Glossary

The ‘3Cs’ stand for creativity, collaboration and confidence. It is adidas’ goal to develop a culture that cherishes creativity, collaboration and confidence as well as high performance – the behaviors we deem crucial to the successful delivery of our corporate strategy. In fact, our culture and people serve as the foundation and a key enabler of the ‘Creating the New’ strategy.

The term is composed of the words athletic and leisure. It describes a fashion trend of sportswear no longer being just meant for training but increasingly shaping everyday clothing.

adidas’ operating model that aims at providing an organizational structure which enables a ‘consumer-obsessed’ culture that can act with speed, agility and empowerment.

A cash management technique for physical concentration of cash. Cash pooling allows adidas to combine credit and debit positions from various accounts and several subsidiaries into one central account. This technique supports our in-house bank concept where advantage is taken of any surplus funds of subsidiaries to cover cash requirements of other subsidiaries, thus reducing external financing needs and optimizing our net interest expenses.

Includes own-retail business, mono-branded franchise stores, shop-in-shops, joint ventures with retail partners and co-branded stores. Controlled space offers a high level of brand control and ensures optimal product offering and presentation according to brand requirements.

A key ratio in retail business describing the number of buying customers compared to those who entered the store without buying something; i.e. a 25% conversion rate means that 100 persons entered a store with 25 of them buying something.

Creators Club is a membership program that helps us deepen the relationship with our consumers. Linking all adidas apps, events, communities and channels into one single profile, the program rewards members with points for interacting with the brand, e.g. when making a purchase or using the ‘adidas Running by Runtastic’ or ‘adidas Training by Runtastic’ apps. Depending on the number of points, exclusive benefits are unlocked, including access to hype sneaker and apparel drops or invitations to special events.

An ink-jet-based method of full colorant graphic printing onto fabric. Most notably, digital textile printing involves either printing smaller designs onto garments (e.g. T-shirts) or printing larger designs onto large-format rolls of fabric (e.g. flags, banners).

FitHub is Reebok’s own-retail store concept, inspired by CrossFit gyms and fitness studios. Each FitHub offers a selection of Reebok’s best product assortment, from footwear to apparel and accessories. Also, it inspires people to move, to train, to get fit and have fun doing it with innovative fitness products, trusted advice from trained staff and community-based events.

A product category which comprises equipment that is used rather than worn by the consumer, such as bags, balls, or fitness equipment.

We outsource almost 100% of production to independent manufacturing partners. They are defined on a supplier group level, which means one independent manufacturing partner might produce in several manufacturing facilities. The majority of our independent manufacturing partners are located in Asia.

The Leadership Framework is based on the three company behaviors creativity, collaboration, confidence (the ‘3Cs’) and articulates the particular behaviors that are expected of leaders at adidas. The framework was developed jointly with employees worldwide who provided feedback on what great leadership within adidas looks like to them. It provides a global and universal language that is inclusive, reduces the need for local interpretations and outlines concrete behaviors that serve as a measure of leadership effectiveness. It is built into the way we hire and promote as well as rate performance.

Expenditure that relates to point-of-sale and marketing investments. While point-of-sale investments include expenses for advertising and promotion initiatives at the point of sale as well as store fittings and furniture, marketing investments relate to sponsorship contracts with teams and individual athletes as well as to advertising, events and other communication activities. Marketing overhead expenses are not included in marketing expenditure.

Neighbourhood is adidas Originals’ premium own-retail store concept which brings the style and spirit of sport to the streets. The aim is to turn Originals stores into a local cultural epicenter. The store environment takes its inspiration from the neighborhood, which is at the heart of Originals.

A survey-based measure of how likely people are to recommend a brand. The survey is based on one single question to consumers: ‘How likely are you to recommend this brand to your friends?’, which can be answered within a scale from 0 to 10. Promoters are consumers giving the brand a 9 or 10 rating, while detractors are those between a 0 and 6 rating. The NPS is the difference between promoters and detractors measured in percentage points.

