Adidas Versus Puma - ebook

INTRODUCTION

The one-time employees of Adidas and Puma are likely not to forget the first dozen or so years of the rivalry taking place between two brothers. This brotherly feud left its mark on the life of the entire town where Adolf and Rudolf Dassler were born and where they chose to set up their company. The residents of Herzogenaurach were often divided by discord, even in everyday, informal situations. Disputes and animosity became commonplace in the town ever since the two Dassler brothers had gone their separate ways both in terms of their professional and private lives. Puma employees not only had a habit of sitting at a distance from those working for Adidas in bars and restaurants but, now and then, they also liked to ostentatiously leave the premises to express their feelings towards the competing company. Public areas became unofficially segregated, and it was routine to take sneaky peaks at footwear to check which company's employee one was dealing with. With time, the Aurach river transformed into a symbolic boundary between two very different worlds. Brand loyalty reached such degrees that completely absurd situations were not that uncommon. Those who belonged to the opposing "team" were condemned to social ostracism. However, the brothers' parting of ways was felt most acutely by their family. Its members could not remain impartial when faced with this escalating conflict. Rudolf found support in his mother Pauline and his older brother Fred, while the brothers' sister Marie chose to stand by Adolf. The grandchildren of the brothers recall that as kids, they were allowed to stay in contact with only specific members of their family. The rivalry between the Dasslers seemed to have no end.

How did this inflammatory conflict come about, and who were the creators of the companies that currently employ almost 70,000 people worldwide with sales reaching tens of billions of euros? Here we will strive to provide you with some genuine answers to these and many other questions related to the Dassler brothers. Making use of varied sources, we will also outline the historical background and the social norms of the times in which these legendary brands were born. The story of Adidas and Puma is not limited to dry factual data and sales statistics.

The timeline of the companies established by the Dassler brothers tells the history of world sports starting from the inter-war period and continuing to the present day – from Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin while wearing Dassler shoes, through football legends such as Pelé and Maradona, to today's sports stars and celebrities readily promoting both brands. The story of the two brothers from Herzogenaurach is interwoven with other threads of vital importance not only to the world of sport. This is because the Dassler enterprises have had a significant impact on the German economy, which managed to bounce back after the Second World War with great success. The beginnings of Puma and Adidas are branded by the stigma of the Third Reich and the period of the NSDAP's influence. The "brownshirt" reality made it plain to the young company owners just how difficult it was to run a business without entertaining good relations with the Nazi authorities.

The Dassler family saga centres around Adolf and Rudolf – two distinctive personalities whose dispute will prove to be a confrontation between a passionate creator of innovative footwear and an individual with a mentality of a businessman and sales representative. Who emerged victorious from this fraternal showdown, and how was this achieved? The answer to this question will be anything but simple and obvious...CHAPTER I

The beginnings

Success is no accident.

It is hard work, perseverance, learning,

studying, sacrifice and most of all,

love of what you are doing or learning to do. –

– Pelé

So as to understand the tumultuous lives of the originators of Adidas and Puma, we need to travel back to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This was when the town of Herzogenaurach saw the birth of the two brothers who were destined to change the face of sport around the world. However, before we get to know them, let's transport ourselves to a time and place which served as a background for the shared venture of the Dassler brothers at the very start.

The history of this town, which currently has 23 thousand residents and is located about 25 kilometres north of Nuremberg, dates back to the tenth century. In the late Middle Ages, Herzogenaurach was famous for its textile production, with the cloth-making industry playing a vital role in its functioning until the last decade of the 19th century. Thanks to a large number of cloth-making workshops, almost half of the town's residents enjoyed stable employment in this industry. And we should emphasise that 100 years ago, as many as four thousand people lived in this Bavarian town. We can only imagine the degree of interest in anything linked to the production of all types of fabrics and the importance of maintaining that status quo for the livelihood of most families residing in the area.

This being said, progress is unstoppable, and changes are inevitable. Thus, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the town of Herzogenaurach gradually broke off with its tradition of cloth-making, leaving its inhabitants in need of retraining. The former weaving workshops were being replaced by shoe production facilities, while many workers who had been involved in the textile industry were forced to look for other jobs.

