Vintage Adidas

We love answering this question at au.sell because most people are surprised by how easy it can be to work out how old Vintage adidas is.

For adidas clothing made from around 1998 onwards, the production year is often printed on a small fabric tag sitting beside the wash labels inside the garment.

For pieces made before 1998, the best clue is usually the size tag. adidas changed its tag designs regularly over the years, so the logo, colours, layout and branding can help narrow down which era a piece is from.

1960s to early 1970s

• Tall blue and white early adidas tags with spellout branding  
• Rectangular white tags with blue adidas Trefoil branding  
• White and silver rectangular adidas Trefoil tags  
• Made in West Germany and France tags

1970s to 1980s

• Square white adidas tags with blue Trefoil branding
• Short rectangular white adidas tags with blue Trefoil branding
• Long horizontal white adidas tags with blue spellout and Trefoil branding
• Tall vertical white adidas tags with Trefoil branding and international sizing
• Tall rectangular white adidas tags with oversized Trefoil and Three Stripes branding
• Small square white adidas ATP tags with blue branding

Late 1980s to early 1990s

• Long horizontal white adidas tags with blue spellout and Trefoil branding
• White rectangular adidas tags with red border stitching and blue branding
• White adidas tags with coloured international flags and sizing details
• Tall white adidas tags with black Trefoil branding and multi country sizing
• Tall white adidas tags with oversized blue Trefoil and Three Stripes branding

1990s

• Square white adidas tags with large blue Trefoil branding
• White square adidas tags with oversized Trefoil branding
• Tall rectangular white adidas tags with coloured international flags and multi country sizing
• Tall white adidas tags with black Trefoil branding
• adidas Equipment tags with EQT branding
• Early Performance logo tags appearing toward the end of the decade
• From around 1998 onwards, many adidas garments include a separate internal production tag showing the manufacturing date, which can make the exact year much easier to identify

Late 1990s to early 2000s

• Short rectangular black adidas tags with white spellout branding
• Square white adidas tags with black Performance branding
• Tall rectangular white adidas tags with coloured international flags and multi country sizing details
• Square light blue adidas tags with dark blue Performance branding
• Short rectangular brown and grey adidas tags appearing through the early 2000s
• From around 1998 onwards, many adidas garments include a separate internal tag showing the production date

2000s

• Tall rectangular black adidas tags with white Performance branding
• Tall rectangular grey adidas tags with darker Performance branding
• Tall rectangular light grey adidas tags with Performance logo and sizing details
• Short rectangular white and grey adidas tags with product information
• Square adidas Originals tags with Trefoil branding
• For adidas clothing from around 1998 onwards, check the small production label beside the wash tags. This usually shows the month and year the garment was manufactured, making it one of the easiest ways to date early 2000s adidas accurately.

If you’re looking for Vintage adidas in Australia, the best places to check are dedicated vintage retailers and second hand stores that specialise in older clothing.

Our Vintage adidas listings include the details you actually want to know before buying, with measurements, condition notes and the model’s height shown on every piece so you can get a clear idea of the fit.

adidas Equipment, also known as adidas EQT, launched in 1991 and became a major part of 90s adidas sportswear.

The range introduced the Badge of Sport logo and appeared across every Adidas Equipment piece. For anyone shopping Vintage adidas in Australia, EQT is worth knowing about because it represents a more technical side of the brand and is commonly found across jackets, sweatshirts, track pants and other 1990s adidas clothing.

Not necessarily. Older adidas pieces can have quite different proportions depending on when they were made, so the fit is not always consistent with today’s sizing.

We recommend using the listed garment measurements as the main guide, then checking the model height to get a better sense of the overall shape and length when worn.

Vintage adidas often has a more relaxed, boxier fit than modern adidas, which is exactly what gives older pieces their character. Depending on the era, you’ll find wider bodies, shorter lengths and looser sleeves across T-Shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and trackwear.

For a lot of people, those older proportions are part of the reason Vintage adidas is so good to wear.

Vintage adidas is popular because it gives people something that feels more individual and less predictable than buying from a current collection.

A lot of older pieces also carry a sense of history and nostalgia that newer releases cannot really recreate. You are less likely to see someone else wearing the exact same thing, which makes Vintage adidas an easy way to bring more personality into your wardrobe.