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He was able to manage the business from July to February under the supervision of a trustee, until the business separation from his brother in During the negotiations to separate the firm, Rudolf and Adi allowed the employees to determine which resulting firm they would work for. The rest, including almost all the technicians and those involved in product development and production, remained with Adi.
Meanwhile, Adi was concerned in designing a distinctive look for his shoes, at least partially so that it would be possible to show which athletes used his footwear. He fell upon the idea of coloring the straps used for reinforcement on the sides of the shoes a different color than the shoes themselves. He experimented with different numbers of straps and ultimately decided upon three.
The "three stripes" became a distinctive mark of Adidas shoes. In March , Dassler registered the three stripe logo as the company's trademark. As for the company's name, the plan was to use a contraction of Adi's nickname and last name, much as Rudolf originally contemplated by naming his firm "Ruda" before deciding on "Puma", [ 27 ] but "Addas" was rejected on the ground that it was used by a children's shoe manufacturer.
In his August company registration, Adi added a handwritten "i" between Ad- and -das to maintain the contraction Adi Das sler. As a result, the company became known as Adolf Dassler adidas Schuhfabrik. Herberger began an association with the Dassler firm, having been cultivated by Rudolf Dassler. After the breakup, Herberger sided with the Puma firm, until Rudolf once again felt his authority challenged and insulted him.
Herberger switched his allegiance to Adidas. Some thought it involved the payments owed if the German team wore Puma shoes. In many respects, the fit was better with Adi, who was quiet, willing to learn the needs of football players and more innovative than his brother. Herberger's drive to make Germany a dominant force in international football predated the war.
He learned of 18 year old Fritz Walter in and began grooming him for the team.
When war came, Herberger was able to keep Walter out of the army. West Germany, established in May , was not eligible for the World Cup, the first after the war, and so all preparations were made with a view toward the matches in Switzerland. By that time Adidas's football boots were considerably lighter than the ones made before the war, based on English designs.
At the World Cup Adi had a secret weapon, which he revealed when West Germany made the finals against the overwhelmingly favored Hungarian team, which was undefeated since May and had defeated West Germany 8—3 in group play. Despite this defeat, West Germany made the knock-out rounds by twice defeating Turkey handily. The team defeated Yugoslavia and Austria to reach the final, a remarkable achievement, where the hope of many German fans was simply that the team "avoid another humiliating defeat" at the hands of the Hungarians.
Dassler informed Herberger before the match of his latest innovation—"screw in studs. As the playing field at Wankdorf Stadium drastically deteriorated, Herberger famously announced, "Adi, screw them on. The longer spikes improved the footing of West German players compared to the Hungarians, whose mud-caked boots were also much heavier.
Adolf adi dassler biography death: Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November – 6 September ) was a German cobbler, inventor and businessman who founded the German sportswear company Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma.
The West Germans staged a come from behind upset, winning , in what became known as the "Miracle in Bern. Adidas's fame rose both in West Germany, where the win was considered a key post-war event in restoring German self-esteem [ 52 ] [ 56 ] and abroad, where in the first televised World Cup final viewers were introduced to "the ultimate breakthrough.
They had 5 children. In , their son Horst Dassler founded Arena , a producer of swimming equipment. Horst died on 9 April Adidas was transformed into a private limited company in , but remained family property until its IPO in The last of the family members who worked for Adidas was Frank Dassler the grandson of Rudolf , head of the legal department since , who resigned in January It was created by the artist Josef Tabachnyk.
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Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. German cobbler, inventor, and entrepreneur — Dassler at age 15, c. Herzogenaurach , German Empire. Herzogenaurach, West Germany. Life [ edit ]. The Brothers Dassler Shoe Factory — [ edit ]. The denazification proceedings and the family rupture [ edit ].
Founding Adidas — [ edit ]. Adidas' breakthrough — [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Posthumous [ edit ]. Until adidas only produced shoes. Clothing, balls, and many other products adorned with the three stripes followed. He led the subsidiary on a growth oriented path, always with an eye on profitability. The four daughters Inge, Karin, Brigitte, and Sigrid, were also active contributors to the business from an early age.
Inge nurtured connections with the German sporting world. Karin was responsible for press releases, advertising, and public relations. Brigitte handled international customers and Sigrid managed the textiles department. Adi Dassler and Uwe Seeler screwing in longer studs; in the background: German national football coach Sepp Herberger.
By the end of the decade, the brand with the three stripes operated 16 factories and produced 22, pair of shoes per day. Nevertheless, Adi Dassler remained modest. He never sought the spotlight and seldom gave interviews. He was more interested in tinkering with new inventions, developing new ideas and putting them to practical use. Throughout this creative process, he approached his work in a precise, earnest, structured and always creative manner.
Over the years, he registered hundreds of patents to protect against competitors, Puma being one them. His best-known innovations: the continuous improvement of the screw-in cleats for football shoes, replaceable spikes for track athletes and the use of nylon soles to drastically reduce weight. Adi devoted himself not only to the functionality of the shoe, but also to weight reduction.
From the beginning, pliability and light weight distinguished his shoes from those offered by the competition. To achieve these design goals, Adi promoted the development of thin, strong, lightweight leather and suppliers made every effort to meet his demand. The weight of the newer models was cut in half with each shoe tipping the scale at only grams.
