Adidas is offering design resources and financial assistance to high schools in the U.S. that want to change their mascot names and identities, to move away from mascots with “potentially harmful” Native American imagery or symbolism. Aligned with the Adidas Group's “open source” strategy, the voluntary initiative was announced in conjunction with the White House Tribal Nations Conference last week in Washington, with the leaders of 567 federally recognized tribes in attendance. Mark King, president of the Adidas Group for North America, explained that social identities are central to the lives of young athletes studying in high school. Adidas added that it would be a founding member of a coalition addressing the issue of Native imagery and mascots in sports. This comes amid discussions about mascots such as the Washington “Redskins” in the National Football League. The company says that, among more than 27,000 high schools across the country, about 2,000 use names that cause concern for tribal communities. The State Board of Oregon, where Adidas has its American head office, ordered high schools to ban such mascots by 2017 or risk losing public funding, the Associated Press reported. 

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