of restructuring TaylorMade alone will reduce profits by 50 to 60 million euros. 

SEE ALSO: 50 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Adidas

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Nike's new Flyknit technology is saving the company a ton of money.

The Flyknit material, which debuted two years ago, is lightweight, minimalist, and fits like socks.

Nike uses "automated, high-tech knitting [technology] to 'weave' the shoe's upper" half into one piece, instead of several pieces that are stitched together, according to a recent research note by Deutsche Bank. 

The technology reduces labor costs by up to 50% and cuts material usage by up to 20%, resulting in .25% higher margins, analysts wrote.

The Flyknit shoes retail for $120 to $150 on Nike's website.

Here's a close-up of the fibers:

Nike is also utilizing 3-D printing machines to build the soles of some of its shoes, including the Vapor Laser Talon soccer cleat.

"Nike is transforming its footwear manufacturing process from a low value add, labor intensive process to one that is more automated, high value add using the latest technologies," analysts wrote. 

Adidas is leveraging similar technology "and is targeting a fully automated footwear production platform," they noted.

Adidas' version of Flyknit is called Primeknit.

SEE ALSO: Under Armour CEO Is Thrilled That Nike Is So Threatened By His Company

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There is a phrase that has been used to describe Manchester United’s apparent financial muscle in the world transfer market that has appealed to the club’s hierarchy. When United signed their hugely lucrative new kit deal with Adidas in July it was said to have given them the potential to sign “a Suárez every year”.

United will not be signing Barcelona’s former Liverpool striker of course – although stranger things have happened – but given it took £75 million to take the Uruguayan to the Catalan club, £15 million more than United paid to acquire Ángel di María from Real Madrid in a British record deal, then the inference is clear.

United believe they can make a world-class marquee signing every year for the next decade. And if not Suárez next summer then what are the chances of a move to bring back, for example, Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford? He will, as things stand, have just one more year left on his Real Madrid contract by then.

The Adidas deal to supply their kit from next season is worth £750 million – although that would be reduced should the club fail to qualify for the Champions League for two successive seasons. Nevertheless, it represents a significant markup from the Nike deal it replaces. And other deals are in the pipeline.

It was Kevin Roberts, founder of SportsBusiness International, a specialist magazine, who used the Suárez phrase as he was asked on Sky News about his thoughts on the Adidas deal and United are remarkably bullish about their spending.

Senior sources have already briefed that more money will be committed when the January transfer window opens, with talks understood to have taken place to bring in the Roma and Holland midfielder Kevin Strootman for around £25  million during that time once he has recovered from a cruciate ligament injury.

United understand that more than £150 million spent this summer – by far the biggest outlay in the club’s history – is a massive financial commitment.

However, they insist it is not just something they can afford but something they can afford comfortably, especially as they argue they have reduced the size of their squad at the same time. That overhaul will also continue with high-earners such as Ashley Young, said to be on £115,000 a week, targeted.

United also claim that although they want to be in the Champions League next season they can financially take the hit of not being in the competition – for one more year presumably – even though an improved deal kicks in with the new campaign.

They had promised they could spend up to £200 million this summer, and came close to doing that. Maybe it was not as planned as they had promised – and the argument that Louis van Gaal, the manager, wanted time to assess his squad does not ring true – but it was bold. As is the claim that there is more to follow.

- Man Utd play down reports Falcao is actually older than 28
- Van Gaal gets green light to spend big again
- Man Utd to pay Real £4m more if Di Maria wins Ballon d'Or
- The Van Gaal clearout: 15 Man Utd players sold in summer
- Man Utd's £213m of signings = 35 stars and seven goals

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Doubts over new 'loan' deals
There is a new phrase that has kicked in for some big‑money, big-name transfer deals that were agreed during the last window: it is the “obligation to buy” or an obligatory purchase clause. It has been used, as with Alvaro Negredo’s season-long loan from Manchester City to Valencia, ahead of a permanent switch and appears to defer that.

That is not unusual – usually there is an “option to buy” in a deal. But this is a different twist. Now there is, for some, an obligation.

The reasons why probably need some clarification from Fifa and Uefa but would appear to suggest an attempt to get-round, for the buying club, the demands to comply with Financial Fair Play. Valencia are obliged to pay £25 million for Negredo next year when, presumably, the club’s finances will be in better shape following the takeover by the Singapore businessman Peter Lim.

Meanwhile, on loans, Manchester United are adamant that the fee paid to secure Radamel Falcao for a season from Monaco is just £4.76 million. However, that does not come close to covering the overall cost of the deal with United paying the 28-year-old striker’s £265,000-a-week wages. It takes the figure for the season to more than £18.5 million. The club have agreed the terms of a permanent deal should it take up the option next summer of a fee of £43  million – plus meeting Falcao’s wage demands.

