Strategy

SBM-1 – Strategy, business model and value chain

Business model and value chain

To achieve our mission of being the best sports brand in the world, our business model is centered around designing and developing performance and lifestyle products that resonate with our consumers. We aim to set trends, drive innovation, and respond swiftly to consumer preferences, ultimately creating brand heat. Our production is carried out in collaboration with independent manufacturing partners in our upstream value chain, which includes Tier 4 and beyond suppliers for raw material sourcing, Tier 3 and 2 suppliers for material manufacturing, spinning, coloring and finishing, and Tier 1 suppliers involved in assembling adidas products. Our net sales are diversified globally – an overview of the details is provided in the Markets and Sales Channels section. see Markets and Sales Channels

In our own operations within our business activities, we design and develop products, engage with consumers through marketing activities and sales, and tailor our global distribution network to meet the needs of our sales channels and consumers. We respond to consumer preferences, collaborate with investors, and partner with brands and creators to generate demand for our products. To drive these business activities, key input factors are essential to deliver value to our investors, consumers, and business partners by creating innovative products and sustainable offerings, responding to consumer demands and creating brand heat (output factors).

Our products are designed to create positive downstream value chain outcomes, such as improved athlete performance, enhanced consumer satisfaction, increased product demand, and the creation of brand heat. Additionally, we work to reduce the adverse ESG impacts and risks of our business activities throughout our entire value chain, from sourcing materials to minimizing environmental and social impacts through applying our due diligence processes and Workplace Standards with our suppliers. While we strive for positive outcomes, we acknowledge that negative outcomes can occur. We remain committed to balancing attractive investments with reducing adverse ESG-related impacts to ensure long-term financial and brand success.

Our business model and operating model enable us to quickly react and adapt to an ever-changing world – whether this involves the evolving demands of consumers, geopolitical developments that may impact our sourcing and supply chain, or environmental and social changes regarding places where we or our business partners operate. This flexibility, combined with our risk management system, builds the foundation of our resilience, especially in the long-term but also in the short- to mid-term. The key elements of our business model and strategy are outlined in detail in the ‘Description of Business Model’ section (and its related subsections). Further information on the process and outcomes of our enterprise risk and opportunity assessment can be found in the Risk and Opportunity Report. In addition, our Business Model Overview includes an illustrative figure summarizing the main inputs, outputs, and outcomes of our business activities, along with the value chain actors involved. SEE Business Model Overview see risk and opportunity report

Headcount of employees by geographical area

As of the end of the reporting period, adidas employed approximately 64,938 people worldwide. The geographical distribution of our employees is as follows.

Sustainability-related goals

Our commitment to sustainability is rooted in our purpose: ‘Through sport, we have the power to change lives.’ To underline this commitment, we set targets and ambitions, measure progress, and establish strong partnerships that allow us to create – and drive – actions to either reduce negative impact or amplify positive impact across our key focus areas (detailed in this Sustainability Statement). Our commitment extends beyond individual products, materials, customer groups or geographies – we focus on developing solutions at scale. We will continue joining forces with the industry and our peers to drive systemic change, and we will continue to empower our employees to become sustainability ambassadors, just as we invite our consumers globally to engage and connect with us on the topic of sustainability. Lastly, we also aim to uphold high standards in the area of social compliance across our supply chain. For further information on our individual targets, please refer to the respective metrics and targets sections in the topical standards of this Sustainability Statement.

SBM-2 – Interests and views of stakeholders

We seek to ensure that we address the topics that are most salient to our business and our stakeholders. To identify these topics, we actively engage with our stakeholders and consider their views and opinions when making decisions that shape our day-to-day operations as well as when setting targets. We continuously communicate with relevant stakeholder groups such as customers, suppliers, business partners, investors, NGOs, or employees to enable stakeholder feedback and act on stakeholder concerns. This is integral to our human rights and environmental impact due diligence activities and the shaping of our social and environmental strategies and plans.

Our stakeholders are those people or organizations who affect and are affected by our operations, including the following:

• adidas employees

• Authorizers: governments, trade associations, shareholders, and the Executive Board

• Business partners: suppliers, licensees, and service providers

• Workers in our suppliers’ factories

• Human rights defenders: trade unions and community activists

• Opinion formers: journalists, community members, academics, and special interest groups

• Customers: professional athletes, distributors, retailers, and consumers

Engaging openly with stakeholders and establishing ways to increase transparency and disclosure has long been central to our approach. The adidas Stakeholder Relations Guideline specifies key principles for the development of stakeholder relations and the different forms of stakeholder engagement. It highlights the importance of meeting the changing expectations of our stakeholders and encourages open, honest communication that fosters trust and cooperation. Our principles that guide stakeholder relations development are:

• Those affected by adidas’ business have the right to be informed about our activities, participate in a transparent stakeholder engagement process, and be involved in issues and opportunities that affect them.

