3 Stripes always resonate with Adidas branding in our mind.

But sometimes, the actually story is different.

We are Humans. We romanticize stories, we simplify stories.

Adolf (adi) Dassler, founded Adidas in 1949.

Adi approached Karhu, a Finish brand, at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

According to Karhu, the two brands struck a historic deal: “Adi met the Karhu directors and invited them over to Germany."

At the time, Karhu was financially struggling.

"The result of the trip was that Karhu sold the [three stripes] trademark to Adidas for a small sum of money, around $1800 or €1,600 in today’s terms, plus a couple bottles of good whiskey,”

“That’s how the story goes, although we don’t have proof of the whiskey.”

This deal is reported by former Karhu brand manager Jukka Lehtinen:

Even if there is no record of the type or price of the whiskey included in the trade — the story is generally accepted by the brand as fact.

Since then Adidas had turn this whisky-trade-[3 stripes] into a multi billion dollars storytelling empire.

Storytelling is key for the adoption & the spread of one idea.