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No votes for Scotland
Who says footballers are not interested in wider society and politics? Several members of the Scotland squad were sitting at their training base on the banks of the River Clyde one evening last week when the conversation turned to the issue of the nation’s impending independence referendum vote and how they felt about which way it should go. The talk became lively, with some wanting to know if they could vote before it was explained to them they were ineligible to vote.

In fact, of the original 26-man squad named for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Germany on Sunday only three players were eligible because they were the only ones who actually live north of the border: they were the Celtic trio of Craig Gordon, Callum McGregor and Charlie Mulgrew. That number has increased with the call-up of Aberdeen’s Mark Reynolds And it is not just the players who are ineligible to vote on Sept 18. Gordon Strachan, the Scotland manager, cannot do so either. He lives in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire.

SEE ALSO: Adidas Likely To Steal Manchester United Sponsorship From Nike With Unprecedentedly Expensive Deal

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During college football games it is not just the players who are battling each other. College sports has also become a battleground for shoe companies and millions are being spent for the exposure.

During the 2014-15 school year, Adidas will give the University of Michigan athletic department $8.2 million in cash, equipment, and apparel according to data collected the Portland Business Journal. Of the schools with available data that is the largest shoe, apparel, and equipment contract in college sports, but it is not alone.

Of the 64 schools in the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) the athletic department's shoe company contract data is available for 41 universities.

Those 41 schools will make a total of $127.4 million this year with an average value of $3.1 million.

The value of those deals is disbursed differently to different schools. For example, Michigan will receive $4.4 million worth of Adidas shoes, apparel, and equipment and $3.8 million in cash. Meanwhile, Florida State University, the school with the largest Nike contract, will receive $3.0 million in apparel and equipment and $1.4 million in cash.

Nike leads the way with 28 of the 41 contracts (68.3%) for a total value this year of $68.9 million. However, Adidas takes a different approach, with just eight schools totaling $42.0 million with a much higher average per school.

Of the conferences, the Big Ten comes out on top thanks in large part to the Michigan deal as well as the strong Adidas presence in the midwest.

Of the eight Adidas schools, four are in the Big Ten with an average value of $4.9 million.

At the biggest universities, revenue from the shoe and apparel companies is still not a large percentage of the athletic department's income but it also nothing to sneeze at.

For example, the University of Michigan's athletics program took in $143.5 million in 2013. Their $8.2 million contract with Adidas would represent 5.7% of the entire budget.

In an era in which there is a growing call to get more of the money to the players that are actually on the fields and on the courts, this is just another glaring example of how much money is being tossed around in intercollegiate athletics.

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Caroline Wozniacki has yet to win a Grand Slam tournament but she is a genuine star and one of the sport's most recognizable faces making nearly $10 million a year in endorsement deals, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Monica Langley recently wrote a behind-the-scenes story on Wozniacki that focused on her budding business career and endorsement deals even though the 7th-ranked player in the world has little interest in how much money she makes.

A perfect example is that she has no idea how much money she has and has no idea how much she pays her father to be her coach only saying that her dad "would work for free ... he can have whatever he wants."

But that doesn't mean Wozniacki doesn't care about the business side of her sport and picking up endorsement deals. However, she appears to be more interested in the free stuff she gets out of the deals.

Take for example the incredible story of how Wozniacki landed her first endorsement deal.

Wozniacki excelled at tennis from the time she began playing. At 10, she called the German-based company Adidas herself (using her perfect English) and landed her first clothing deal. "I could order anything I wanted—like Christmas," she recalled.

Wozniacki, now 24, is the seventh highest-paid tennis player in the world, men's or women's, and yet it seems like not much has changed.

In a meeting with her agents to discuss potential deals, Wozniacki exclaimed that the wanted "a chocolate deal!" recalling a time Roger Federer had left her a chocolate bar from one of his endorsement deals.

"I will do a chocolate deal for product only," Wozniacki said (while smiling). "No need for money."

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HERZOGENAURACH Germany (Reuters) - Adidas needs world-class designers, brand experts and technical whizzkids to improve its image against U.S. rival Nike, but persuading them to move to its headquarters in rural Germany is difficult.

Adidas has been losing market share to the world's biggest sportswear brand Nike, which is seen as far cooler in consumer surveys and is based near the hip U.S. city of Portland, Oregon.

Adidas acknowledges it is hard to recruit at its headquarters near the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, particularly for design, marketing and digital roles, and admits it missed trends in the U.S. market, where Under Armour <ua.n> has just overtaken it as No. 2 behind Nike. Nike's better than expected earnings on Sept. 25 underscored its ascendancy.

Adidas is responding by locating some key design roles in the United States at the same time as investing heavily in new facilities at its home base near the historic Bavarian town where Adidas was founded by shoe maker Adi Dassler in 1949.

"We need a lot of that top talent that is cutting edge. Ideally, they are working in the tech industry, in marketing organizations or are coming from top competitors. We need an environment that appeals to them," said Steve Fogarty, who is responsible for employer branding and digital recruiting

"Designers tend to gravitate to very large, international cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, London and it is a bit harder to convince them to move to the center of Germany."

