Rebecca Holloway is a 10th-grade student at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, D.C. Today she is job-shadowing The Motley Fool's editorial team. As one of her assignments, she put together the following article about Adidas.

For the past few years, I've noticed Adidas becoming a trend again. My peers now wear a lot of Adidas gear, including bookbags, shoes, and even equipment for afterschool sports activities. A company that got its start more than 80 years ago now seems more popular than ever.

In 1925, in a small German village called Herzogenaurach, Adolf  "Adi" Dassler designed his first pair of athletic shoes. By 1949, he had founded his own company, Adidas, and created the three stripes that now mark the company's distinctive shoes and clothes.

Since going public in 1995, Adidas has become the No. 2 shoe company worldwide, operating in 200 countries. Its offerings include shoes and clothing for sports such as football, basketball, and hockey, along with golf apparel and Rockport walking shoes.

In 2010, Adidas posted more than $17.7 billion in total global sales -- a 15.5% increase from 2009. By comparison, its archrival Nike (NYSE: NKE) generated more than $19 billion in total sales in 2010, but fell slightly from its 2009 number, suggesting that Adidas may have begun to overtake Nike in global popularity.

Rebecca Holloway owns Adidas shoes and even a bookbag, but holds no stock in the company.