Adolf Dassler

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Adolf "Adi" Dassler (November 3, 1900 in Herzogenaurach (Germany) - September 6, 1978 in Herzogenaurach), mainly known as Adi Dassler, is the founder of the German sportswear company adidas.

Trained as a baker, Adi Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's washkitchen after his return from World War I. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe-factory, and the brothers Zehlein, who produced handmade spikes in their blacksmith's shop, supported Dassler in starting his own business. In 1924, his brother Rudolf Dassler joined the business. At the 1928 Olympics, the company equipped several athletes.

Because of personal disputes, Rudolf Dassler left the company in 1947 and founded PUMA. Hereupon, Adolf Dassler named his firm adidas.

Equipped with these adidas shoes that had exchangeable studs, the German national football team won the 1954 FIFA World Cup in heavy rain. The 2003 movie "Das Wunder von Bern" (The miracle of Bern), a retelling the story of Germany's triumph, presents Dassler's invention as a key to the nation's success. This victory gave a huge confidence boost to post-war Germany, and the inclusion of adidas in the movie can be seen as huge publicity for the company.

Adi Dassler's son Horst established a French adidas branch in 1959, laying the foundation for the international expansion of the company. In 1973, Horst Dassler founded Arena, a producer of swimming equipment. After Adolf Dassler's death in 1978, his son and his wife Käthe took over the management. adidas was transformed into a private limited company in 1989, but remained family property until its IPO in 1995.