Eric Liedtke, the American who took over as Adidas head of global brands in March, has promoted Paul Gaudio to the role of global creative director and moved him from Herzo to the firm's U.S. base in Portland in a bid to turn around its fortunes in the world's biggest market for sporting goods. Close to 1,000 Adidas staff are based in Portland, compared with Nike's 8,500-strong workforce in the area.

Gaudio announced on Wednesday that Adidas will open a small creative studio in New York's Brooklyn district in 2015 to be led by three young footwear designers he has poached from Nike with a mission to explore design direction for the brand.

That will complement existing creative centers in Shanghai, Tokyo and Rio, but the vast majority of the company's hundreds of designers for football, outdoor, Originals fashion, training and running products remain based in Herzo.

Adidas shares are down more than a third this year, most recently suffering from a third profit warning in a year in July that the firm blamed in part on a disappointing performance in North America, particularly from its golf business.

Adidas trades at 17 times expected earnings, at a discount to Nike's 22.5 times and fast-growing Under Armour's 58 times.

Despite the new designers in the United States, long-serving Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer, himself a native of Bavaria, remains committed to the company's base in a region proud of its strong economy and companies including BMW, Siemens, Audi, Munich Re and Allianz.

About 3,900 of the total Adidas staff of 52,500 work in and around Herzo, about a third of them from outside Germany, and Hainer said last month the company planned to add 100-150 new staff at its headquarters every year.

GLOBAL FOOTWEAR HUB

While Bavaria has a reputation for beer festivals, lederhosen and conservative politics, Nike's home town of Portland is a city of 600,000 that prides itself on its liberal values and environmental awareness, as well as a proliferation of trendy eateries and microbreweries.

Based on a campus in Beaverton, seven miles (11 km) outside Portland, Nike's location in the American northwest also raised questions in its early days in the 1960s, with founder and Oregon native Phil Knight saying everybody originally thought it should be located in New England or the South.

But Portland has since become a magnet for the global footwear industry, helped by the relatively short hop to Asian production hubs and a youthful talent pool, prompting Adidas to move its North America headquarters there from New Jersey in 1993, and drawing U.S. brands like Columbia Sportwear and Keen.

Herzo, by contrast, is a town of just 24,000 people set in rolling fields, though many Adidas staff commute from the nearby university town of Erlangen or the city of Nuremberg, known for its walled old town, gingerbread and sausages but not for the most vibrant nightlife or fashion scene.

Nuremberg has an airport with direct flights to many cities in Europe but not further afield and there is no train link to Herzo from Nuremberg or Erlangen, meaning most staff have to commute by car.

Herzo's biggest employer is family-owned Schaeffler, which has 9,000 staff in the town, mostly in technical roles producing precision products for the auto and aerospace industry. It is also home to rival sportswear firm Puma <pumg.de>.

Conscious that it was not the best location for a big global consumer brand, Adidas considered leaving Herzo in the 1990s when the company was trying to rebuild its fortunes after flirting with bankruptcy following the death of founder Dassler in 1978 and then his son Horst in 1987.

But when the departure of U.S. troops from Germany at the end of the Cold War freed up the military base outside Herzo, local authorities persuaded Adidas to stay. It moved its headquarters to the base in 1998 from an overcrowded office in downtown Herzo and has been expanding the campus ever since.

SAFE BUT DULL

Herzogenaurach mayor German Hacker said surveys showed that foreign inhabitants particularly value the high quality of life and security that the town offers.

"Herzogenaurach is a sheltered and manageable town. That is its charm, but you can get to big towns in 10-15 minutes if you want," he said.

One former employee, who declined to be named because they still work on a contract basis for Adidas, said they left the company because they found living in Bavaria too boring. "It is so odd that this company is in the middle of farmland. It doesn't have anything to do with style," the person said.

Adidas recruiting expert Fogarty, who spent three years working in Herzo but moved back to Portland last year, says the vast majority of staff describe working in Germany as an amazing experience once they arrive.

He set up a website to extol the virtues of Herzo, featuring employees from around the world praising the rural running tracks near the office, local beer festivals and the proximity to Alpine ski slopes. (http://herzo.adidas-group.com/)

Fogarty, who often has to get up at the crack of dawn in Portland to speak to colleagues nine hours ahead in Herzo, said Adidas does not lose staff due to the location of its base as it is flexible about where people work.

"While our headquarters is technically in Herzo, the opportunity to work in many locations is already here, so why invest in moving the headquarters?" he said.

However, the experience of Puma, founded by Adi Dassler's brother Rudolf after the two split a joint business, shows the pitfalls of dispersing key staff.

Puma had based its product management and design team for its lifestyle range in London to be closer to fashion trends, but decided last year to move the division to Herzo as it sought to centralize functions as part of a restructuring program.

Puma is in the process of trying to reaffirm its sporting roots after sales tumbled in recent years. Puma had lost its reputation for sports performance gear by moving too far into the fashion business.

