(So much so that we've started referring to Adidas's history in terms of B.B. But Adidas also owes much of its recent success to a white foam sole called Boost, which set a new standard in comfort and cool in the sneaker market. They also signed Kanye West, whose Yeezy line of sneakers pushed Adidas to the top of the hype conversation. In 2014, Adidas reissued its legendary Stan Smith tennis sneakers behind a massive marketing campaign, helping make them the coolest shoes among both fashion designers and brunch-going bros. What sparked the turnaround? A few things. On both mass market and limited-edition level, from Air Maxes to Air Yeezys, Nike looked unstoppable.Ī little over five years later, though, Adidas is not just more competitive than it was a half-decade ago from a financial standpoint-with reported increases in revenue and market share-but it’s also made up serious ground in innovation and style. Its market share of athletic footwear was hovering around 60 percent, and it had just introduced the most groundbreaking sneaker technology of the millenium in Flyknit, the godfather of knit upper running shoes. In the United States, Nike’s home base, the Swoosh was even more dominant. Nike's stiffest global competition, Adidas, wasn’t so much a distant second as an almost non-existent one. Back in 2012, if you asked anyone what the hottest sneaker brand in the world was and they didn’t immediately say Nike, you’d have thought they were either insane or lying.

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