09/10/2018
"In the 1920s, the brothers partnered up and started the Dassler brothers sports shoe company, operating out of a tiny laundry room in their mother’s house, in the German town of Herzogenaurach, Bavaria.
These two boys went by the name of Adolf and Rudolph. Adolf was the thoughtful craftsman who designed and made the shoes, while Rudolph was the extroverted salesman who knew how to talk business. However, fame and acclaim only really kicked off after Dassler equipped numerous Olympians with their gear, resulting in Jesse Owens re-writing Dassler history after winning gold in the 1928 Olympics.
From this point on, there was no going back as word got out that the shoes created by the two German brothers was the recipe to their success…
Business started to really ascend for both but amidst all the success something sinister was brewing……World War II. Although nobody knows exactly what went on right before the split, rumor has it that a bitter fight broke out in a bomb shelter between the Dassler brothers. The outcome? A company split after 25 years, and a rivalry that would go on to exist for nearly 60 years.
The split sent waves across Germany and the town of Herzogenaurach. Adolf, nicknamed ‘Adi’, named his business Adidas. Rudolf, attempted to call his business Ruda, and later changed it to PUMA. Hence – Adidas and PUMA were born."