Despite investing in fashion brands like NEO and Originals, Adidas has so far stayed true to its sporting heritage.

Adidas recently announced plans to build two new buildings - with a capacity for 3,600 staff - at its "World of Sports" campus outside Herzo and is about to open a 16-metre-high climbing wall in the grounds.

The Adidas campus already features sports fields and stylish buildings including a futuristic low-rise "brand center" clad in black glass that opened in 2006 and a marketing and operations office called "Laces" that opened in 2011 and features criss-crossing walkways above a light-filled atrium.

"You can work in a dull office in the middle of Munich or an awesome office two hours north of Munich," said Christian Dzieia, Adidas director of property development.

An on-site fitness center with daily yoga and aerobics classes opened last year as well as a bilingual kindergarten for 110 children and a campus canteen revamped with input from German celebrity chef Holger Stromberg.

"We're hiring a lot of people with a huge passion for sport whose eyes light up when they walk around the campus," said Fogarty.

"You have the best of both worlds, where you can walk onto this international campus with a lot of high-tech facilities and then go have lunch in a thousand-year-old Bavarian village." 

(editing by Anna Willard and Janet McBride)

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BERLIN (Reuters) - German sportswear firm Adidas has appointed two new senior managers as part of an ongoing overhaul of its top leadership aimed at making the firm quicker to respond to consumer trends to keep up with bigger rival Nike.

Adidas said Karen Parkin, a 49-year-old British national, would take over as chief human resources officer from Nov. 1, reporting directly to Chief Executive Herbert Hainer.

Parkin joined Adidas in 1997 and has been in charge of the company's global supply chain since 2013 after nine years working in North America. She replaces Matthias Malessa, who left the company at the end of July.

Adidas said Jan Brecht, a 42-year-old who joined Adidas from German carmaker Daimler in 2009, would add Parkin's supply chain function to his current role as chief information officer, and report in future to Glenn Bennett, the executive board member responsible for global operations.

Adidas, accused of being too slow to react to fast-changing fashion and sport trends, said it hoped that bringing together the supply chain and information technology functions will help simplify and accelerate processes.

"The sporting goods and lifestyle market is in permanent flux. Speed will be a significant advantage which ensures that the group's products reach consumers faster," Adidas said in a statement.

Hainer, facing investor discontent after a series of profit warnings, has overhauled top management in the last year, appointing Eric Liedtke as global head of brands, Roland Auschel as head of global sales and Mark King as new head of the struggling North America business.

Those three leaders have been working with Hainer on a new strategic plan expected early next year and restructuring their own teams, naming 11 new direct reports in recent months.

Hainer, who has been CEO since 2001, had his contract extended until 2017 earlier this year to allow the company to work on a succession plan, but some investors believe a change at the top should come sooner than that.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson, editing by Louise Heavens)

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New York (AFP) - A consortium of investors from Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi is interested in buying the Reebok brand from Adidas for 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion), The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sources close to the matter told the business daily that Jynwel Capital chief executive Jho Low was behind the bid, arguing that Reebok would fare better as an independent brand.

And funds linked to the Abu Dhabi government plan to communicate soon with Adidas management, the report said.

Adidas bought Reebok in 2006 for three billion euros hoping to pile pressure on US rival Nike. 

But the German giant still has seen its share of the US market keep shrinking.

It has been a tough year for Adidas. 

The company slashed its annual net profit forecast to about 650 million euros. That was much lower than previous guidance for between 830-930 million euros.

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Lululemon's new CEO has had an "uninspiring tenure" so far, and the yoga brand is suffering from an exodus of loyal customers, according to analysts at Sterne Agee.

The firm has downgraded the retailer from "neutral" to "underperform," citing lasting damage from product quality issues and difficulty attracting new customers, among other issues.

"Many customers have left and it's hard to get them back, especially given the focus on the women's active apparel business from brands such as Nike and Under Armour, and retailers such as Athleta, Sweaty Betty, Victoria's Secret, and others which have bitten into LULU," Sterne Agee analyst Sam Poser writes.

Here's why the brand is in trouble, according to Poser.

1. Lululemon has lost customers' trust. A lot of complaints on the company's website about the quality of its products are "more indicative of the lack of trust in the Lululemon brand, not quality issues," Poser writes.

"What made the company such a force to be reckoned with, up until mid 2013, in our view, was the fact that Lululemon offered one of the best, if not the best, combination of product and consumer/community engagement in all of retail," he adds. 

But a string of issues that started with the company's recall last year of its Luon pants for being see-through has alienated once-loyal customers.

2. Declining store sales. Lululemon's same-store sales fell 5% in the most recent quarter. Poser said that weakness was particularly alarming because a large chunk of its store base — approximately 40% — is less than three years old.  

3. Stiff competition. Until Lululemon's pants recall, the company's loyal customers were oblivious to other athletic-wear companies, Poser says.