Christoph Dassler – the father of the future founders of the leading footwear companies – was one of many who lost their job as a result of the economic situation of the late 19th century. His financial plight forced him to leave his hometown and seek his fortune further afield. He found more than he hoped for in the town of Gera, situated about 200 kilometres from Herzogenaurach. While in Gera, Christoph not only found a job but also met a girl whom he proposed to soon after. Pauline accepted the proposal, and the first children of Mr and Mrs Dassler were born there. In 1894, they became the happy parents of a daughter, Marie, and four years later they had a son, whom they named Fritz.

Unfortunately, the family idyll was marred by problems of the mundane and their financial insecurity. The unstoppable industrial revolution, which revelled in replacing employees with machines, once again left Christoph and his family without a source of income. In their desperation, the Dasslers packed their few belongings and moved to Herzogenaurach.

As shoe-making seemed to be an increasingly popular profession among the residents, Christoph decided to embark on another challenge in his life. He rolled up his sleeves and started earning money to support his family by taking a job in one of the biggest shoe factories in the town – the Fränkische Schuhfabrik. The company was a popular employer in the town, which might have been a sign that Christoph would also strike lucky in the future.

The Dassler family's future finally began to look a little more optimistic. Meanwhile, the family continued to grow. Apart from their daughter Marie and son Fritz, both born in Gera, Paulina and Christoph were blessed with other offspring. A second baby boy was born on 26 March 1898. Rudolf, called Rudi, was six years younger than Fritz and four years younger than Marie. Two years later, on 2 November 1900 to be exact, the youngest addition to the family was born – a boy called Adolf, who was always referred to as Adi.

Not much is known about the childhood years of the Dassler children. What is known is that the family did not have much money and had to economise on a daily basis. To improve their financial circumstances, Paulina ran a small laundry with the help of her daughter. This family-run business was situated behind the house on the Am Hirtengraben Street, and with time it earned a reputation of a reliable and honest place where clothes were washed thoroughly and on time. Mrs Dassler was happy that she could contribute to the household budget and as time went on, also the youngest Dasslers began to benefit from the little enterprise. Fritz, Rudi and Adi did not want to sit back while their mother and sister washed the clothes of the town's residents. The boys decided to help out by taking care of the delivery side of the business. There were two benefits to this – it streamlined the operation of the laundry and allowed the boys to earn some money given to them as a tip by the grateful owners of the freshly washed sheets and clothing.

Regrettably, we don't know how young Dasslers fared at school, as there is no documentation available. This most likely can be explained by the turmoil of the Second World War, when numerous buildings, including archives, were destroyed.

What we do know is that after finishing school Rudolf initially thought about following in his father's footsteps, and that is why he began an apprenticeship at the Fränkische Schuhfabrik. Unexpectedly, his plans were thwarted by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. He and his older brother Fritz were drafted into the army and sent to the front in Belgium.

Adi – being the youngest son – could breathe a sigh of relief when he initially was not called up. All the same, he was forced to deal with some other difficulties. One such issue was the choice of a profession that would not only bring him sufficient income but also satisfaction. On the one hand, he saw his future in shoe production and enjoyed conceptualising his future designs. On the other, he felt the pressure to satisfy his parents' expectations. Adi's parents, anxious about the shoe factories closing down as a result of the war, attempted to persuade the youngest son to choose a completely different path to the one he set his heart upon.

Adolf found himself in quite a sticky spot. He needed to weigh his dreams and ambitions against the rational advice he received and his sense of duty. Whatever he chose, it would lead to internal conflict. Adolf, who until then was always calm and obedient, tried to stand up to his father, but to no avail. Parental pressure proved more powerful than the boy's determination, and in November 1914 Adi began his three-year baking apprenticeship. However, this did not mean that he gave up and abandoned the pursuit of his coveted goal. His dreams built around a shoemaker's passion, and his love of sport simply had to be put on ice for a few years. However, Adi's fascination with the production of footwear and physical activity would ultimately win over the safe, professional choice suggested by his parents.

