Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sports

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Harper Collins, Mar 17, 2009 - Business & Economics - 400 pages

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.

 

Contents

14
163
Horst Christian Jannette Sergei Pavlov and Patrick Nally
169
collapse
187
Bill Bowerman
190
17
205
Horst Dasslers funeral
216
MultibillionDollar Rescue
229
Inge and Alf BenteBrigitte Baenkler
238

The Auberge du Kochersberg
62
6
67
Tommie Smith
74
7
77
8
87
Kareem AbdulJabbar Horst Dassler and Chris Severn
94
9
99
Mark Spitz Horst Dassler Alain Ronc and Georges Kiehl
107
soccer punch
111
Champions of the World
121
Muhammad Ali
135
12
137
André Guelfi
155
Bernard Tapie July 1990
253
21
259
triple bluff
273
Robert LouisDreyfus
284
the comeback
289
25
309
27
329
David Beckham
331
sources
345
bibliography
365
index
379
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About the author (2009)

Barbara Smit has written for The Financial Times (London), The International Herald Tribune, The Economist, and Time, among other publications. She lives in France.

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