But competitors like Athleta, Nike, and Under Armour have swept in and stolen their attention with aggressive investments in their women's' business. Their efforts appear to be working, Poser writes. Nike and Under Armour each recently posted double-digit increases in their women's business.

4. Weakening customer service. Poser says the level of customer service in Lululemon's stores is declining, "which has caused a deterioration of the value proposition." 

5. An expensive international expansion. Poser says Lululemon's plans to open one store in Singapore, one store in Hong Kong, and a second store in London is too aggressive. "We are surprised that LULU does not focus on one or two countries in order to have an opportunity to lever expenses in the near term, rather than open stores in far-off lands with little opportunity for leverage."

Lululemon was widely praised as having some of the most loyal customers in retail before the sheer pants debacle that forced the company to recall about 17% of its bottoms in March 2013.

The company rolled out a new design for its pants several months later with a thicker fabric, called "Full-On Luon." But some customers have continued to complain that the new pants are too sheer and that the material began pilling after only a couple of wears.

Then last November, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson faced a backlash after he suggested in an interview that some women's bodies were to blame for the ongoing problems with the pants. He later posted a video apology for his remarks and begged customers to give the company a second chance.

A new CEO, Laurent Potdevin, took over earlier this year, but the company's stock has failed to recover from last year's mishaps.

The share price has fallen more than 30% in the past 12 months.

SEE ALSO: Under Armour Is Becoming A Viable Threat To Nike

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Nike is suing three former designers who left the company to work for rival Adidas. 

The company is seeking up to $10 million in damages from Denis Dekovic, Marc Dolce and Mark Miner, and attempting to stop them from opening an Adidas-backed design center in Brooklyn, The Oregnonian's Allen Brettman reports.

All three employees reportedly had non-compete agreements preventing them from working for a competitor within a year of their employment with Nike.

But Dekovic allegedly met with Adidas executives about opening the design center in June, while he was still employed with Nike as a senior design director, the lawsuit claims.

The design center was thought to be a way around Nike's non-compete clause, since Dekovic and the others wouldn't be working directly for a competitor, according to the allegations.

The lawsuit also claims that Dekovic duped Nike into paying more than $50,000 to relocate him and his family to Italy in June.

The relocation was based "on the false basis that he planned to continue his career at Nike for the foreseeable long-term future," the lawsuit says, according to Brettman's report. "In reality, Dekovic knew all along that he was going to leave Nike within the year, one way or another."

"In fact, he gloated to his co-conspirators with a month of his move that 'Italy is one of those' countries among the set of 'countries where (Nike's) non-compete is difficult to enforce."

In a separate claim, the lawsuit alleges that Dekovic was talking to potential investors about launching a shoe on his own called the "Moonwalker."

Nike is seeking to stop the shoe's launch and claims it has the rights to the designs for the "Moonwalker," which was apparently inspired by Michael Jackson's "moon walk."

The lawsuit further claims that Dekovic, Dolce and Miner have been contacting Nike employees to join them in their new venture.

All three men denied Nike's claims in a statement released by their lawyer. 

"We have a tremendous amount of respect for our colleagues and Nike and would never do anything to harm them," the statement said. "We find Nike’s allegations hurtful because they are either false or are misleading half-truths. We did not take trade secrets or intellectual property when we departed Nike in September.

"We are looking forward to bringing new and innovative ideas and designs to adidas when our non-competition agreement expires."

SEE ALSO: Nike Just Launched A Direct Threat To Lululemon

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Americans have been mispronouncing "Adidas" since at least 1986, when Run-D.M.C made the brand famous Stateside with "My Adidas." The hip-hop group and most Americans say the brand name by emphasizing the second syllable: ah-DEE-das.

Germans, Brits, and other Europeans emphasize the first syllable: AH-dee-das.

Since it's a German brand, we assume they're doing it properly, especially given the origin of the name.

Adidas doesn't mean anything in German but comes from the company's original founder, Adolf Dassler. His nickname was "Adi," with the stress on the first syllable, director of language programs at the Goethe Institut Christoph Veldhues tells Business Insider in an email. That plus a shortened version of his last name, "Das," gives us "Adidas." The emphasis naturally stays on the first syllable.

As for why Americans screw it up, linguists aren't sure.

David Fertig of the Society of German Linguistics pointed to the "lexical peculiarities" of English that make pronunciation unpredictable: "A lot of guesswork is involved when English speakers encounter new words first in writing and have to try to figure out how to pronounce them," he writes in an email.

German and English actually have similar intonation, according to Christopher Stevens, an associate professor of Germanic languages at UCLA. "Both German and English usually put a primary stress on the first root syllable of native words," he writes in an email.

Americans may, however, wrongly identify Adidas as of Romance origin, instead of Germanic, Stevens speculates. "Since Americans often stress Romance words differently, they put the stress on the second syllable," Stevens writes.

Perhaps the British get it right thanks to increased exposure to continental Europe.

It should be noted that Adidas does not, as many people believe, stand for "all day I dream of sports." That's called a backronym — an acronym made to fit a word that already exists.