When taking a closer look at the young man who temporarily had to don a baker's apron, we should emphasise that Adolf was always immensely captivated by sport. He successfully tried his hand at countless sports disciplines – athletics, ice hockey, boxing, football, and even ski jumping, which he practised on a makeshift hill that he built together with his friend Fritz Zehlein. His need for physical activity, to always "be on the move", and his adrenaline spikes were a poor match for the rather unexciting responsibilities of a baker's apprentice. It was not surprising, therefore, that Adolf was not overly keen about his job and only seemed to have agreed to his parents' plan temporarily. In order to pull through, he told himself that this was only a transitory stop in his professional life rather than a life choice.

The everyday circumstances of our protagonists forced them to go with the tide, while allowing them very little impact on their own life. Although both Rudolf and Adolf came up with an idea to start producing footwear and thus follow in their father's footsteps, external circumstances were not overly conducive to these aspirations. The continuing war made it impossible to plan too far ahead and buried any ambitious plans, such as starting a business.

As previously mentioned, in 1914 the war effort called up Rudolf and Fritz, and in 1918 the 17-year-old Adolf was also drafted into the army. He was sent to the Belgian front; however, his military service did not last long. This athletic young man was fortunately called up only in the final months of the conflict. Adolf was demobbed as early as 1919 and managed to make a safe return to Herzogenaurach together with Rudolf and Fritz. However, he no longer seemed to fancy baking bread in a bakery, where his parents wanted him to work. Adolf knew exactly what he wanted. What is more, he knew exactly how he would achieve it.

Not long after arriving in his hometown, he put his plans into action. He was keen to prove that his dreams were not detached from reality and that hobbies could go hand in hand with running a business. In line with his convictions, Adolf embarked on undertakings that others considered as condemned to failure. He became involved in the manufacture of sports shoes. Because of its novelty, this idea seemed extravagant and baffling. Meanwhile, taking into account Adolf's passions, whom he would stay true to until the very end, the plan to specialise in this particular type of footwear was only natural.

Thanks to his fascination with numerous sports disciplines, Adi was able to understand the diverse expectations of professionals. He knew which aspects of shoe design were of vital importance for a particular sport. Such a personalised approach to footwear designed for specific sports activities was to produce surprising results. Adi knew that well-chosen shoes could ensure a crushing advantage over competitors. He was aware of just how important aspects such as shoe weight, grip or flexibility of the sole were for athletes. Adolf attached great importance to the type of materials used, the reinforcement of certain parts of the shoe or the overall durability of the footwear in particular disciplines. He himself was known to put the solutions he invented to the test. When doing so, Adi paid attention to the anatomy of the foot and the wear of the individual parts of the shoe. All this meant that to call him an ordinary manufacturer of sports accessories would be a great insult to his artistry, which he used in the manufacture of his superior-quality products.

Meanwhile, the footwear that was to satisfy his ambitions and guarantee athletic triumphs was being produced in a rather makeshift workshop, where Mrs Dassler once ran her inconspicuous laundry. After the war, it was standing empty, as the economic collapse forced many families to lower their living standards. As a result, very few residents could afford the luxury of outsourcing their laundry, so the mother of our two protagonists had to close up shop.

Adolf saw this as a challenge to finally make his vision of his own footwear company a reality. Of course, this also provided him with an excuse to avoid going back to the bakery. He shrewdly made use of the opportunity presented to him by the post-war reality and transformed the old laundry into a brand-new business. Adi was planning to focus on the production of specialist footwear for athletes; however, before this could happen, he needed to make a great number of compromises.

Fortunately, Adi had plenty of enthusiasm and, most importantly, he believed in the importance of pursuing dreams. His interest in sports combined with his willingness to blaze a trail nobody has ever trodden before in the shoe industry made him inclined to deliver the impossible. He treated all stumbling blocks as an incentive to act. This is what happened when Adolf came across a shortage of raw materials which were needed by his small footwear workshop. What he decided to do is travel round the neighbouring villages to collect items left behind by soldiers vacating the area. Everything that could be useful ended up in his workshop to be used in the production process. In this way, Adolf got hold of large stocks of leather and other durable materials previously used to make parachutes, military tents or backpacks for the army.