The history of adidas is the history of sport and culture. It has created its own history alongside the growth of the sports footwear industry since its inception. There have been hundreds of oddities and anecdotes along the way. FOOTDISTRICT chose 11 of them because ten seemed insufficient.
adidas’s original name
Adi Dassler called his brand addas, but because it sounded too similar to Ada-Ada, another shoe brand from the era, he was unable to register the name. In 1972, Salamander, which at the time was the biggest shoe manufacturer in Europe, acquired Ada-Ada.
The third Dassler brother
Everyone knows that the founders of adidas and Puma were brothers, but there was yet another enterprising brother in the family. Fritz Dassler set up his own factory for lederhosen, the traditional Bavarian leather pants, which for a time was located in the Dassler family home.
The origin of the trefoil
adidas found out in 1971 that while the three stripes were typically connected to their brand, many other businesses also made use of them. In order to address this issue, they came up with the trefoil design, which kept the three as the primary idea while showcasing the brand’s various possibilities. The adidas SL 72 was the first sneaker to feature it.
The logo with three stripes
adidas lost its leadership from 1978 to 1987 when Adi, Käthe, and Horst Dassler passed away. In an attempt to reclaim it, they placed Rob Strasser and Peter Moore in charge, two individuals who were intimately familiar with the brand having worked for the rival company and had spent the previous ten years attempting to destroy it. They were responsible for establishing the phenomenon that resulted from Michael Jordan.
Their first project at adidas was an Equipment collection that aimed to return to the fundamentals. To do this, they created a new image, which ultimately became the company’s new logo.
When Germany (almost) didn’t wear adidas
Although the German national soccer team has always been closely associated with adidas, they wore Erima instead of adidas from 1974 to 1980. adidas purchased Erima in 1976 and used both logos on their apparel.
Adi Dassler’s accident
While operating one of his machines, Adi Dassler, the founder of adidas, lost his left index finger.
adidas shoes made with human traction
A human engine propelled the first device Adi Dassler used to create his first pair of shoes.
adidas, in the beginnings of collaborations and luxury
Although the connection between luxury and sport appears to be very modern, Horst Dassler already had partnerships with designer Daniel Hechter in the 1970s, who assisted in the creation of some of the earliest adidas clothing. Hechter was the president of Paris Saint-Germain from 1974 to 1978, but his most well-known design is still the team’s jersey, produced under another Dassler brand, Le Coq Sportif, in that instance.
adidas and its beginnings in basketball
In 1949, basketball was an unpopular sport in Germany, but some of the first adidas boots were made for it. The goal was to provide basketball equipment to American soldiers who enjoyed the sport. His first shoe was called adidas Basketballstiefel, but it was quickly renamed Allround.
The Dassler couple, united by footwear
Adi Dassler, the founder of adidas, met his future wife Käthe through sneakers. Adi went to Pirmasens, a town near France famous for its shoe factories, to learn shoe design and construction processes. His teacher in last modeling was Franz Martz, Käthe’s father. The company Martz founded continues to create lasts for adidas.
Horst Dassler, sports marketing
Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of adidas, was the one who turned the brand into a global phenomenon. However, he was not satisfied with that. In 1982, he created ISL (International Sport and Leisure), a sports rights management company that completely revolutionized the way sponsorship was understood.