Don't feel too bad, though, Americans. Germans still can't say the word "squirrel."

Now check out more brand names Americans can't say:

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Adidas has announced plans to sign hundreds of endorsement deals with National Football League and Major League Baseball players over the next three years, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In total, the brand has set aside funds to sign deals with as many as 500 US-based athletes in total — although an exact figure for the amount being invested was not revealed in the interview with Adidas’ North American president Mark King. Business Insider has contacted Adidas for confirmation.

The announcement marks a major shift in strategy for the German sportswear retailer, which is a major force in soccer — endorsing players such as Barcelona striker Leo Messi and having recently signed a record breaking $1.3 billion 10-year deal to sponsor Manchester United— but last year it lost its second place position in the US sportswear market (behind Nike) to Under Armour.

In its most recent quarter, Q3, Adidas reported an 11% drop in profit which it blamed on currency impacts and its underperforming golf division, which saw a 36% sales slide. Overall, retail sales rose 13% but sales in North America fell 1.4%. By comparison, market-leader Nike saw its North American revenue grow 16% in its most recent quarter.

King told The Wall Street Journal: “We can’t use the global strategy. I know we’re a soccer brand globally, but in the US we have to be about US sport. We can still be number one in soccer, but that can’t be what drives our business.”

Adidas will need to move quickly if it is to snap up those 500 athletes ahead of its rivals. It currently has fewer than 40 such deals — Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins; Sammy Watkins of the Buffalo Bills; DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys; Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies; and Von Miller of the Denver Broncos to name a few of the major ones.

Fortunately, for Adidas, NFL deals are far less expensive by comparison to the most popular soccer league, the English Premier League, with which it is used to signing major deals. During the 2012-13 season, the English Premier League outpaced the NFL in commercial revenue, according to data provided by the sports business group Deloitte and sponsorship consultancy firm IEG.

However, as director of Sportsimpacts Patrick Rishe notes for Forbes: “[It is] hard to quantify — especially this early in the game — how much athlete endorsements will rise if Adidas aggressively tries to hire away ‘talent’ from other firms. But make new mistake…increased competition in a free labor market means rates, fees, secondary prices and wages will all go up.”

Tim Crow, the CEO of sponsorship agency Synergy, also noted where the true impact of Adidas’ bountiful payday will be felt:

SEE ALSO: Nike Is Becoming A Luxury Brand

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2014 was a BIG year for Adidas as the brand firmly got its groove back in many ways: The Stan Smith was re-released in dominating fashion, Kanye jumped from the Swoosh to the Three Stripes, Pharrell painted inside the lines, Raf and Rick made more sneakers and Yohji continued to show out with Y-3. But who cares about making a single, year-long dent? Adidas needs to continue the upward trend to make sure that we're still paying attention tomorrow, which is exactly why Fortune sat down with new president of Adidas North America, Mark King, to see how the company can keep up the momentum, especially in the United States. The brand's struggles here, likely due to our obsession with Nike and their own often Euro-centric designs, are well-known, so Adidas is spending the immediate future focusing on flipping the script.

King says Adidas will now shift a lot of its attention to beating out Nike and Under Armour in designing cool looking gear for American sports like football and baseball. Adidas knows that if the gear isn't cool, it isn't going to sell to the kids. I mean, okay, duh, we could have told them that years ago. By targeting running (with the latest and greatest Boost running shoe being announced yesterday), baseball and Originals, which encompasses the "style" side of the business, specifically, Adidas is putting in work.

While athletes may actually care about the brand amping up its sports gear for performance results, from our point of view, the Originals approach is working absolute wonders. Everyone got wild hyped for the Tubulars, the Stan Smiths are going to stick around for a while and now just about everyone is rushing to buy a pair of Superstars. While the writer here, John Kell, is convinced that no one is wearing Three Stripes because they're not "on trend," us fashion bros think that couldn't be further from the truth. Kell has obviously never read Four Pins or seen a street style picture from the past year. Our message to Adidas? Keep it up, fam.

More From Four Pins:

The Adidas and Puma Clans Are Squashing Their Age-Old Beef

Your First Look at Pusha T X Adidas

Nike Is Suing Three Designers That Left For Adidas

Adidas’ Influencer Expert Breaks Down Their Collaborations (Oh Yeah, And That Adidas X Kanye Stuff)

The Difference Between the Y-3 Qasa And Adidas Tubular, According to the Guy Who Designed Them

SEE ALSO: Americans Need To Stop Mispronouncing 'Adidas'

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The long-serving chief executive of Adidas has no intention of stepping down despite criticism as the German sportswear company loses ground to its US rival Nike, he told a German newspaper.

"If I no longer had the ambition and the energy, and the firm belief that I can bring the company further forward, then I would stop immediately," Herbert Hainer was quoted as saying by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

Hainer, who has been CEO since 2001, had his contract extended until 2017 last year to allow the company to work on a succession plan, but some investors have suggested a change at the top should come sooner.

