Word: dasslers
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What does David Beckham's superstardom have to do with a pair of warring Bavarian brothers in the early 1900s? More than you think, according to this compelling book. Smit tells the story of Adi and Rudi Dassler, partners after World War I in a sports-shoe factory in tiny Herzogenaurach, Germany. The two got their spiked running shoes onto the feet of Olympic star Jesse Owens in 1936, but a bitter family feud soon split their business in half, resulting in the founding of Adidas (Adi's outfit) and Puma (Rudi's company). The whole town got into...
Nike leads Adidas in every major sport, except the one that matters the most to the planet. So the Oregonians are obsessed with claiming one last victory, in the beautiful game. For Adidas, a company started nearly 60 years ago by fussball fanatic Adi Dassler, a Nike victory on its home turf would be like the Swoosh-clad U.S. team knocking off Adidas-draped Germany in the finals. "Soccer is the lifeblood and the backbone of our brand," says Adidas brand president Erich Stamminger. "It's very, very emotional...
...billion, according to Nike. "We're very happy with our position," says Don Remlinger, Nike's global soccer chief. "If it's making others uncomfortable, that's not our issue." Some of that business came from Adidas; a lot came from Puma, once a dominant soccer brand (started by Dassler's brother) and now enjoying its own renaissance. Smaller brands were crushed under the weight of the marketing spending by the two big guys...
...1970s jogging boom and the growing global infatuation with basketball in the 1980s and 1990s, headlined by the most valuable endorser in corporate history, Michael Jordan. Adidas seemed invincible in soccer because the sport put the company on the map. For the 1954 World Cup in Bern, Switzerland, Dassler had designed the first soccer shoe with replaceable cleats, or screw-in studs, at the bottom. An hour before the final between heavily favored Hungary and Germany, Dassler surveyed the muddy field and figured his German team needed longer studs to improve traction. Germany upset Hungary 3-2 in the slop...
When Rudi and Adi Dassler began hand making athletic-training shoes in 1924 in their family's laundry room in Herzogenaurach, Germany, they had no idea their efforts would someday lead to a full-fledged factory, Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe, producing more than 30 styles for 11 sports, including the first tennis sneaker. By 1936 the brothers were driving suitcases full of their coveted shoes to the Berlin Olympics, where they would persuade American Jesse Owens to sport their product. (He eventually won four gold medals wearing Dassler shoes.) Business boomed, and by the start of World...