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Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sportsx$3.54
  (10 reviews)
Best Price: $3.54
Sneaker Wars is the fascinating true story of the enemy brothers behind Adidas and Puma, two of the biggest global brands of athletic footwear. Adi and Rudi Dassler started their shoe business in their mother's laundry room and achieved almost instantaneous success. But by the end of World War II a vicious feud had torn the Dasslers apart, dividing their company and their family and launching them down separate, often contentious paths. Out of the fires of their animosity, two rival sneaker brands were born, brands that would revolutionize the world of professional sports, sparking astonishing behind-the-scenes deals, fabulous ad campaigns, and multimillion-dollar contracts for pro athletes, from Joe Namath to Muhammad Ali to David Beckham.
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Customer Reviews
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A View into the world of sports shoes and attire
By A2S95HL82X7HEZ on 2008-05-13
Between the pages of this book lie the family saga of two brothers who ended up being torn apart due to war, personality and family. There is not really a happy ending although there is reconciliation among the posterity. Developing a better shoe and running a company are not necessarily the same thing as the players find out in this biography of two major shoe giant companies: Adidas and Puma. Although the book was good, it felt tedious and drawn out in place. I'm sure the author was trying to make sure that all the major players were included but maybe some of them should have been left out in the editing process. This was an interesting read into the world of sports and the attire accompanying the players and teams. Look for everyone from the soccer great Pele' to David Beckham and Joe Montana. I did appreciate the thoroughness that the author devoted to this work.
Sneaker Wars by Barbara Smit
By A2LHX5VSZNAEKX on 2009-08-31
A great read for anyone interested in the evolution of sports marketing.....
I have six competitive brothers, but the Dassler boys take the cake when it comes to being creative and vindictive with one another. Fascinating!
Three Stripes. Three Stars
By A1G5M4C5XPUX8H on 2009-01-10
Three stripes. Three stars.
Smit bills her book, "Sneaker Wars," as the story of the family and corporate competition behind Puma and Adidas, but this is an Adidas book and the story of the legendary footwear house divided. Brother versus brother. Father versus son. France versus Germany. Old World versus New World.
Smit begins with skeletal biographies of the founding Dassler brothers: Adolf (Adidas) and Rudolf (Puma). The brothers worked and lived together, but after a World War II falling out, Rudolf struck out across the river on his own, and a rivalry was born. It was a rivalry that would play out over 50 years and three generations; but, one that was dominated by the Adidas corporation and the Adidas personalities, and they equally dominate Smit's work.
The book follows the Adi/Rudolf split and then move on to the division that emerges within Adidas as Adi's son, Horst, sets up a subsidiary - if often antagonistic - France-based branch. Horst cuts his own deals, sets up his own side businesses to inflate his bottom line, and provides the hustle that takes Adidas from a European sporting goods outfitter to a global fashion empire. But, remaining closely-held for many years by some combination of Dassler family members and confidantes, Adidas is a multi-million dollar conglomerate often operating on a shoestring. The family dynamic provides the arc of conflict that sustains Smit's narrative, and her gracious portrayal of Horst Dassler as a visionary 21st century kind of global businessman in a still-flat world is the center of gravity that grounds the meat of the book's middle portion.
Horst emerges as an almost surreal character: gifted and tireless, but perhaps less than ideal in his moral approach to family and business. The story of Adidas during his life is about a house divided between his operation - run mostly autonomously out of France - and his parents' in Germany.
That division theme runs throughout the narrative as surrounding this interesting portrayal of Horst Dassler are the stories of (earlier on) the drama around the split of his uncle and his father, complete with Nazi intrigue and Olympic escapades; and (later on) the series of ownership and management changes that transitioned Adidas from the small family-owned German cleat maker into one of the Western world's most recognizable and marketable brands, and saw conflict between the Old World ownership and US-based management.
There are side trips off into some interesting characters (Muhammad Ali, Pele, Joe Namath, Kobe Bryant), but these fail to deliver in any meaningful way and it becomes clear that Smit really sees this as a Dassler story. That said, she does avoid focusing even on some of the more controversial elements of the Dassler story, for example, the founding brothers' documented ties to Nazism.
Captivating story
By A2YO5V4A7PM5SE on 2009-05-05
This book was exactly what I was looking for. I have been an avid fan of Adidas and always thought there was great similarity between Adidas and Puma. To read this captivating family 'Dynasty' style account grabbed my interest and has completely changed the way I view sports and marketing. An interesting read, fascinating account, and great for intellectual property / marketing / fashion culture enthusiasts.
Good book
By A3UGKS2W4NFQH8 on 2009-04-05
Found this book to be very interesting. A great historical account of the industry.
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