Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden announced the company achieved its highest quarterly volume to date in the 2025 third quarter. Revenues grew 12 percent year-over-year to €6.63 billion, with gains across all categories and regions.

“The environment is volatile with the tariff increases in the U.S. and a lot of uncertainty among both retailers and consumers around the world, but our teams work hard, and our brand and our products resonate well with consumers,” Gulden noted in the company’s earnings release.

“2025 is a success for us already,” he continued. “Fourteen percent growth for the Adidas brand year-to-date and an EBIT margin above 10 percent is proof of how strong our brand is. Being a global brand with a local mindset, empowering our markets to win their local consumers is the right strategy to be globally successful and is driving these strong results.”

He added that, given the “positive development” in Q3, the company has narrowed its top-line guidance and raised its full-year EBIT outlook from between €1.7 billion and €1.8 billion to ~€2.0 billion.

Third Quarter Results
Currency-neutral revenues for the Adidas brand increased 12 percent year-over-year (y/y) in the third quarter, or growth of more than €700 million in absolute terms. With the completion of the sale of any remaining Yeezy inventory at the end of 2024, the company’s results for the third quarter of 2025 do not include any Yeezy revenues versus ~€200 million in Q3 2024. Including Yeezy sales in the prior year, currency-neutral revenues increased 8 percent y/y. In euro terms, revenues reportedly reached a record €6.63 billion, up from €6.44 billion in the year-ago quarter. The growth came despite the strengthening of the euro against several currencies, which led to an unfavorable translation impact of more than €300 million year-over-year.

Third Quarter Net Sales
(in € millions)

Category Summary

  • Footwear revenues for the Adidas brand grew 11 percent during the quarter on a currency-neutral basis. The broader and deeper product offering drove double-digit footwear growth in major sports categories, including Running, Football, Training, and Specialist Sports. Strong growth in Originals and Sportswear also contributed to the increase in footwear.
  • Apparel sales grew 16 percent during the quarter as brand and product momentum continued to expand. Differentiated and locally relevant apparel collections fueled double-digit increases in Originals, Football, Running, Specialist Sports, and US Sports.
  • Accessories grew 1 percent during the quarter.

Segment Summary
Performance revenues increased 17 percent on a currency-neutral basis during the third quarter, led by strong double-digit growth in Running and Football.

  • Momentum in Running increased further with growth of more than 30 percent, driven by Adizero.
  • In Football (Soccer), growth was aid to be fueled by new season on-pitch kits and culturally inspired collections for the brand’s major clubs. The launch of a wide range of product for Liverpool FC, the brand’s latest addition to its unique portfolio of partners, was said to be particularly successful across the globe.
  • Several other categories, including Training, Specialist Sports, U.S. Sports, and Motorsport also reportedly contributed to the broad-based growth in Performance “on the back of product innovation and newness that resonate strongly with consumers.” The company gave the examples of the Dropset and Rapidmove footwear franchises for strength athletes, broader and deeper offerings for credibility sports such as American football, tennis, swimming, rugby, and field hockey.

Lifestyle revenues for the Adidas brand increased 10 percent y/y on a currency-neutral basis in the third quarter, driven by double-digit growth in Originals.

  • The popular Terrace franchises continued to see healthy demand backed by seasonal updates in colorways, materials, and new collaborations that cater to local consumer tastes.
  • At the same time, the brand’s Low Profile offering continued to expand, with growth driven by updated looks for the Tokyo, Japan, and Taekwondo franchises, including animal-print and metallic iterations, as well as football- and ballet-inspired styles.
  • After relaunching one of its most iconic franchises earlier this year, the brand also began to sequentially scale the Superstar, backed by a global campaign and market-led activations.
  • In addition to evolving its classics footwear business, Adidas continued to evolve its lifestyle running and lifestyle football offerings.
  • Building on the broad-based footwear momentum, Originals’ apparel offering continued to gain traction. The company said the Firebird and Teamgeist collections saw particularly strong demand. Collaborations with Oasis, Wales Bonner, Edison Chen, Sporty & Rich, and collections created with several retail partners further supported growth in Originals.
  • In Sportswear, increases were reportedly driven by growing demand for the brand’s commercial range, while innovative products such as the 3D-printed Climacool shoe and the revamped Z.N.E. apparel collection complemented the brand’s portfolio of sport-inspired lifestyle products.

