Alongside Nike, Adidas dominates the sportswear scene. Through its long-running partnerships with some of the greatest sports organizations in history, like FIFA, which will remain partners with Adidas until 2030, the company has an incredible hold over the sports fashion industry. However, Adidas has also branched out over the years, making its voice heard in issues such as environmentalism. For example, the brand recently created a sustainable, low-impact sneaker with New Zealand-American company Allbirds. With its success, Adidas has developed a powerful presence on the Internet. Prospective buyers can find the brand’s clothes, shoes, and accessories on several platforms outside its website, including Instagram and Twitter. This reality is a direct result of the digital age.
The Internet has changed the way we consume information and the ease of access we now have to it. We can use search engines to read about the latest financial news, current events, and international affairs, or if you are a gambler, a solid article about free spins on card registration in the UK in 2021 and no deposit bonuses. Meanwhile, fashionistas can read why dark, gothic-inspired clothes are a re-emerging trend this year along with other fads; and researchers can find excerpts from scholarly articles, e-books, and data on just about anything one could think of. Still, with all the information we can get via search engines, Adidas’ fascinating history takes some digging through the page ranks.
How Adidas Came To Become What It Is Today
Give or take, most people have either owned something from Adidas or have considered purchasing something from the manufacturer, especially after Adidas started collaborating with Kanye West. Yet, little know Adidas’ history and how the company was the result of one of the greatest feuds in sports marketing.
Adidas’ story starts in Weimar, Germany, in the 1920s. Brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler launched their shoe company in 1924 called Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik, which is the ‘Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory’ in English. This company was an immediate success, being one of the first manufacturers in Germany to focus on sports shoes. It was so successful that the Dassler brothers even convinced an American sprinter called Jesse Owens to wear their leather spikes at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany. Amazingly, this American sprinter then won gold four times at the event: in 100 meters, 200 meters, 4 x 100-meter relay, and long jump.
Despite the continued success that Owens’ performance brought the company, tension picked up between the Dassler brothers toward the end of the 1930s, which resulted in them parting ways. Both brothers then created their own sports manufacturing company. This decision was the start of a decades-long feud that hit a peak at the 1970 World Cup game between Brazil and Italy. In 1949, Adolf Dassler, who went by the nickname Adi, created his company “Adidas,” combining his nickname and last name. A year prior, Rudolf founded his company, Puma.
Considering Adidas and Puma are such well-known brands, and how much information is floating around on the Internet, it is interesting how little people know about why the companies began. Many are surprised to hear that the founder of Adidas was the brother of Puma’s founder and that the companies only became separate entities because of a rift that happened in the 1940s. But that’s exactly what happened, and now we’re privy to this interesting tale.
