Adolf Dassler

Biography

The Dassler brothers' shoe factory (1918–1945)

Adi supported himself while attempting to start up his business by repairing shoes in town. Facing the realities of post-war Germany where there was no reliable supply for material for production or credit to obtain factory equipment or supplies, he began by scavenging army debris in the war-torn countryside: Army helmets and bread pouches supplied leather for soles; parachutes could supply silk for slippers.

Dassler became quite adept at modifying available devices to help mechanize production in the absence of electricity. Using belts, for example, he rigged a leather milling machine to a mounted, stationary bicycle powered by the firm's first employee. The business was driven by Adi's vision of specialized sport designs. He produced one of the earliest spiked shoes, with spikes forged by the smithy of the family of his friend Fritz Zehlein. He constantly experimented with various materials, such as shark skin and kangaroo leather, to create strong but lightweight shoes. Years later his widow, Käthe Dassler, said: "Developing shoes was his hobby, not his job. He did it very scientifically."

After the war, Rudolf wanted to become a policeman. But after he completed his training, he joined Adi's firm on 1 July 1923. With the support of the Zehlein smithy producing spikes, Adi was able to register Gebrüder Dassler, Sportschuhfabrik, Herzogenaurach ("Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Factory, Herzogenaurach") on 1 July 1924, where they were operating in a former washroom that was converted to a small workshop with manual electricity generation. By 1925, the Dasslers were making leather Fußballschuhe (football boots) with nailed studs and track shoes with hand-forged spikes.

Two factors paved the way for the transformation of the business from a small regional factory, which they moved to in 1927 from their parents' home, to the international shoe distributor it would become. First was the interest showed by former Olympian and then coach of the German Olympic track-and-field team, Josef Waitzer. On learning of the plant and Adi's experiments, Waitzer travelled from Munich to Herzogenaurach to see for himself. A long friendship developed between the two, based on interest in improving athletic performance with improved footwear, and Waitzer became something of a consultant to the company. The relationship proved extremely valuable in giving Adi access to the athletes, both German and foreign, at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Denazification (1946)

On 25 July 1945, about two months after the arrival of U.S. troops, Rudolf was arrested by the American occupation authorities on suspicion of having worked for the Sicherheitsdienst, the secret service of the Reichsführer-SS (commonly known as the SD), which had been engaged in counterespionage and censorship. He was sent to an internment camp in Hammelburg. Rudolf began to prepare a defense in which he asserted that he did not voluntarily help the Reich and did not engage in SS or SD activities. The American investigators soon discovered his early Nazi party membership and proof that he had volunteered for the Wehrmacht in 1941. They even knew that in Tuschin his job was to keep track of "personal and smuggling cases."

Rudolf's key problem was explaining his activities after he had been summoned to Nuremberg in March by the Gestapo. Rudolf maintained that he had been summoned on 13 March for an investigation of his earlier unauthorized departure from Tuschin, and did nothing but report daily to the Gestapo while they investigated him for over two weeks. He claimed that he had escaped on 20 March. Rudolf used written statements of his former superior in Tuschin, who was in the same camp and alleged to be the intelligence chief of the region, and a driver he had encountered after he was arrested by the Gestapo in April, who was incarcerated with Rudolf. Rudolf made much use of the latter's testimony, and averred that he had been sentenced by the Gestapo to Dachau concentration camp.

Rudolf claimed that the driver, who had been ordered to shoot all the prisoners en route, disregarded the order and continued toward Dachau, but was stopped by advancing Allied troops, to whom he released the prisoners, including Rudolf. The American investigator in charge of the case did not credit any of this testimony, which he regarded as mere cover for the unlawful activities of all three men. He noted that both Rudolf's wife and his brother Adi testified that Rudolf had worked for the Gestapo. The investigation continued for nearly a year. During that time, it became apparent that it was not possible to hold all the prisoners for a detailed examination of the case. The authorities decided to release all persons not deemed to be a security threat. Rudolf was released on 31 July 1946.

