At the end of 2011 after the sale of 5.10 was announced i was at a conference alongside a member of the adidas board and asked him directly about the purchase. Effectively they wanted to dip their toe in the sector and 5.10 was the cheapest way of doing it before the like of Nike, et al bought them…
His comment regarding the patents for the stealth rubber was interesting - “we partner with the best rubber supplier in the world, if we wanted something better then stealth we could just ask for it”
Their $25M toe dip has been a bumpy journey..🤷♂️