Almost every inhabitant of the planet knows about the Adidas company, and most likely many have a question about why the brand is named in this way. So, its founder is Adolf (Adi) Dassler, who today is considered one of the most successful businessmen of all time. When exactly did the idea of creating this company originate, why did the founder decide to start manufacturing sportswear and equipment? Read this article.
Adi Dassler: biography with photos
Adolf was born in early November 1900 in the city of Herzogenaurach (Bavaria). Parents were real hard workers: mother washed from morning till night in her own laundry room, and her father baked bread and rolls in a bakery. Adolf in childhood was called diminutively Adi. Dassler Rudolph - the elder brother so called him even in adulthood.
Adolf grew up a calm, one might say, even a quiet boy. He was 14 years old when the First World War began. He was still very young to be drafted into the army and sent to the front, but at that time he was very interested in football - the most popular game in Europe. After the end of the war, in which Germany was defeated, the country was in complete ruin, inflation and unemployment seemed to be racing.
Start a business
Like many ordinary families, the Dasslers were on the verge of poverty. And in 1920, they came together and decided to organize a family business for the manufacture of shoes. Under the workshop, it was decided to redo the laundry of the mother of the family. They decided to make the rest from improvised means. So, for example, Adi Dassler, who has the gift of an inventor, made a leather car from an old bicycle.
The female part of the family — mother and sisters — made patterns, but the men — Adolf, Rudolph, and the head of the family — were engaged in cutting shoes. Of course, in order to make shoes, they first needed to gain experience, so their first products were slippers, which they built from decommissioned military uniforms, and the soles were made of old tires. It turned out that Rudy was very good at selling goods, and at Adolf - managing production. He also worked very well on shoe modeling.
Heyday of production
After 4 years, their company already had a dozen employees, including family members. They managed to produce 50 pairs per day. In 1924, the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory was officially registered. The brothers were very different, but they complemented each other. The eldest, Rudolph, was absurd, he loved girls, listened to jazz and beat a pear, and Adi Dassler, on the contrary, was a quiet and calm intellectual who loves to chase football.
It was the love of this sport that contributed to the fact that Adolf once decided to make real football boots with spikes. This happened in 1925. It was then that the first studded shoes appeared. She liked the players, and orders were scattered on the Dasslers. In addition to studded boots, the factory also produced sports slippers. Thus, production expanded, and it was already necessary to think about a new building for him.
The brothers had such a chance already in 1927. Together with the new building, it became possible to double the staff. The same goes for the number of shoes produced.
Olympic "Dassler"
Adi Dassler and his brother Rudolph were completely absorbed in working in their factory. Adolf tried each new model himself while playing soccer. With the development of a new wave of Olympiads, he began to make special shoes for the strongest athletes - winners. For the first time, footballers at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928 were shod with such shoes. In the 1932 games in Los Angeles, a German athlete, playing in the boots of Adi Dassler, entered the top three winners. The year 1936 was even more successful: Owens, a black athlete from the USA, in Dassler brand shoes won 4 zloty medals and set 5 records at once. It was a complete victory for the German company. That year, their sales rose to half a million German marks. One factory was not enough for them, and soon the brothers had to open a second.
War
With the advent of the Nazi party, the Dasslers joined them. And with the beginning of World War II, they began to produce military shoes. Then Rudy decided that he should fight for the interests of his country, and Adi Dassler (see photo in the article) remained in production. After the war ended with the failure of Germany, the Herzogenaurach region was occupied by American troops. Adi had to make skates for American hockey players. Meanwhile, the Yankees comfortably settled in their house. Adolf's wife had to take all the dirty work upon herself. She even delved into the garden and looked after cattle. A year later, the Americans left, and Rudi returned from the prisoner of war camp.
Rebirth
By 1946, the company was in complete decline, and the Dassler brothers began to lift it from scratch. Employees paid for the work in kind; they received firewood and yarn from the owners. Two years later, their father died, and then the brothers decided to split the company into two parts. Fortunately, there were two factories - each one. The name of the company also needed to be changed. Adi named his company Addas, and Rudy called Ore.
However, after some time, the inventive Adolf came up with her sonorous name, which is still the most famous of the sports companies in the world - “Adidas”. Ruda was renamed to Puma. And the Dassler brand suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. At the same time, the brothers became ardent opponents, both in business and in life. Although no one knew what made them enemies.
Striped Costumes
Having parted with his brother, Adi Dassler, whose biography from that moment seemed to start anew, became the sole owner in his company, and he decided that the symbol of his new company would be three bands, instead of two Dassler ones. Further, all his ingenuity went into play. For example, he invented boots with removable studs made of rubber. Then in 1950, he invented special football boots for playing in bad weather. And in 1952, most athletes were already shod in Adidas.
Then he decides not to be limited to the production of shoes and begins to create bags and other accessories, and plans to launch the production of clothes. And Willy Zeltenreich helped him in this. Soon, tracksuits with three stripes on the sides and on the sleeves that symbolized the Adidas company went on sale.
Prosperity
The biggest triumph for Adi Dassler was the victory of the German national football team at the World Cup. All team members were shod and dressed in Adidas sports kits. This was a revival of not only the company, but the whole country, which for the first time after the defeat in the war became the winner. Since then, he began to advertise directly in the stadiums. From this began the commercialization of sports. The monument to Adolf Dasler, the founder of the world-famous Adidas company, is installed right at the stadium.