Hainer acknowledged he had made mistakes, such as rolling out too many new golf products just as the market was contracting, but said he had been surprised by the personal criticism after a series of profit warnings.

"Suddenly, everything that was right for 12 years, was wrong," he told the newspaper.

Hainer said the world's second-biggest sportswear group was fighting back, launching the biggest marketing campaign in the company's history in February with a particular focus on the key US market, even if "there are no overnight solutions there."

Adidas last week reported a better-than-expected rise in 2014 sales as it announced the sale of its Rockport shoe brand.

Helped by the 2014 soccer World Cup and the victory of the German team Adidas sponsors, Hainer said soccer sales had reached a record 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion), ahead of his 2 billion target.

($1 = 0.8801 euros)

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by David Clarke)

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The creative director position at Gap is currently vacant, after the ailing clothing retailer cut ties with Rebekka Bay. Now there's an unlikely candidate to fill the position: Kanye West.

In an exclusive interview with Style.com, conducted in New York  last week as the rapper launched his Adidas Originals Collection, West revealed that one of his long-held dreams is to become the creative director at Gap.

Or, as he put it: "I'd like to be the Steve Jobs of Gap."

He went on to explain:

"Perhaps this is a bit of a demo tape. When I say Steve Jobs of the Gap, as I talk to the people at the Gap right now [leans into tape recorder], I’m not talking about a capsule. I’m talking about full Hedi Slimane creative control of the Gap is what I would like to do. And I can say this because it doesn’t conflict with my Adidas contract. [laughs]"

This is not the first time Kanye has offered his services to Gap. In 2013 he approached Gap to discuss a collaboration. The discussions broke down early on, he told The New York Times.

“I went to the Gap and I said ’Lemme try to do something’ and I couldn’t get past the politics. And I’m like ’I’m telling you, I got it. I know it. I can do it. Gimme a shot.’ Our first night [on the Yeezus Tour] we sold $83,000 in tour merch. Imagine if you take these thoughts and connect it with a corporation like the Gap.”

Kanye even raps about working for Gap in "Spaceship" on the 2004 "The College Dropout" album. But it doesn't sound like he was a model employee. The (NSFW) lyrics go:

Man, man, man

If my manager insults me again, I will be assaulting him

After I f*** the manager up then I'm gonna shorten the register up

Let's go back, back to the Gap

Look at my check, wasn't no scratch

So if I stole, wasn't my fault

Yeah I stole they never got caught

They take me to the back and pat me

Asking me about some khakis

But let some black people walk in

I bet they show their token blackie

Oh now they love Kanye, let's put him in front of the store

So I quit, y'all welcome

This time around, however, there's every reason for Gap to give Kanye a trial. Gap's January sales fell 9% year on year, following months of sales declines as the company's "Dress Normal" advertising campaign fails to drum up interest from consumers. Perhaps the Kanye factor could inject some much-needed spark.

SEE ALSO: Puma Has Hired Rihanna As Its Creative Director

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BERLIN (Reuters) - The board of German sportswear company Adidas has launched a formal search for a successor to long-serving Chief Executive Herbert Hainer, who has faced calls from some investors to step down after his contract was extended to 2017.

Hainer, in the job since 2001 and the longest-serving CEO of a German blue-chip company, wrote to staff confirming the move after monthly magazine Manager Magazin reported the world's second-biggest sportswear group was looking for his successor.

"The supervisory board will now start to look for the best possible candidate for my succession both inside and outside the Adidas group," he wrote. "This will be a long-term process that has just begun."

The company did not say whether Hainer would see out his tenure to 2017.

Adidas shares were up 4.4 percent by 0959 GMT (04:59 a.m. EST), making them the biggest gainers on the German index.

Hainer has come under pressure as Adidas lost market share to its bigger U.S. rival Nike, which has been better at creating a buzz with its brands among consumers.

Last month, Adidas reported a better-than-expected 2 percent rise in 2014 sales to 14.8 billion euros ($16.9 billion), helped by the 2014 soccer World Cup and the victory of the German team it sponsors. It is due to present full results on March 5.

In the letter to staff, Hainer said 2015 had got off to a "fantastic start" after moves to sell the non-core Rockport brand, restructure its struggling golf business and boost its brands with deals with singers Pharrell Williams and Kanye West.

Hainer also noted he had already promoted a raft of younger managers under new global brand chief Eric Liedtke and sales boss Roland Auschel, with 12 of their 26 direct reports new in their positions.

Forced to ditch ambitious targets set for 2015 — including a sales goal of 17 billion euros — Liedtke and Auschel are working with Hainer on a new five-year strategy due to be presented on March 26.

Manager Magazin said Adidas would set a target to reach 20 billion euros of annual sales by 2020, and an operating margin of at least 10 percent. Adidas declined to comment on the report.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Harro ten Wolde and Pravin Char)

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Kanye West held his first fashion show with Adidas during New York Fashion Week and its critical reception was not great.

