Why did Skechers sue Adidas back in 2018 and how is it related to college basketball in US? All you need to know

Adidas is one of the biggest footwear companies in the world. It has expanded to almost every sport and league, including basketball. However, the company has made some questionable moves in the past and was even sued by Skechers in 2018.

A few years ago, the popular company was sued by its competitor who claimed that Adidas used false advertising and unfair competition by paying high school and college athletes a lot of money.

This has created a lot of problems for all footwear companies, especially Skechers since it tried to expand to college basketball.

This article will cover everything you need to know about the 2018 lawsuit by Skechers. We'll take a deeper look into what caused all of the problems and the outcome of the lawsuit.

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Skechers sued Adidas in 2018

Competing for college athletes should be a level playing field. Unfortunately, Skechers believed that one of their main competitors did not follow the rules of engagement.

In May 2018, Skechers sued the German shoe brand for allegedly paying college athletes and their families to wear their products. The move blocked Skechers, as well as other footwear companies, from competing on a level playing field.

It's interesting that the lawsuit came less than two years after Adidas filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Skechers.

The Germany-based company was sued for unfair competition.

The report stated:

"Skechers and other competitors' basketball businesses cannot effectively compete for players' footwear choices... because Adidas has sought to 'lock up' players by paying secret, illegal bribes."

This was not the first time that Adidas got into serious trouble. Its executive Jim Gatto and employee Merl Code were arrested by FBI agents on bribery charges in 2017.

The two companies have had several other lawsuits between each other, but most have been dismissed. The same happened to the 2018 lawsuit. Skechers dropped the claims only 20 days after filing a lawsuit.

The Skechers lawsuit did not affect the share price of the German shoe brand.

When the popular company was just sued, many believed that its shares would plummet. However, this did not happen and the company continued dominating the footwear market.

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Largest footwear companies in 2022

Nike is completely dominating the market in 2022. With a market cap of more than $143 billion, the footwear company is far ahead of its competitors and is unlikely to drop anytime soon.

Nike has been very popular in the NBA and has further established its dominance in the league. With more than 200 players under contract, the Oregon-based company is crushing its competitors in the most prestigious basketball league.

Nike is completely dominating the NBA market.

Adidas is the second-biggest footwear company in the world by market cap. However, it's more than $125 billion behind Nike and this gap will be very hard to narrow.

Puma has also tried to sign NBA players and is currently ranked fifth, while Skechers is the seventh-biggest footwear company with a market cap of $5.13 billion.