Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November 1900 – 6 September 1978) was a German cobbler, inventor, and businessman who founded the sportswear company Adidas.
He was the younger brother of Puma founder Rudolf Dassler. The brothers were partners in a shoe company Adolf started, Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik ("Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory"). Rudolf joined in 1924. However, after a feud developed between them following World War II, the brothers went separate ways and started their respective companies in 1948.
Dassler was an innovator in sports shoe design and one of the early promoters who obtained endorsements from athletes to drive sales of his products. From his concepts, he created Adidas, which had 17 factories and annual sales of one billion Deutschmarks at the time of his death.
Biography
The Dassler brothers' shoe factory (1918–1945)
thumb|The Dassler brothers' sports shoe factory near [[Herzogenaurach train station in 1928]]
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.
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.
As early as the 1928 Amsterdam Games, the Dasslers' footwear was being used in international competitions. The second key factor for the shoe firm in the early 1930s was the role sport played in Adolf Hitler's racial-nationalist philosophy. With the rise of the Nazi Party, athletic teamwork was prioritized. The Dassler brothers did not fail to see how their economic interests would benefit from politics and joined the Nazi Party on 1 May 1933, three months after Hitler became Chancellor. Rudolf was said to be the most ardent believer of the three.
In 1935, Adi decided that becoming a coach of and supplier to clubs affiliated with the Hitler Youth was essential to expanded production. During his denazification proceedings after the war, Adi pointed out that he had confined himself to coaching and avoided political rallies. He testified that he was involved in clubs with other political affiliations, such as a liberal gymnastic club, Herzogenaurach's conservative KHC football club and a workers' sports club named "The Union". Both Adi and Rudolf were members of the National Socialist Motor Corps, and in their correspondence both used the complimentary closing, "Heil Hitler."
In the early 1930s, Adi enrolled in the Schuhfachschule (the Footwear Technical College) in Pirmasens. One of the instructors was Franz Martz, a master producer of lasts. Dassler became a frequent house guest of Martz, who allowed him to begin a relationship with his fifteen-year-old daughter Käthe. On 17 March 1934, the two wed. Unlike Rudolf's wife Friedl (née Strasser), Käthe was somewhat self-assertive and suspicious of the brusque ways of Franconians. She had frequent run-ins with Adi's parents as well as Rudolf and his wife, all of whom lived in the same house.
Years later, in a letter to Puma's American distributor, Rudolf blamed the rift with his brother entirely on Käthe, claiming that she "tried to interfere in business matters". He claimed that the brothers' relations were "ideal" until 1933. Käthe gave birth to their son Horst in March 1936, their first daughter Inge in June 1938, and their second daughter Karin in 1941. After the war, two more daughters were born, Brigit in May 1946 and Sigrid in 1953.
thumb|170px|[[Jesse Owens with his record-setting long jump, wearing the Dasslers' shoes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics]]
Adi saw the Berlin Olympics as the key springboard for international exposure. Although his relation with Waitzer ensured that most German athletes wore Dassler footwear, he had another athlete principally in mind, American track and field star Jesse Owens. Adi found his way to meet Owens, who accepted a wordless offer and wore his shoes with two leather strips on the sides and dark spikes when he defeated Luz Long and set a new personal best in the long jump, in his two further individual gold-winning performances in track and as a member of the United States' upset of the German relay team.
Adi's association with Owens proved crucial to the success of the Dassler brothers' firm and immediately catapulted it into an international competitor in sportswear. When American GIs discovered that the Dassler factory was where the shoes for Owens' Olympic victories were made, they decided to let the works remain. Large orders for basketball, baseball and hockey footwear from the U.S. gave the Dasslers "the first boost on the road to becoming a worldwide success story." These anti-tank weapons were originally made at the Schriker & Co. plant in nearby Vach, which shifted assembly to Herzogenaurach to avoid Allied air raids. 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.
A nearby mayor, who was half-Jewish, testified that Adi warned him of a potential Gestapo arrest, and hid him on his own property. A longtime Communist party member testified that Adi was never involved in political activities. Adi showed that, far from profiting from the forced weapons production, the firm lost 100,000 marks. Despite Adi's evidence, the committee did not acquit him. Instead, they reclassified him as Minderbelasteter (Lesser Offender), a category of lesser culpability resulting in probation of two to three years with various conditions but still requiring that Adi not operate Dassler Shoes. Adi hired counsel to appeal the decision. Rudolf, who had just been released, saw this as his opportunity to wrest control of the business from Adi.
In the course of the appeal proceedings, Rudolf Dassler inserted statements that claimed that Adi Dassler had organized the production of weapons himself and for his own profit and that Rudolf would have resisted the change in production if he were present. He claimed that his brother had falsely denounced him and that Adi had made political speeches to employees at the plant. Among other proofs submitted by Adi's counsel was a strong denial of all Rudolf's claims by Käthe. On 11 November 1946 the Spruchkammer Höchstadt sitting in Herzogenaurach changed Adi's status to Mitläufer (follower), relieving him of most of his civil disabilities, but still required some supervision. On 3 February 1947, ownership was returned and he was formally granted permission to resume management of the firm.
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.
thumb|150px|The [[Adidas registered logo with the three stripes]]
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. 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.
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.
See also
- Dassler brothers feud
- German inventors and discoverers