However, more than just the rewards of technical innovation drove his ambition. By the beginning of the decade, Adi had begun developing cutting edge sport shoes in close coordination with orthopaedic doctors and sports medicine specialists which led to specialized shoes for injured football players and track athletes. Without this special shoe, which he wore during the legendary game against England at Wembley Stadium, he would not have been able to play due to an injured Achilles tendon.
Adi Dassler also received recognition outside the field of sports as evidenced by the bestowment of two special honorary awards. A unique challenge: Shortly before the Olympic Games in Mexico , cinder tracks were replaced with rubberized, manmade material. In dry conditions, the surface was rough but when wet, the track was slippery.
Contemporary long track spikes were no longer suitable because they penetrated too deeply and remained lodged in the new surface. The resulting number of medallions won at the Olympic Games in Munich, the large majority of which were obtained by runners, spoke for itself: 80 percent of medals awarded went to track athletes wearing adidas shoes.
Throughout his life, he had only one wish: That athletes choose to wear his shoes because they were the best on the market and would carry them to the greatest success. In , several athletes asked if he could produce a practical shoe they could wear in the locker room or, better yet, even in the shower.
Adolf adi dassler biography pdf
Adi Dassler responded and the result was the Adilette rubberized modern form of sandal. Although it occurred to no one at the time, this adidas product not only became a best seller but also achieved cult status and continues to be worn by regular people for everyday use. In he produced the first track and field warmup suit, emblazoned with the iconic three stripes, so athletes could wear functional clothing before and after events.
With this move he intuitively laid the groundwork for the expansion of sportswear into the leisurewear market and simultaneously achieved a significant increase in public exposure to his trademark. Unfortunately, the decade of the seventies was marked by more than positive developments. Adi endured personal loss as he became the last surviving family member of his generation.
Maria, the only sister to the Dassler brothers, had already died in July at the age of A few months later, on 6 September, he died after a brief illness in the company of his close family. She set aside internal family disagreements that derived from the French operation, and requested her son Horst to return to Herzogenaurach to manage the parent company.
From then on Horst Dassler applied his business savvy and close connection to international sporting organizations to manage the entire company rather than just his operations in France. He pursued a business strategy to further the success of adidas in the lifestyle market. In addition to athletes, popstars and celebrities would also wear the three stripes.
On 9 April Horst Dassler died unexpectedly at the age of 51 continuing a phase marred by upheaval and changes of direction. The Dassler heirs entrusted management of the company to a business executive and for the first time, adidas was no longer led by a member of the Dassler family. Under the new leadership, adidas fell into an existential crisis.
Dassler and his brother Rudolph "Rudi" Dassler founded the world's first athletic shoe company, Gerbruder Dassler Dassler Brothers in In , Adi Dassler, who was an enthusiastic soccer player, designed the first cleated soccer boot; he also devised the first spiked track shoes at that time. The initial Dassler athletic shoe manufacturing was done in the home of Dassler's parents.
The track shoes were very lightweight, with a thin-soled construction and a leather upper. These shoes were designed to be a snug fit, to permit the runner to obtain a maximum benefit from each stride, as the amount that the runner's foot moved from side to side on impact was reduced through this design.
The Dassler company achieved considerable renown among track and field athletes during this period.
Adolf adi dassler biography
In , Jesse Owens , the legendary American track star who won four gold medals at the Summer Olympics, wore track shoes manufactured by Dassler. The Dassler brothers abruptly ended their corporate partnership in , when Rudi Dassler left the company to found Puma shoes, an organization that would ultimately rival that of Adi Dassler in Europe.
Adi Dassler renamed his company Adidas, an acronym formed from his own name. Dassler also introduced the now famous three stripe Adidas logo at that time. Dassler continued to develop new kinds of athletic footwear. In , he patented the Adidas soccer boot with removable rubber cleats. Within four years, twelve workers, including family members, were producing 50 pairs of shoes a day.
By , business was going so well that Adi could afford to indulge a minor fantasy. As an avid football player, he designed and made football boots with spikes that a local blacksmith forged for him. Thus, the spiked sports shoe was born. Proven both comfortable and effective, the football model, along with gymnastic slippers, became the Dasslers' main products.
Production quickly outgrew their backyard workshop. In , the Dasslers rented an entire building for their factory. By now, their workforce had increased to 25, and they were producing pairs of shoes a day. Soon, they were able to buy the factory they had been renting, and the entire family moved into a mansion nearby.
Adi no longer remembered his brief aspiration to become a baker. He was now consumed by the possibilities of developing sports shoes and testing them in actual competitions with his friends. The success of the spiked football boots inspired him to create specialized footwear for elite Olympic athletes. Dassler shoes made their first Olympic appearance at the Games in Amsterdam.
Rudolf dassler
But marked a pivotal moment for Adi. His first child was born, and at the Berlin Olympics, African-American runner Jesse Owens won four gold medals and set five Olympic records wearing Dassler shoes from start to finish. From that moment forward, Dassler became the de facto standard for athletic footwear. Adi's marketing prowess was evident.
In , the Dasslers opened a second factory in Herzogenaurach. Together, their enterprise was now producing 1, pairs of shoes a day.
Adolf adi dassler biography wikipedia
By this point, both Dassler brothers were fervent members of the Nazi Party. This marked the end of their shared sense of duty towards their country. Rudi went off to fight, while Adi remained to manage the family business. When Germany lost the war, Adi faced his own share of national disaster.