When we talk about sneakers, sports shoes, apparel, or sportswear there are two prominent brand names that ring almost together. The names are none other than Nike and Adidas. The two are renowned multinational corporations based in the United States of America and Europe respectively. they have been hot favorites in the industry of sneakers and sportswear since forever. Wherever you go anywhere in the world, almost everyone has an idea or at least has heard about these two brands. Nike and Adidas have always been obvious rivals and competitors in the industry in which they operate. Both corporations focus on sportswear and shoes, especially sneakers are what they are widely known for. Over the years, both Nike and Adidas have maintained two recognizable brands around the world and it is no surprise to find individuals from all walks of life having a heated argument on which brand dominates the other. 

Nike is an American multinational company that was founded in the year 1964 originally as Bill Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight and later became Nike in 1971. Nike gets up to 30 billion Euros of revenue per year. It is currently the largest sportswear manufacturer. In 2015, Nike became the exclusive provider of uniforms to the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nike's total global revenues for 2021 were reported to be $44.54 billion, as of December 2021.

Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and also the second-largest in the world. It was founded in 1924 by Adolf Dassler and Rudolf Dassler and was known as the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. The brothers later in 1949 split up leading to the creation of Adidas by Adolf Dassler and Puma by Rudolf Dassler. Adidas is currently valued at $14.3 billion as of 2021 December. It is also the official partner of FIFA and provides the world governing football body with the match balls in every World Cup tournament. 

Both brands focus in giving quality more than quantity and they believe that customer satisfaction is key. They talk to many athletes about their tastes and preferences and then implement them in their designs. Both brands marketing strategies is using endorsements from popular celebrities which helps both parties as the celebrities get to increase their networths while increasing the overall demand for common stock ownerships of the corporates. Apart from collaborating with big sporting names such as Lionel Messi, Adidas also collaborates with other celebrities in other industries such as Beyonce and Kanye West in contrast to Nike which focuses on sporting collaboration with the likes of Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, and Lebron James amongst others.

The two companies have a history of being a part of numerous sporting events. Both Companies have always competed on who will get to sponsor more teams, especially in events like the FIFA World Cup, Olympics, and NBA basketball games. In the 2018 World Cup, 12 teams were sponsored by Adidas while the 10 were sponsored by Nike as the remaining 10 received sponsorships from Umbro and Puma amongst others. The two are heavyweights when it comes to sporting accessories and sneakers and the choice of who is better than the other is left to the consumer. Whether one subscribes to either Adidas or Nike, one fact for sure is that they are way ahead of their followers in the sportswear industry such as Puma and Umbro.