Adidas is a German multinational corporation that manufactures footwear, clothing, and accessories. A company was formed by two brothers in July 1924 named Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. People also sponsored many sports events. Relations with the Dassler Brothers deteriorated in 1947, and Rudolf formed a new company, Ruda, which would go on to become Puma, and Adolf became Adidas. Adidas is one of the largest sportswear manufacturers in Europe and the second largest in the world after Nike. Adidas sponsored the cricket bat that our master blaster Sachin Tendulkar uses from 2008 till his retirement. Adidas bought Reebok in 2005 to compete with Nike In January 2015 Adidas launched the footwear industry’s first reservation mobile app.
ADOLF & RUDOLF DASSLER
Friends Adidas and Puma are two popular brands in the whole world, But did you know that the founders of Adidas and Puma were brothers? Yes, friends and the names of these brothers were Adolf Dassler and Rudolf Dassler. It is the story of two brothers who started two of the world’s biggest brands together, but as their brand became famous, they eventually became enemies of each other.
Let’s know where this fight between these two brothers started, let us go to the beginning of this story. So the story of these two brothers starts in 1920. When these two were partners in the company Dassler Brothers Shoe Company. These brothers worked in his mother’s laundry room in a small town in Germany. While on the one hand, Adolf was calm and adept at designing shoes, on the other hand, Rudolf was very talkative and therefore used to work as a salesman.
The biggest success of these brothers came in 1936 when Jesse Owens wore shoes made by them and won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. And thus his shoes became famous all over the world. But with this success, distance started coming in their relationship. At first, there were petty fights in the house, but the biggest dispute between them came during World War II, when enemies began attacking the town where the Dassler brothers were home.
This happened during the bombing when Adolf and his wife entered the Baum shelter, which already had Rudolf and his wife. Adolf told the attackers, “Then these lousy people have come” but Rudolf felt that Adolf was calling him and his wife lousy, and thus a great rift between the two brothers. Slowly this rift was increasing.
In the year 1948, this rift increased when the two brothers started dividing the company and the employees. Adolf named his company Adidas while Rudolf named his company Puma. Both companies were facing the Orach River and almost everyone in the city worked in one of the two companies. And both brothers. As if the whole city has joined this fight. The local business is either shipping the goods to Adidas or Puma. But there was no business that worked for both at the same time. The person working at Adidas could not have had any relationship with the person who worked at Puma, and was not married at all. Before talking to anyone, people see who is wearing which company’s shoes.
The fight finally ended in 2009, when employees from both companies played a friendly soccer match. However, the Dassler brothers were not in this world to see this match. These brothers continued their fight even after death. Their bodies were also buried in two different places in the same crematorium in such a way that they were as far away from each other as possible.
Friends, misunderstandings happen in every relationship, but we cannot keep that misunderstanding with us for life. It only hurts to carry the misunderstanding to the grave.
Adolf used to make good shoes and his business was doing well because of his good acquaintance with the player. But on the other hand, Rudolf, who had experience only as a salesman, his business could not touch the heights. If these two brothers worked together instead of fighting, their misunderstandings would have been cleared, then perhaps there would be only two great brands in the world – Adidas and Puma. But due to their mutual dispute, another new brand also came into their competition like Nike.
So, friends, it is better to settle your issues peacefully than to lose your happiness. Hope you liked today’s article, don’t forget to like and share.