An aggressive entrepreneur, Adi Dassler was the first to use sports promotion in order to make the public aware of his innovations. He started using well-known athletes like Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali and Franz Beckenbauer as advertising for his products, and developed the optimal shoe for almost every sport in conjunction with the world’s top athletes. By the 1984 Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles, 124 out of 140 nations were competing in the brand with three stripes.
Adi Dassler in his factory workshop in Germany - 1927
Today, the adidas product range includes shoes, apparel and accessories for specialist sports ranging from bobsled to fencing. The company is Europe’s biggest supplier of athletic footwear and sports apparel, but collaborations with fashion royalty like Stella McCartney and Yohji Yamamoto, as well as their cult-like association with hip-hop legends Run DMC have also made adidas an icon in street couture.
The founding idea behind adidas was as simple as it was brilliant. Company founder Adolf Dassler’s aim was to provide every athlete with the best possible equipment. It was this principle that guided him right up until his death in 1978. Seven hundred patents and other industrial property rights worldwide are proof of his permanent quest for perfection. It all began in 1920 when a young Adi – a passionate athlete himself – began making canvas shoes in his mother’s kitchen using the few materials available after the First World War. By the mid 1930s Adi Dassler was already making 30 different shoes for eleven sports, and he had a workforce of almost 100 employees. In less than two decades adidas advanced to become the world’s leading sports shoe manufacturer. After the turmoil of the Second World War, Adi Dassler made a fresh start. In 1947, with 47 workers, he began putting into practice the knowledge gained from the pre-war period and also new ideas. He made the first post-war sports shoes using canvas and rubber from American fuel tanks. In 1948 he introduced adidas as the company name, a combination of his own first and last name. One year later he registered the unmistakable Three Stripes logo. But the real breakthrough came when Germany won the Football World Cup in 1954. In the legendary final against Hungary, the German team wore boots with revolutionary screwin studs – by adidas, of course. Half a century later the brand is the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup and has produced the match ball for all major soccer events since 1970, making adidas virtually synonymous with the beautiful game. Adi Dassler with football boots worn by Germany in the 1954 World Cup
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