Adi and Rudi Dassler: The Feud that Created Two Sporting Goods Giants (#141)

There have been many famous brotherly rivalries throughout history - Cain and Abel. Romulus and Remus. Liam and Noel Gallagher. But have you ever heard of the one that went on to form two of the most recognisable sporting goods brands in the world? A vicious family feud that not only pitted two brothers against one another, but also divided the inhabitants of their hometown into warring factions that lasted for 60 years. See if you can guess where I got the inspiration for this episode this week!

This is the story of Adi and Rudi Dassler.

Rudolf was born in 1898 in the middle Franconian town of Herzogenaurach, part of the German Empire, the third of what went on to be four children to Christoph and Pauline Dassler. His brother Adolf, the youngest, was born in November 1900, into what could be considered, at the time, to be middle-class family. Their home town had a population of approximately 4,000 people, and most of the citizens earned their living working for the numerous shoe makers in town.

Pauline operated a small laundry service. Adi supported his mother by transporting it to and from customers. However, through his father Christoph Dassler, who worked in one of the shoe factories, Adolf gained insight into another manner of work: that of the shoe maker.

Adi Dassler, himself an accomplished and active athlete, recognized that the athletes of each discipline lacked specialized shoes. In his eyes, this was a disadvantage. His concept: If an athlete wore shoes optimized for their specific sport, it would certainly result in improved performance. In Adi awoke the idea that would guide his life and revolutionize sport: The sporting world needed specialized, dedicated, professional shoes for each specific discipline. Adi was convinced that athletic success would improve with correctly constructed shoes. From then on, he aspired to help athletes achieve better performance.

However, before he could chase his own ambitions, he again had to fulfil obligations others set before him. In June 1918 during the final months of World War I, Adi, who had yet to turn 18 years of age, was drafted into the military where he served until October of 1919. By the time he returned, his concept of specialized athletic shoes had advanced to the point where he converted his mother’s wash room to a shoe workshop. Adi brought his older brother Rudi, who was training to become a policeman, into his young business, and together they founded the shoe manufacturing company Gebrüder Dassler Sportschuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Sport Shoe Factory) or Geda for short, where the brothers worked together on two-striped sneakers. 

The brothers divided business responsibilities according to their respective talents. Adi, with his love of sport, led the technical development, Rudolf was head of sales and marketing. They seemed to complement one another perfectly. Adi was the quiet, focused inventor while Rudolf was the more extroverted salesman. In the first two financially difficult years, a dozen workers produced about 50 pair of shoes per day, among which were the first football (soccer) shoes with leather studs and track shoes with metal spikes. Together they survived the economically challenging times and in 1926 demand increased significantly. They had outgrown the family washroom so Adi and Rudolf decided to take over unused production space at another Herzogenaurach firm located next to the train station. At the second location, they installed more machinery and increased the staff to 25 people who produced 100 pair of shoes daily.

Despite the complex political climate in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, Geda became a success, their big breakthrough coming in the form of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where the athletes they equipped won no fewer than two world and three Olympic records, as well as seven gold, five silver, and five bronze medals in Dassler shoes.. This included the legendary African-American runner Jesse Owens who ran the meet of his life and sprinted to four gold medals.

In 1938 Adi and Rudolf opened another factory on Würzburger Street in Herzogenaurach to meet the increased demand that followed the Berlin Olympics. The company’s success could have continued to go through the roof, if wasn’t for the severe setback that would forever impact their business and personal relationship: World War II. 

With the start of the war in 1939 Adi and Rudolf were required to report for the military draft and from the middle of July 1940 Adi served as a radio operator in the Air Force, though was released from military duty by January 1941.In addition to external pressures of the War, internal strife began to manifest itself as the brothers disagreed over business matters. For Adi, shoe development took priority while his brother was fixed on the cash flow and profitability of the company. Geda’s operations were paused for a time as the business was converted from a shoe factory into a weaponry factory. Rudolf was then drafted into the German Army in 1943, while Adolf stayed at home, and the disagreements only seemed to escalate. In Rudolf’s opinion, Adi did not possess the business acumen to lead the company. During his absence, he wanted to be informed about every business decision and, additionally, suggested that his wife Friedl act on his behalf. Adi declined his brother’s suggestion because it ran counter to their prior agreement that stipulated the remaining brother would perform the duties of both owners. The conflict, which through multiple letters took on a progressively hostile tone, irreparably damaged the relationship. The bond between the brothers appeared cut, their separation was only a question of time.

