How to Date Vintage Adidas Clothing by the Logo and the Tag

To date adidas clothing, read the logo first and the labels second. The Trefoil went on adidas clothing in 1972, and since 2000 adidas has kept it for its Originals line, so a Trefoil alone means 1972 or later, not necessarily old. The three-bar Equipment logo was released in 1991 and the Badge of Sport (three bars with the adidas wordmark) in 1996. A “Made in West Germany” label means 1990 or earlier. Two or three clues that agree give you a reliable era.

Every date below comes from adidas’s own published history or from an official source. Collector rules of thumb that adidas hasn’t documented are marked as such, and there is no exact “tag by year” chart from adidas itself, whatever some pages suggest.

At a glance: adidas dating clues

Clue	What you see	What it points to	Source
No apparel before 1967	Any adidas garment	1967 or later	adidas Group history
Trefoil	Three leaves cut by three stripes	Clothing from 1972 on; Originals only from 2000	adidas, April 2023
Equipment logo	Three slanted bars over “adidas EQUIPMENT”	1991 or later	adidas, April 2023
Badge of Sport	Three bars with the adidas wordmark	1996 or later	adidas, April 2023
“Made in West Germany”	Country line on the label	1990 or earlier	bpb (reunification 3 Oct 1990)
Descente label (Japan)	Japanese licensee’s name on the tag	Before the licence ended in 1998	WWDJAPAN, 2016
Long multi-language care label	Many languages, long codes	Recent production	Collector rule of thumb

Checked November 11, 2026.

The logo: the fastest first clue

adidas has used several marks, each introduced in a known year. Its own article on the logos (April 2023) gives the dates:

• The Sportschuhe logo, 1949. The first logo showed a spiked running shoe between the two d’s of adidas, with “Sportschuhe” (sports shoes) underneath. adidas made only shoes then, so you won’t find this on vintage clothing, except on modern throwback collaborations.
• The Trefoil, 1972. adidas says you find the Trefoil on clothing from 1972 and on shoes from 1976. Since 2000 it has been reserved for Originals, the heritage line. That is the key point: a Trefoil track top can be from 1975 or from last year.
• The Equipment logo, 1991. Three bars, drawn like the three stripes seen from inside a shoe, with “adidas EQUIPMENT” below, often in green. A piece with this logo can’t be older than 1991.
• The Badge of Sport, 1996. The three bars combined with the adidas wordmark. Since 2023 adidas uses it for its Sportswear line, and the three bars alone are now the Performance logo. A piece with the Badge of Sport is from 1996 or later.

The three stripes themselves don’t date anything: adidas registered a shoe with the 3-Stripes in 1949 and has used them ever since.

The labels: country, maker and care tag

“Made in West Germany”

West Germany, the Federal Republic, was founded on 24 May 1949 and ended with reunification on 3 October 1990, according to Germany’s Federal Agency for Civic Education. A label that names West Germany was made in 1990 or earlier. That is one of the few hard cut-off dates on an adidas label, and it is why “made in west germany adidas” is a common search.

Don’t read too much into its absence. adidas apparel was made in many countries, and a vintage track top made somewhere else isn’t newer for that reason. Labels naming a country that no longer exists work the same way as West Germany: the piece predates the change.

Licensee names: Descente and others

For decades adidas clothing in some countries was made under licence by local companies, and their names can appear on the label. The best documented is Japan: Descente made and sold adidas there under licence until 1998, when the licence ended, as WWDJAPAN reported in 2016. A Japanese-market adidas piece with a Descente tag is therefore from before 1998. If you find another licensee’s name on a label, look for a primary source on when that licence ran before you use it as a date.

The care label and the RN

Older labels tend to be short: a size, a fibre content line, maybe a care symbol or two. Recent adidas labels are long, printed in many languages, with long product and production codes. Collectors use this contrast as a rough guide; adidas doesn’t publish a label chart, so treat it as support for the logo and country clues, not a date on its own.

On pieces sold in the US you may find an RN number. The FTC explains that an RN identifies the company that made, imported or sold the garment, not the year, so it confirms the maker but doesn’t date the piece.

Track jackets and tracksuits

Most vintage adidas that people ask about is a track top or a full tracksuit. The adidas Group’s history names the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit of 1967 as the company’s first piece of apparel, and says later tracksuits have often returned to it. That is why reissues are everywhere: adidas Originals still sells track tops named after the Beckenbauer and other classic models.

To tell an original from a modern Originals piece:

1. Logo and label together. A Trefoil with a short, old-style label and a West German or older licensee country line fits the 1970s to 1990s. A Trefoil with a long multi-language label is most likely Originals, 2000 or later.
2. Wear that matches the age. Fading along the stripes, a softened collar and a zip that has been used for decades are hard to fake. A crisp “1970s” jacket with a fresh label deserves a second look.

Fakes exist too. The useful test is consistency: an Equipment logo on a label dated before 1991, or a West German label on a piece with a modern multi-language care tag, is a contradiction. If the clues don’t agree, ask the seller for photos of every label. The same logic works on football shirts: see how to tell if a football shirt is fake.

What makes an old adidas piece sell

There is no published price list for vintage adidas clothing, and listing prices are asking prices, not sales. What moves the price is predictable:

• Era you can prove: a Trefoil with a West German or Descente label is easier to sell than a Trefoil with no other clue.
• Condition: intact stripes, no pilling, a working zip, no missing cuffs. See the condition guide for how to describe it honestly.
• Model and colour: named track tops and national-team pieces get searched by name.
• Size: label sizes differ between decades and countries, so give measurements, not just the size on the label.

To check what similar pieces really sold for, use the sold-items filter on eBay and compare like with like (same logo, same label era, same condition). How to price clothes on Vinted covers setting a price from those comparisons.

How to date your adidas piece, step by step

1. Find the logo. Trefoil, Equipment bars, Badge of Sport or the three bars alone. Write down the earliest year it allows.
2. Read the country line. West Germany means 1990 or earlier; any other country that no longer exists also means before its change.
3. Look for a licensee name. Descente on a Japanese-market piece means before 1998.
4. Judge the care label. Short and simple leans older; long and multi-language leans recent.
5. Check the RN (US pieces). It names the company, not the year.
6. Compare the clues. If three agree, that’s your era. If one disagrees, find out why before you call it vintage.

That is a lot to check at a flea market rack. A photo of the neck label and the care tag in the Vintage Snap app gives a first read: an AI model with live web search suggests the brand, era and condition, with an estimated range and a listing you can paste into a marketplace. It is a starting point, not a verdict, so confirm it with the clues above.

The same label-first method dates other brands: see how to date Levi’s jeans and how to tell if Ralph Lauren is real. When you know the era, where to sell vintage clothes lists the places sportswear buyers shop. More dating and value guides are on the Vintage Snap guides hub.