Why are Adidas and Puma rivals? Either because the brother’s wives didn’t like each other or because one brother thought the other brother was the reason he was conscripted into the German army.
When you think of famous sports brands, you probably think of Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics, and many Reebok. I’m sure you can come up with more, but those are my top five. There are a lot of people that aren’t aware Adidas and Puma were actually started by two brothers: Adolf Dassler and Rudolf Dassler. Rudolf was the older brother, born in 1898, and Adolf was the younger, born in 1900. Adolf was more commonly known as Adi.
They started out as friends, rather than rivals. Adi wanted to be an athlete, but the First World War got in the way of that ambition. After the war ended, he decided to focus on making shoes for athletes. There wasn’t really any choice in shoes for athletes and they basically wore the same kind, no matter the sport. Adi realized that different sports needed different kinds of shoes, and he set out to make some. The war had left Germany in a very bad state and there were no materials available for him to begin his shoe business. He started by making shoes from any materials that he could find, such as helmets, parachutes, and gun holsters. He even had to attach his bicycle to the sewing machines because there was not enough power. Rudolph joined his brother in 1923, and they set up the Dassler Brother’s Sports Shoe Factory. The business rapidly took off because Adi’s ideas about shoes captured international attention. There were not many people making shoes for individual sports. Also, the Nazis came to power and stressed the benefits of exercise, which increased the number of shoes they were selling. Both brothers joined the Nazi party to keep in favor. All the German athletes in the 1936 Olympics wore the Dressler brother’s shoes, and so did Jesse Owens, who went on to win four gold medals. It seemed like the company and the brother’s fortunes would keep going up. The brothers were already not happy with each other. Adi was interested in shoe development and innovation, while Rudolf was interested in cash flow and profitability. They argued a lot. And then World War 2 started.
The company was allowed to keep producing shoes for a while, but it was also converted to make munitions for the war effort pretty quickly. And, here is where the first possible cause of the brother’s feud starts. Adi was conscripted into the German army in 1940. He trained for about 6 months, and was then discharged on the reason that the company couldn’t run without him. Rudolf was conscripted in 1943 and wasn’t discharged. He had to fight until the end of the war. Rudolf thought Adi would run the company in to the ground and he wanted to be kept informed of every decision. He tried to get his wife installed in his place, but Adi refused.
Their feud worsened and the two families were living together. Their wives didn’t like each other and often fought. There is a story that when Rudolf was home on leave one month, there was an air raid and they had to hide in the basement. Adi said “the pig dogs (schweinhunde) are back,” meaning the enemy planes, but Rudolf and his wife were entering the shelter at the moment he said it and Rudolf though Adi was talking about them.
At the end of the war, Rudolf was imprisoned by the allies and spent a year in prison. During this time, Adi was desperately trying to keep the company going. Rudolf blamed Adi for the fact that he had been conscripted and the fact that he was imprisoned. He believed that his brother had used his influence with the Nazi party to have him conscripted, while Adi kept himself out of the war. He never forgave his brother for this perceived slight.
After Rudolf was released, their animosity only worsened and there was no way the two of them could work together. Their wives despised each other and the brothers couldn’t stand each other. Rudolf still bore his grudge (which was probably not true) about being conscripted. The brothers decided the only option was to sell the company, split the profits, and start their own companies, which they did. Adi started Adidas, which is his name. Rudolf started RuDe, which was from Rudolf Dessler, but he changed it to Puma. And the rivalry continued.
Each brother was based on opposite sides of the River Aurach in Herzongenaurach, and the town’s loyalties were spilt as well. The brothers went out of their ways to avoid each other and their companies fought for lucrative deals as well. Each thing they won or lost only increased their hatred of each other. Their feud reached such a level, that they demanded to be buried as far away from each other as possible. They are both in the graveyard at Herzongenaurach, but at opposite ends.
Interestingly, neither company is owned by the respective families any more, both having been sold. And they have both been eclipsed by Nike, which was a later comer to the game. Perhaps, if the Dessler brothers had been able to work together, Nike wouldn’t be where it is today. Who knows. And this is what I learned today.
Sources
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/oct/19/rivalry-between-adidas-and-puma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassler_brothers_feud
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Dassler