Non-trade procurement is the sourcing of goods and services which are not linked or indirectly linked to regular trade products sold to customers. The goods and services are classified as consumption by internal stakeholders and include things such as repairing equipment and purchasing office supplies.

Expenses which are not directly attributable to the products or services sold, such as distribution and selling as well as general and administration costs, but not including marketing and point-of-sale expenses.

This retail concept for adidas Originals is visually inspired by the adidas brand archive. It is designed to create spaces as platforms to respond to an ever-changing culture, to the community, to our world and the collective memory of sport. Its design language is functional and flexible, iconic and relevant. The fluid, open-plan design highlights products in new and elevated ways.

Parley for the Oceans is an environmental organization and global collaboration network. Founded in 2012, Parley aims to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of the oceans, and to inspire and empower diverse groups such as pacesetting companies, brands, organizations, governments, artists, designers, scientists, innovators and environmentalists in the exploration of new ways of creating, thinking and living on our finite, blue planet.

Parley Ocean Plastic is a material created from upcycled plastic waste that was intercepted from beaches and coastal communities before reaching the ocean. Parley for the Oceans works with its partners to collect, sort and transport the recovered raw material (mainly PET bottles) to our supplier who produces the yarn, which is legally trademarked. It is used as a replacement for virgin plastic in the making of adidas x Parley products.

In the sporting goods industry, performance products relate to technical footwear and apparel used primarily in sports.

Partnerships with events, associations, leagues, clubs and individual athletes. In exchange for the services of promoting the company’s brands, the party is provided with products and/or cash and/or promotional materials.

A type of product transport packaging made of recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) that offers a more sustainable option to virgin plastic polybags, as they have a lower environmental footprint than conventional bags and most alternatives. Recycled LDPE polybags meet our quality and performance standards to effectively protect our products during shipping and handling, are available globally and can be recycled via existing waste streams.

Supply chain activities limited to one specific supplier. Due to the dependency on only one supplier, a company can face disadvantages during the sourcing process.

Speedfactory stands for an accelerated manufacturing process of high-performance sports shoes enabled by latest manufacturing technology that was tested at the adidas Speedfactories in Ansbach, Germany, and Atlanta, USA. adidas opened both factories together with Oechsler in 2017. At the end of 2019, adidas started to deploy its Speedfactory technologies to produce athletic footwear at two of its suppliers in Asia. Production at the Ansbach and Atlanta Speedfactories will be discontinued by April 2020. This will enable adidas to continue to respond to short-term trends in demand while using production capacities more flexibly and economically and expanding the range of products with short production times faster. Manufacturing processes will continue to be developed, improved and tested in the adiLab at the adidas production site in Scheinfeld.

‘Sport Inspired’ stands for fashion inspired by sport – also known as ‘sports lifestyle’. It draws inspiration from adidas’ rich archives and legacy. Sport Inspired stands for Originals, Y-3, Statement and Yeezy.

‘Sport Performance’ stands for the categories training, running, football, basketball and heartbeat sports such as outdoor, swim, tennis and US sports.

Stadium is an own-retail store concept for the adidas brand, inspired by high school stadiums. It aims to create a sports stadium-like atmosphere to enhance the in-store experience, such as a tunnel entrance, stands for live-game viewing on big screens, locker rooms instead of dressing rooms and track and field areas where consumers can test and experience products.

For adidas, sustainable cotton means certified organic cotton or any other form of sustainably produced cotton that is currently available or might be in future, and Better Cotton.

Exclusively for the Asia-Pacific market, the Reebok Vector Style retail concept incorporates color, textures, and shapes within the space in order to convey a sense of movement and style. Capturing a more hip and modern pace, the design is meant to present the Reebok lifestyle product in a cool and interesting way. Architectural features within the store emulate the angles of Reebok’s Vector logo, so that the sense of action is reinforced throughout the space.

Wet processes are defined as water-intense processes, such as dyeing and finishing of materials.