After the war ended, Rudolf returned, having been imprisoned for one year, and Geda's operations resumed. This is, until 1948; after over 30 years of working together, Adolf and Rudolf abruptly shuttered Geda and separated. To this day nobody knows what caused of the dispute. Not even their grandchildren know, although there are many theories.

One theory is that Rudolf was increasingly suspicious that his brother Adi was behind his conscription into the army in the first place, and then because Rudolf fled the front in 1945 and was arrested on his way back, he believed it was because Adolf gave the US occupiers information about his brother to get him out of the way.

According to another theory, Adolf was jealous of his brother — something was rumoured to have happened between Rudolf and his brother's wife, and he was known as a womaniser. Another reason for the feud that are cited are strife between their respective wives, who did not get along, yet were forced to live in the same villa. Whatever the real reason was, little did the brothers know that their rivalry would change the sporting goods industry forever, nor that it would still be profoundly shaping the small town of Herzogenaurach, where both companies are based, to this day.

That same year the company disbanded, Rudolf established Puma, which was initially named Ruda (short for Rudolf Dassler) but later was renamed Puma after the animal. In 1949, Adolf established Adidas, likewise named for himself (AdiDassler). Geda's workforce and resources were split between the brothers. Adidas kept the factory by the train station and two-thirds of Geda's employees, as most employees preferred Adolf's emphasis on product development over Rudolf's sales-oriented approach. Rudolf kept the factory on Würzburger Street and the remaining third of the workforce. 

Hardly anyone in Herzogenaurach could escape the effect of the family's quarrels.

The river Aurach divides Herzogenaurach; Puma's factory was to the south and Adidas's factory to the north. Puma and Adidas were the biggest employers there, and at least one person from each family worked for one of these companies. It's said that the Dassler family quarrels were so divisive that the Puma and Adidas employees, as well as their families, avoided speaking to each other; they patronized separate bars, bakeries and barber shops. Married couples, both of whom worked for different brands, were virtually non-existent. From people's habit of looking at each other's shoes to see whether they were affiliated with Adidas or Puma, Herzogenaurach got the nickname "the town of bent necks". 

The two biggest football clubs in Herzogenaurach, FC Herzogenaurach and ASV Herzogenaurach, were sponsored by Puma and Adidas respectively. As a result, a strong sporting and personal rivalry formed between the players and the fans of each of these teams.

After World War II Germany was initially banned from international football, and German products such as athletic shoes were unpopular in foreign countries.

West Germany was allowed to participate in the 1954 World Cup, the first to be televised; Adidas and Puma worked to change people's perception of their sporting brands and achieve international exposure. Since the rift between West Germany's national team's manager, Sepp Herberger, and Rudolf prevented Puma from sponsoring the West German national team, Adidas sponsored the West German national team and supplied uniforms and boots to the West German players. The West German team defeated the favorites, Hungary, and won its first World Cup. As a result, Adidas received positive international coverage. Adidas was able to get a hold in the international shoe market and grow faster and become bigger than Puma. 

In the 1970 World Cup, Puma won the business battle. The most famous athlete in the world at that time was Brazilian footballer Pelé. Pursuant to a sponsorship deal, Pelé asked the referee to stop the game before the opening whistle so that he could tie his shoes, and thus all the cameras were focused on his Pumas. Pelé led Brazil to glory, winning the 1970 World Cup, and his star power greatly contributed to the improvement of Puma's image in the eyes of the public and led to an increase in sales

In the following three decades, both Adidas and Puma rose to dominance and signed deals with athletes such as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier (Adidas) and members of the Brazil national football team (Puma). Adidas introduced shoes customized for different sports, and grew rapidly. Puma, driven by Rudolf's sophisticated sales approach, kept chasing Adidas throughout these decades. 

Rudolf died in 1974 followed by Adolf in 1978. The brothers were buried at opposite ends of Herzogenaurach's cemetery. Even though the two camps within their home town finally mollified after their deaths, there are still Puma and Adidas families in Herzogenaurach today, although the friction has eased into a less aggressive rivalry — the companies have become more international and only a fraction of the workforce has grown up in the town. But if you walk through Herzogenaurach today, the number of people wearing branded clothing really is striking — from clothing to shoes, almost every inhabitant, young or old, is wearing either Puma or Adidas. Employees of the two companies will tease each other about their clothes when they meet on the street, but nowadays it's more to poke fun.

Yet, the two brands are rarely seen in combination — you can get through a whole playground of kids dressed in one brand from head to toe.

But still, in an interview with Michael Dassler, the grandson of Puma founder Rudolf Dassler, it was revealed that there are still members of each side of the family that to this day, do not reference the other brand in their own homes.