Everyone who is anyone has weighed in on the line.

The Washington Post said, while it was his best effort so far, he "didn’t dazzle the eye."

The Daily Beast said "he's not there just yet."

Refinery29 called it "meh."

An Uber driver called it "a bit frumpy."

That criticism was echoed by legendary fashion icon and creator of New York Fashion Week Fern Mallis.

“I’m kind of over Kanye,” she told the New York Post.“I mean, I’m not a fan of his music, and the attitude and the agenda is not my style.”

In true Kanye style, however, he did not take that criticism in stride

He defended himself, his collection, and his vision on Twitter in a nine-tweet tweetstorm:

He also discussed his hardships and his difficulties entering the design world because he was "too famous."

He then reminds Mallis that he will persevere through her criticism and he "will win."

His last tweet was an olive branch to Mallis, asking her to have a drink so they could talk in person.

This isn't the first time Kanye has spoken out about his much-maligned fashion show. In an interview with Style.com, Kanye apologized for the hour-long wait and admitted that he's "a human being."

"I've got opinions, I'm not always right, I'm not always on time, I don't always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always extremely pure," he told Style. "My purpose is extremely just."  

Take a look at Kanye's Adidas collection for yourself in the pictures below.

SEE ALSO: Kanye West held his first fashion show with Adidas and it was pretty bizarre

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Good morning. Kick off your week by catching up on all the important advertising stories.

1. Lego stole the show at the Oscars last night. Tegan and Sara performing "Everything Is Awesome" and dancers handing out Lego Oscars to celebrities helped it become the most-mentioned brand on Twitter during the awards show on Sunday.

2. Apple aired an iPad ad during the Oscars. It tugs on the heartstrings.

3. Two dozen millennials explain why they're obsessed with Snapchat and how they use it. We found out how often they use it and which features they use.

4. A trio of emerging YouTube celebrities called "The Kloons" are on the edge of internet stardom. They have amassed more than 217,000 subscribers.

5. Yelp is suing two companies who claim they can help businesses get more positive reviews. In a blog post, Yelp says "reputation management" or "small business marketing" agencies offering to help businesses remove negative reviews or gain more positive reviews are scams.

6. Celebrities are mad nobody at Instagram will verify their accounts. Instagram is backing off from adding verified badges, although it's not clear why.

7. These are 15 of the most important people at Apple. Here are all the people, beyond Tim Cook, that keep the company running.

8. Rocket Fuel's stock tanked 27% on Friday after reporting disappointing fourth quarter earnings and weak guidance for Q1, The Wall Street Journal's CMO Today reports. The company's losses widened from $2.2 million in the year-ago quarter to $20.5 million, operating expenses doubled, and revenue growth missed its own estimates.

9. Cadillac launched brand ads during the Oscars, designed to show how it is thinking differently, CNET reports. The ads featured stories from people such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, "Boyhood" director Richard Linklater, and fashion designer Jason Wu.

10. Arsenal FC's Theo Walcott has left Nike for Adidas. The football player has jumped straight into Adidas' "There will be haters" campaign, Marketing Magazine reports.

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Sneakerheads and Kanye West fans are losing their minds over West's newest sneaker drop: the Kanye West x Adidas Originals Yeezy 750 Boost.

The sneaker, which was the star of West's otherwise lackluster Yeezy New York Fashion Week show, dropped the day after the show at a retail price of $350.

They quickly sold out both in stores and online. Now they're going for much more than that on eBay.

Auctions for the shoe are ending with a final selling price of 3-5x what the sneakers originally sold for. Some of the more desirable sizes are even selling for more than $2,000.

This kind of hype isn't new for a West-designed sneaker — though it new for Adidas. This is his first collaboration with the sportswear manufacturer after his deal with Nike fell through in 2013 over royalty concerns, according to the New York Daily News.

The price gouging online comes after a very rocky launch of the sneaker, which was planned to occur in three stages, Complex notes. The first launch used a an app-based reservation system that only worked within the five boroughs of New York City during NYFW.

This worked well enough. But one week later, the wider online release saw a spate of crashes and bugs with Adidas' website, which frustrated would-be sneaker buyers. On February 28, the sneaker will be launched globally.

Though they are a limited edition, West has promised that there wil be enough shoes for everyone. 

“Eventually everybody who wants to get Yeezys will get Yeezys,” West told Ryan Seacrest.“Adidas has promised me that because there's so many kids that have wanted them that couldn't get them and I talked to the heads at Adidas and they said we can make them."

The sneakers were created through a collaboration between Kanye West and Adidas' Originals line, the rest of West's fashion line. They're made from premium suede and currently only come in grey in hi-top, though many other versions are expected.

When creating the shoe's aesthetic Kanye said he was looking to create a "sexy Ugg."

Check out some of the completed auctions for the shoe below.

SEE ALSO: Kanye West held his first fashion show with Adidas and it was pretty bizarre

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