• Stakeholders will be provided with timely and accurate information about our business activities, and we will take their needs and concerns into account when making decisions on behalf of the company.

• We will actively seek stakeholder input and feedback on business decisions and will act on what we learn.

• We will encourage stakeholders to define how they wish to be consulted and strive to remain flexible and responsive to stakeholder preferences.

• We will identify, assess, and address potential risks of stakeholders and adidas to ensure a high-quality engagement process and outcome.

• Those acting on behalf of adidas must be willing to be influenced by stakeholders and, where appropriate, to act on their input, even if this means changing the company’s business plans.

• We respect the values and culture of each stakeholder. When disagreements with stakeholders arise that cannot be resolved, our employees will always show respect for the diversity of views presented.

adidas’ stakeholders are diverse, which translates into a wide range of engagements, some of which are ongoing and span many years, and some of which are targeted, based on current issues or trends requiring critical feedback. Thus, our numerous stakeholder engagements range from basic communication, consultation and dialogue to more in-depth processes such as advisory panels or multi-stakeholder forums. The most frequent forms of stakeholder engagements we practice include:

• Holding formal stakeholder consultation meetings (stakeholder dialogue) with workers, union representatives, NGOs, and suppliers

• Meetings with investors and investment analysts

• Employee engagement through surveys, internal information, reporting and induction programs, as well as grievance channels to the senior management and Works Councils

• Responding to inquiries from consumers, media, and authorities

• Collaborating with other brands and other companies in joint initiatives

• Participating in multi-stakeholder initiatives

• Engaging in outreach to the academic community, governmental organizations, and governments

Regardless of the form of engagement, we will seek to ensure that the approach, at a minimum, addresses key stakeholder expectations; ensures that stakeholder concerns, perceptions, and viewpoints can be fully and accurately expressed and recorded; and enables us to provide a coherent response to stakeholder expectations and concerns.

Our stakeholder engagement informs our operational decision-making and is considered to improve our strategy and business model. For example through our ongoing exchange with the investor and analyst community, we are well aware of their expectations and respond accordingly. Another example is the employee listening survey, the results of which are carefully analyzed and acted upon by the different internal business functions and teams. We also use collaborations and partnerships to build leverage for systemic change in our industry, such as for efforts in the textile and footwear supply chain to mitigate GHG emissions, to strengthen chemical management practices, and to raise social and environmental standards. In addition, we build awareness, capacity, and knowledge of laws and rights among factory management and workers by partnering with leading providers such as the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) ‘Better Work’ program and the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the objective of ensuring that the labor rights of foreign and migrant workers in the adidas supply chain are upheld.

As consumer demand and all other stakeholder interests and views may change over time, we will adapt our approach accordingly to ensure we meet these expectations. Each function at adidas continuously adjusts its actions to stakeholder group expectations based on the results of stakeholder engagement and dialogue. In this way, we ensure that we address the topics that are most salient to our business and our stakeholders, and the challenges ahead.

During our double materiality assessment (conducted in 2024 and reconfirmed in 2025), we used internal management to represent key external stakeholder interests and views, as detailed in IRO-1. This approach allowed us to gain a clear understanding of the interests and views of our most important stakeholders and to have them represented in our discussions and evaluations of the materiality for each topic. Experts and senior management from all relevant teams were involved to represent the environmental, social and governance perspectives. SEE ESRS 2 – IRO-1 – Description of the process to identify and assess material impacts, risks and opportunities

We strive to keep up with our stakeholders’ views and interests regarding sustainability impacts. Due to the cross-functional nature of these impacts, each team that interacts with our key stakeholder groups informs its management teams and the Executive Board of any relevant major changes on a regular and/or ad hoc basis. The Supervisory Board reports publicly on the content of its meetings in each Annual Report. SEE SUPERVISORY BOARD REPORT

For further information on stakeholder engagement (including key stakeholders across different key focus areas), please refer to the topical standards or to our website. ADIDAS-GROUP.COM/ENGAGEMENT WITH STAKEHOLDERS

SBM-3 – Material impacts, risks and opportunities and their interaction with strategy and business model

Disclosures related to the SBM-3 data points as well as the list of material impacts, risks and opportunities (IROs) are displayed in each topical standard, where applicable.