Adolf "Adi" Dassler was a German cobbler, inventor, member of the Nazi party, and businessman who founded the German sportswear company Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma. Dassler was an innovator in athletic shoe design and one of the early promoters who obtained endorsements from athletes to drive sales of his products. As a result of his concepts, Adi Dassler built the largest manufacturer of sportswear and equipment. At the time of his death, Adidas had 17 factories and annual sales of one billion marks.
Dassler at age 15, c. 1915
The Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Factory near Herzogenaurach train station in 1928
Jesse Owens with his record-setting long jump, wearing the Dasslers' shoes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
A sculpture of Dassler in the Adi Dassler Stadium
Adidas AG is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike. It is the holding company for the Adidas Group, which also owns an 8.33% stake of the football club Bayern München, and Runtastic, an Austrian fitness technology company. Adidas's revenue for 2018 was listed at €21.915 billion.
Factory outlet in Herzogenaurach, Germany
Bernard Tapie, French businessman, owned Adidas from 1990 to 1992 but relinquished control due to debt.
An Adidas shoe, with the company's three parallel bars
Adidas has long been a popular manufacturer of astro turf football shoes – shown here a recent pair that has been a popular choice.
