next summer's Olympic Games

It is not only the athletes that will be competing for first place at next summer's Olympic Games. Adidas, the German sportswear brand, plans to use the games as a springboard to overtake its arch rival Nike Dunks as the biggest sportswear company in the UK.


Custom Nike Dunks is currently market leader in the UK with an 18pc share of the ultra-competitive £4.3bn sportswear market. Adidas is in second place with a 15pc share, but hopes that its status as official sportswear partner of the Games will help it achieve its goal of overtaking Nike by 2015 at the latest.

As well as kitting out the athletes in 25 of the 26 Olympic sports – equestrianism requires very specialised equipment – Adidas will dress the 70,000 Olympic volunteers, provide the outfits for the pre-games torch relay and create clothing for the athletes to wear in the Olympic Village.

Custom Nike Dunk High 'Riddler'

Adidas is also the Games' official clothing licensee, and will sell Olympic-themed and branded clothes through its own stores and third-party retailers, such as Tesco and Asda. On top of this, it has appointed Stella McCartney, the designer and daughter of Sir Paul, as the creative director of Team GB. She will provide the team with garments such as their signature tracksuits and has also designed more fashionable "capsule" ranges that will be available on the high street. (High street retailer Next will provide Team GB with their formalwear, such as the suits for the opening ceremony.)