Region Summary

  • Europe‘s currency-neutral net sales for the Adidas brand grew 12 percent y/y, reportedly driven by double-digit growth in both wholesale and the brand’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) business.
  • North America revenues for the Adidas brand were up 8 percent y/y, reflecting double-digit growth in both footwear and apparel, while accessories sales declined during the quarter.
  • Greater China (+10 percent), Emerging Markets (+13 percent), Latin America (+21 percent), and Japan/South Korea (+11 percent) revenues were also up double-digits, with particularly strong increases in the company’s DTC channels in all regions.

Channel Summary
Growth for the Adidas brand was said to be equally broad-based with double-digit increases in all channels.

  • Wholesale revenues increased 10 percent y/y on a currency-neutral basis, said to be driven by strong sell-through rates in retail partners’ stores and increased shelf space allocations continued.
  • DTC business for the Adidas brand grew 14 percent y/y in the third quarter.
    • Own Retail revenues were up 13 percent, said to be driven by strong like-for-like growth in the company’s global fleet of Own Retail stores and continued investments into retail doors.
    • E‑commerce sales increased 15 percent y/y in Q3, with a continued focus on full-price propositions and on top of more than 25 percent growth in the prior-year quarter.

Profitability and Expenses
Consolidated gross margin increased 50 basis points to 51.8 percent of revenue during the third quarter. The improvement was said to be mainly driven by “lower product and freight costs, a better business mix, as well as continued strong sell-throughs, which more than offset the negative impacts from unfavorable currency fluctuations and higher US tariffs.”

Other Operating expenses decreased 3 percent y/y to €2.74 billion in the third quarter, compared to €2.84 billion in Q3 2024. As a percentage of sales, Other operating expenses decreased 2.7 percentage points y/y to 41.3 percent of revenue in Q3.

Marketing and POS (point-of-sale) expenses were up 10 percent y/y to €798 million as brand investments remained a priority for the company. In addition to the “You Got This” brand campaign and dedicated product campaigns, the increase in Marketing expenses reportedly reflects new and extended partnerships. Recent brand partner signings include Liverpool FC, the future Audi Formula 1 team, Jeremiah Smith, Penn State, and Tennessee Athletics. As a percentage of sales, marketing and point-of-sale expenses were up 80 basis points to 12.0 percent of revenue in Q3.

Operating Overhead expenses decreased 8 percent y/y to €1.94 billion in Q3, as the company said it continued to invest into its sales and distribution capabilities while managing its overall cost base. As a percentage of sales, Operating Overhead expenses decreased 3.5 percentage points to 29.3 percent of revenue in Q3, reflecting “strong operating leverage.”

Operating Profit grew to €736 million, or 11.1 percent of revenue, in Q3 after increasing 23 percent year-over-year from €598 million in Q3 last year. Operating margin was up 180 basis points year-over-year.
Having completed the sale of the remaining Yeezy inventory at the end of last year, there was no Yeezy contribution to the company’s operating profit in the quarter versus ~€50 million in Q3 last year.

Net financial expenses amounted to €86 million in Q3, compared to net financial income of €4 million in Q3 2024, said to be mainly driven by currency and hyperinflation-related effects. Financial expenses had fallen significantly in the prior-year quarter due to favorable currency and hyperinflation-related effects. In contrast, the company recorded a significant negative impact from currency and hyperinflation-related effects in Q3 this year and financial expenses increased accordingly.

Income before taxes (EBT) amounted to €650 million in Q3, compared to €601 million in Q3 last year, resulting in income taxes of €169 million (@25.9 percent) for the quarter, compared to €133 million (@22.1 percent) in Q3 last year, reflecting timing effects related to the recognition of withholding taxes.

Net Income from continuing operations increased 3 percent y/y to €482 million, or €2.57 per diluted share, in Q3, com pared to €469 million, or €2.44 per share, in the 2024 third quarter.

“The focus is now on transitioning well into 2026, which will be another exciting sports year with the Winter Olympics right at the beginning, the biggest Football World Cup ever, and many more great events to look forward to,” concluded CEO Gulden.

Image courtesy Adidas Group