Adidas continues its insane comeback today as one of the designers that jumped ship from Nike makes it official with the Three Stripes. In September of 2014 designers Marc Dolce, Mark Miner, and Denis Dekovic announced they were leaving Nike for Adidas. However, following their departure, Nike sued the trio, alleging that the designers were taking ideas to the brand's biggest rival. "Some other allegations include that sensitive materials were copied off work computers (including an unreleased shoe made for a Nike sponsored athlete), the removal of sensitive work emails and text messages and the understanding that forthcoming Nike plans were shared with adidas despite the three still being employed by Nike," Hypebeast reported in late 2014.
Now, after sitting on the bench as the brands litigated, Dolce has officially announced that he has taken the role of vice president and creative director Adidas. He posted the news on his Facebook page today:
Nike still stands as the undisputed athletic shoe champion of the world, but within the last few years Adidas has made some amazing strides in catching up. In 2015 alone, the German sportswear giant sold 15 million pairs of its Superstar, driven by an endorsement from Pharrell Williams. The shoe accounted for 10 percent of its annual profits. And Kanye West's Yeezys, though they're not selling like the Superstars, have managed to boost the value of the brand. Meanwhile, Adidas is gaining ground on Nike in China, where it's been repositioning itself as casual sportswear for any occasion.
How things will shake out in the future obviously remains to be seen, but two thing seem likely: First, that things are only going to heat up in the ongoing saga of Adidas vs. Nike. And second, that we, the sneaker-buying public, are probably going to get some pretty awesome shoes out of this.
