This Fierce Sibling Rivalry Gave Birth To Adidas and Puma

The older brother Rudolph was a good salesman while Adolph was the one designed and crafted the shoes. Like most other citizens at that time, they were recruited to the Nazi party in 1933.

In 1936, Dassler shoes got famous when African-American athlete Jesse Owens agreed to wear their running shoes during the Berlin Olympics in Germany. When the athlete won four medals, he also increased the sales of the shoes. However, the two siblings started to have conflicts around this time. Their wives also reportedly ‘did not like each other from the very beginning’ which became another factor that fueled their rivalry.

There were other reasons too. During an Allied bombing, Rudi and his wife were already sitting in a shelter. When Adi and his spouse arrived, Adi made a comment about the town getting bombed again. Rudi took this personally.

Eventually, Rudi served in the army. During his service, he suspected that Adi and his wife made plans for him to be sent in the battle’s front as a way to get rid of him, and he then continued to blame his misfortunes on his brother. Adi on the other hand was busy selling shoes to American soldiers at the time.

In 1948, the brothers officially split the company into two. Adi launched his new business called ‘Adidas’, while Rudi established ‘Ruda’ which he later renamed ‘Puma’. Their competition only ended when the brothers eventually passed away around the early 2000s.