Adidas Responds to Article Highlighting a Lack of Diversity in the North American Corporate Office

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: In the wake of a New York Times article that highlighted the lack of diversity at Adidas’ North American headquarters in Portland, Ore., the athletic company acknowledged “there is much more work to be done, and we are committed to doing it.” The extensive article noted there are three black people among the roughly 340 Adidas vice presidents internationally. There are 75 black employees at Adidas’ 1,700-person head office in North America. Twenty current and former black employees said the corporate culture contradicts the brand’s image which is reliant on such high-profile personalities as Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and James Harden. In a statement, Adidas said, “We are committed to fostering a respectful, equitable, and inclusive environment for all Adidas employees around the world. It’s crucial that we have and support a diverse workforce that represents a variety of ideas, strengths, interests and backgrounds and that we promote an open culture where all of our people can fully contribute. We value all of our employees, are stronger because of their unique perspectives and are dedicated to achieving greater diversity at every level of the company.” “We actively evaluate and seek to strengthen our programs and policies to ensure we are recruiting, retaining and

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