Earlier this week, an eye-opening report by The New York Times revealed a potential race division over at adidas Headquarters. Even with major brand ambassadors like Beyoncé, Pharrell and most notably Kanye West on board, it still seems like one of our favorite sportswear imprints might have an in-house issue when it comes to racial discrimination that the public isn’t up on. However, the Three Stripes has now come forth to speak out on the recent allegations.
Fewer than 5% of employees at the Adidas campus identify as black. We spoke with more than 20 current or former employees who said they feel marginalized and at times discriminated against. They say race is an issue for its predominantly white leadership. https://t.co/KncemD2PJW
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 19, 2019
Responding via an exclusive report from WWD, the reps for adidas released a statement to combat what’s being said while also admitting to having much more work to do in order for the brand to truly represent all backgrounds, in and outside of the office.
Take a look below at the full response, via WWD:
“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 advancing a diverse team. Recently, we have expanded our Diversity and Inclusion team in North America to focus on underrepresented communities in our workforce across the talent lifecycle; and we conduct ongoing workplace inclusion education and training for employees across North America. Our North American diversity strategy also includes programs to help bring new employees from diverse backgrounds to positions at the company’s corporate headquarters. While we have made progress in these areas, we recognize there is much more to be done, and we are committed to doing it.”
— adidas
We can only hope that Black, brown and all POC employees over at adidas are being treated fairly on all levels, and if not let’s hope that things change for the better… ASAP!
