Adidas Lifetime Warranty (Coverage, Claims + More)

Have you ever asked yourself or your friend what Adidas lifetime warranty is? Well, you are at the perfect place to find the answer to such a question.

A lifetime warranty is always a great deal because it means that you don’t have to worry about any defects for as long as you own the product, right? Not necessarily. In reality, these warranties are not always as they seem.

Adidas offer different types of warranty for their products, depending on what you buy, but only their backpacks come with a lifetime warranty. Even this is not a guarantee, though, as the specific wording shows a hard limit to how long this warranty actually lasts.

Read ahead to find out more about the different types of warranty that you get when you purchase an Adidas product, as well as how you might make a claim, and what customers have experienced in the past.

If you want a product that has a chance of lasting a lifetime, maybe Adidas is not the best choice.

Table of Contents

Who Are Adidas?

First of all, what is the company and what do they do? Adidas is a German corporation that was founded in Bavaria, where its headquarters remain to this day.

They have become famous the world over for their athletic shoes and sports apparel, but their branding can be found on almost anything you can think of.

The founder of the company is the reason that it has its name now. Adolf “Adi” Dassler was a cobbler and inventor and began making sports equipment from his mother’s wash kitchen in 1924.

He didn’t register the name “Adidas” until 1949, though, when he also released the first shoe with the famous Adidas three stripes.

Now, Adidas is the largest manufacturer of sportswear in Europe and the second-largest in the world, just behind their main competitor: Nike. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the United States who hasn’t heard the name or wouldn’t recognize their iconic thee-striped logo.

What Does Adidas Make?

Adidas is most famous for their athletic footwear, with recognizable trainers and massive sponsorships that are seen all over the world every single day. Despite this, they actually make a lot more besides.

Among the different products that Adidas makes, you can buy:

Athletic footwear
Sports clothing
Casualwear
Backpacks and bags
Sports Gear
Accessories

If you can think of a product, then you can probably buy it with one the Adidas brand on it. With all this fame and success, though, are Adidas products built to last? What happens when you are looking for a replacement?

Does Adidas Offer a Lifetime Warranty?

A lifetime warranty is a very attractive offer, particularly when it comes to clothing and sports accessories which often fail in unexpected ways. Adidas does offer a lifetime warranty, but only on their backpacks and bags, and it is perhaps not quite as generous as it seems.

Most of their products do not come under a lifetime warranty. In fact, their shoes, for which they are most famous, have a surprisingly short warranty period.

What is the Standard Warranty on Adidas Products?

For most of the Adidas products purchased in the United States, you get a 6-month limited warranty period (The warranty in other countries may be different). The backpacks and bags that come with a lifetime warranty are actually covered by the partner responsible for those products: Agron, Inc.

This is certainly not the best customer support that you can get from a sports retailer. In comparison, if you buy shoes or apparel from Nike they come with a standard two year warranty (from the date of manufacturing).

On top of the fact that the warranty period that Adidas offers is generally less than that of their competitors, it doesn’t necessarily cover too much.

What is Covered by an Adidas Warranty?

When you get a warranty for a product that is going to receive some wear and tear, you don’t expect it to cover everything, but some can be a lot more limited than others. Adidas products are only covered against defects in manufacturing, which includes fitting, stitching, and adhesives.

If you think the product is defective, you need to have purchased it within the last 6 months to make a warranty claim.

Adidas products are not covered by their warranty if:

Damage has occurred due to negligence, misuse, or wear and tear
Damage is a result of any “unauthorized modifications”
The item was purchased in a different country
The item was not purchased in the Online Shop or an official store

How Do You Claim an Adidas Warranty?

The process for making a claim with Adidas seems relatively standard for the industry, even if you don’t have much time in which to actually submit your request.

To file a warranty claim with Adidas, all you need to do is contact them via their online “Chat and Bot Support” or using their phone number: 1-800-982-9337, both of which are available 5:00 am – 8:00 pm PT, Monday to Saturday. When you file a claim, you need to provide three photos:

A picture clearly showing the defect
A picture that clearly shows the Article Number (A six-digit code listed as ART on the label)
A picture clearly showing the production date from the label

During this process, you will also need to show proof of purchase and give them your contact information. Adidas may need to perform a physical inspection themselves, so you may be asked to take the product to a store or they might offer you a pre-paid USPS return label so you can send it to them.

Will You Get a Replacement from Adidas?

Sometimes, they will offer a replacement for the product, and other times they will give you an equivalent (If the item is out of stock or discontinued).

However, for some warranty claims you may be offered a gift card for the value of what you bought instead.

Does Adidas Have Good Customer Service?

Most customers report relatively stress-free experiences when claiming an Adidas warranty, but not everybody gives glowing reviews.

Some people have reported having to wait a very long time to get a response, particularly if they need to send an item off for inspection, but Adidas do usually hold up their end of the deal.

What About the Backpack Lifetime Warranty?

So, the standard warranty on Adidas products is relatively short and quite limited, but what about the lifetime warranty that you get with their backpacks and bags? Is this the amazing deal that it seems to be?

If you look at the fine print, this “lifetime” warranty doesn’t cover a lifetime at all. All it actually guarantees is that the product will be “free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the product or five years”.

Not only is that a pretty limited scope for making a claim, the warranty actually runs out after just five years!

Essentially, this warranty is using the term “lifetime” to refer to what they consider to be the reasonable life span of one of their bags, which is a maximum of five years.

A five-year warranty doesn’t exactly sound the same though, does it?

Conclusion

What you need to know is that Adidas doesn’t actually have a lifetime warranty for the vast majority of their products.

In fact, most of the items that they sell are only covered for 6 months, and you can only make claims on manufacturing defects.

The lifetime warranty that you can get from Adidas only applies to their backpacks and bags, and this is much more limited than it seems.

Not only does the lifetime warranty only cover manufacturing defects, but it also only lasts for five years, or what they consider to be the “life of the product”.

References

https://www.adidas.com/us/help/us-return-refund/how-do-i-handle-adidas-lifetime-backpack-and-bag-warranty

https://www.adidas.com/us/help/us-products/what-is-the-warranty-on-my-products