The story of the enemy Brothers who founded ADIDAS & PUMA.

THREAD....

Adolf and Rudolph Dassler were brothers who were born in the small town of Herzogenaurach [Hers-ah-gin-or-ick], Germany, about 12 miles outside Nuremberg. Rudolf, who was born in 1898, was two years older than his brother. The brothers went by the nicknames Rudi and Adi. [1]

Their family came from a long line of weavers, but once the textile industry was overtaken by industrialization, Rudi and Adi’s father Christoph learned the art of shoemaking. [2]

In 1913, Adi began an apprenticeship as a baker, but he was much more interested in athletics. After completing his apprenticeship, he decided against being a baker and instead began to learn about shoemaking from his father. [3]

He began thinking how different types of shoes could potentially affect how athletes perform in different sports. After serving in the army for over a year at the end of World War I, Adi decided to start his own shoemaking business that focused on innovative athletic shoes [4]

Adi started the business in his mother’s laundry room, but he had many challenges in the beginning. Germany was devasted after the war, and there were very few sources of materials or machines. But Adi was creative and resourceful. [5]

He found debris left over from the war to find materials he could use such as army helmets with leather that could be used for soles and parachutes that could provide silk for slippers
He also created a leather milling machine that could be powered by a stationary bicycle [6]

Adi had a strong vision for a unique shoe company that would focus on specialized shoes for various sports. He was constantly experimenting with innovative designs and materials like shark skin and kangaroo leather to see what would be most effective for different sports. [7]

Rudi wanted becoming a police officer after the war but saw his brother’s shoe business and decided to join him on July 1, 1923. They opened the Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Factory 1 year later and began making football boots and track shoes with hand-forged spikes. [8]

By 1926, they had moved the company out of the family home and were producing 100 shoes a day with a staff of 25 people. Both brothers joined the Nazi party in May 1933, and Adi expanded production by supplying shoes to sports clubs in the Hitler Youth movement. [9]

In 1934, 34-year-old Adi married 16-year-old Käthe [Kate-uh] Martz, which would lead to problems later on, but more about that in a minute. The brothers’ would experience their big break two years later. [10]

However, their greatest exposure came from American Jesse Owens, who accepted a pair of shoes from Adi and went on to win four gold medals while wearing the shoes. [11]

This led to a major spike in business internationally, and by 1938 their company was producing 1,000 pairs of shoes a day with specific designs for 11 different types of sports. But then World War 2 started and everything changed. [12]

While Rudolf was conscripted into the army, Adi was permitted to remain as the head of the factory. Rudi resented this and thought that his younger brother was trying to take over control of the company, which he very well may have been. [13]

Rudi even threatened to have the factory shut down just so that his brother would also have to go to war.

Although Adi continued to make shoes, the majority of the production was geared toward weapons and supplies for the war effort.[14]

Near the end of war, Rudi defected from the army but was caught and arrested. He was in prison for a month before the Allied liberation in May 1945.
After the war, tension got worse between brothers and in the house where Adi, Rudi, their wives, and their mother all lived.[15]

The final breaking point was when the brothers were investigated for their ties to the Nazi party and they each tried to save themselves and threw each other under the bus. In 1948, Rudolf left along with one-third of the staff and went to the other side of the river [16]

in their small town, where he started his own shoe company, which was initially called Ruda and then PUMA. After the brothers were done splitting the assets of their business, they never spoke again. [17]

After the split, Adi Dassler named his new company Adidas after a shorter form of his name. In March 1949, Dassler came up with the idea of the “three stripes” trademark to set his shoes apart from all others.[18]

Adi became known as the “national shoemaker” as his shoes were worn by the German National Football Team and many other German athletes. In 1952, Adi expanded beyond shoes to clothing, balls, and and field warm-up suit, all featuring the distinctive three stripes. [19]

By the 1960s, Adidas was the largest producer of sports shoes worldwide with 22,000 pairs of shoes produced per day in a total of 16 factories. In the 1972 Olympic games, 80 percent of the track athletes that won gold medals were wearing Adidas shoes [20]

Adi never lost his innovative spirit and continually evolved his products. Before his death in 1978, he registered hundreds of patents to protect his ideas from his competitors, including his brother’s company PUMA. This is how Adidas and Puma were linked. [21]

Puma on the other hand, Rudolf established PUMA and focused on developing a football boot with screw-in studs that he called the Super Atom. his shoes were worn by many people throughout Germany and a number of Olympic athletes, [22]

Rudolph created a much better partnership with Brazilian football legend Pele, who was wearing PUMAs when he helped his team win the World Cup in 1962 and 1970. In 1967, the PUMA cat logo was created, and the company expanded beyond shoes to other types of athletic apparel. [23]

Just seven years later, Rudolf passed away, leaving PUMA in the hands of his son, Armin, who was able to increase the popularity of the brand worldwide. [24]