Before Rudolf was released, Adi had to appear before the denazification panel. The result was announced on 13 July 1946: Adi was declared a Belasteter, the second most serious category of Nazi offenders, which included profiteers, and could lead to a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for those convicted. The immediate threat was that he would be removed from management of the firm. His early membership in the Nazi Party and the Hitler Youth were not contestable. On appeal, he amassed a portfolio of testimony attesting to his good conduct during the war. Adi's staunchest supporter was Herzogenaurach's mayor, who the Allied forces trusted.

Founding Adidas (1946–1947)

After the war, the Dassler firm found itself with some of the same problems that it faced at the beginning. A world war had decimated the German economy, and supplies for the shoe factory were hard to come by. In addition, the firm had to convert back from weapons to shoe production. This time, the American occupying authorities were interested in reviving economic activity, so they gave the firm active encouragement. American officers had commandeered the Dassler house for their residence in April 1945, so Adi had close contact with officials who gave him access to unneeded war material for production. Until a source of leather became available, Adi made use of the rubber from fuel tanks and rafts and canvas from tents to make shoes. Adi was able to produce shoes, and save for the months in 1946 while under the classification of Belasteter. He was able to manage the business from July 1946 to February 1947 under the supervision of a trustee, until the business separation from his brother in 1948.

During the negotiations to separate the firm, Rudolf and Adi allowed the employees to determine which resulting firm they would work for. Because Rudolf had mainly concerned himself with sales and administration, most of the sales staff opted to join Rudolf at the Würtzburger Strasse factory. The rest, including almost all the technicians and those involved in product development and production, remained with Adi. Adi ended up with nearly two-thirds of the employees. To partially fill the void left by the departure of the administrative personnel, Käthe and her sister Marianne Martz joined the firm and acted in a variety of capacities.

Meanwhile, Adi was concerned about 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 1949, 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", but "Addas" was rejected on the ground that it was used by a children's shoe manufacturer. In his August 1949 company registration, Adi added a handwritten "i" between Ad- and -das to maintain the contraction (Adi Dassler). As a result, the company became known as Adolf Dassler adidas Schuhfabrik.

Adidas' breakthrough (1948–1978)

Like the Dasslers, Sepp Herberger joined the Nazi Party in 1933. In 1936, after Germany's humiliating quarter-final defeat by Norway at the Berlin Games, the Nazi sports authorities appointed him to coach the national football team. 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. The nature of the dispute is unknown. 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 1938 and began grooming him for the team. When war came, Herberger was able to keep Walter out of the army. After the war, Herberger was deemed a Mitläufer and the post-war German authorities continued him as the coach of the national team. Adi soon became a regular part of the entourage of the national team, who sat beside Herberger and adjusted players' shoes mid-game.

West Germany, established in May 1949, was not eligible for the 1950 World Cup, the first after the war, and so all preparations were made with a view toward the 1954 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 1950 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. The day of the final began with light rain, which brightened the prospects of the West German team who called it "Fritz Walter-Wetter", because the team's best player excelled in muddy conditions.

Dassler informed Herberger before the match of his latest innovation—"screw in studs." Unlike the traditional boot which had fixed leather spike studs, Dassler's shoe allowed spikes of various lengths to be affixed depending on the state of the pitch. As the playing field at Wankdorf Stadium drastically deteriorated, Herberger famously announced, "Adi, screw them on."

Personal life

Dassler was married to Käthe until his death from heart failure in 1978. They had 5 children. In 1973, their son Horst Dassler founded Arena, a producer of swimming equipment. Käthe died on 31 December 1984.

Adidas after his death

After Adi's death, his son and wife took over the management of Adidas. Horst died on 9 April 1987.

Adidas was transformed into a private limited company in 1989, but remained family property until its IPO in 1995. The last of the family members who worked for Adidas was Frank Dassler (the grandson of Rudolf), head of the legal department since 2004, who resigned in January 2018.

In 2006, a sculpture of Dassler was unveiled in the Adi Dassler Stadium in Herzogenaurach. It was created by the artist Josef Tabachnyk.