ADOLF DASSLER

ADOLF DASSLER

German cobbler, inventor and entrepreneur who founded the German sportswear company Adidas.

Born                        3 November 1900

Herzogenaurach, Germany

Died                         6 September 1978 (aged 77) Herzogenaurach, West Germany

Occupation           Founder of Adidas

Political party       Nazi Party

Dassler was an innovator in athletic shoe design and one of the early promoters who obtained endorsements from athletes to drive sale 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.

In 1973, Adolf Dassler’s son Horst Dassler founded Arena, a producer of swimming equipment.

After Adolf Dassler’s death from heart failure in 1978, Horst and his wife Käthe took over the management.

Käthe died on December 31, 1984, and Horst died on April 11, 1987.

The last of the family members who worked for Adidas was Frank Dassler (the grandson of Rudolf), head of the legal department since 2004, who resigned in January 2018.

In 2006, a sculpture of Dassler was unveiled in the Adi Dassler Stadium in Herzogenaurach.