Fashion career profile

Adolf "Adi" Dassler

Adolf 'Adi' Dassler was a German shoemaker, product innovator and the founder of adidas. He began making athletic footwear in Herzogenaurach after the First World War and worked in the Dassler brothers' factory before the brothers separated. On 18 August 1949 he registered adidas with 47 employees and the three-stripe trademark. Dassler developed footwear by listening to athletes and adapting products to particular sports, surfaces and conditions; the screw-in-stud football boots associated with West Germany's 1954 World Cup win became a defining example. He led the company until his death in 1978, while ownership, present management and later product divisions remain separate records.

Role
Founder, adidas
Nationality
German
Age at death
78
Career appointments
1
Fashion houses
1