WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Did a Family Fued Spawn Adidas and Puma?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbaumb here with another episode from our archives. This

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<v Speaker 1>one tells the strange true story of how a family

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<v Speaker 1>feud in Germany led to the parallel creation of Adidas

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<v Speaker 1>and Puma, which are now in competition is the second

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<v Speaker 1>and third largest sneaker companies in the world. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and I'm here today to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>how family feuds can change the world. For example, if

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<v Speaker 1>only two.

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<v Speaker 2>Brothers named Oddi and Rudy Dossler had learned to get along,

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<v Speaker 2>Germany's Gobruder Dossler might have bested Nike, is the world's

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<v Speaker 2>top sports footwear company today. Instead, the brother's bitter feuding

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<v Speaker 2>resulted in the Gobruder Dossler brand that's German for Dossler

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<v Speaker 2>brothers being split in half and reborn as Adidas and Puma,

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<v Speaker 2>which today are the world's second and third top sports

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<v Speaker 2>shoe businesses. Adolf or I Dossler began making shoes in

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<v Speaker 2>his mother's laundry room shortly after returning home to the

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<v Speaker 2>Bavarian village of Hetzkunocha following World War One. His business

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<v Speaker 2>did well, and his older brother Rudolph or Rudy Dossler

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<v Speaker 2>joined him a few years later to help shy. Oddi

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<v Speaker 2>was the creative force and brains behind the business, while

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<v Speaker 2>extroverted Rudy was the salesman. The brothers Dossler soon gained

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<v Speaker 2>acclaim for rolling out the first track spikes. The company

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<v Speaker 2>really took off after the brothers persuaded American Olympic athlete

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<v Speaker 2>Jesse Owens to wear their shoes in the nineteen thirty

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<v Speaker 2>six Berlin Olympics. He did, and he won four gold

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<v Speaker 2>medals while doing so. Yet it wasn't quite the triumph

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<v Speaker 2>it should have been for the brothers, as things were

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<v Speaker 2>beginning to sour between the two. The bad blood had

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<v Speaker 2>started a few years earlier in nineteen thirty three, when

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<v Speaker 2>ADDIE's sixteen year old wife tried to interfere in the business.

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<v Speaker 2>Rudy was not pleased. It didn't help that Oddi's and

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<v Speaker 2>Rudy's families lived together in the same town home, and

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<v Speaker 2>their wives didn't really get along. But the breaking point

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<v Speaker 2>came during a World War II air raid. Ruddy and

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<v Speaker 2>his family were tucked into a bomb shelter and as

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<v Speaker 2>Addi and his family entered. Oddi said, the dirty bastards

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<v Speaker 2>are back again. He was purportedly commenting on the Royal

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<v Speaker 2>Air Force planes roaring overhead, but Rudy was positive Oddi

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<v Speaker 2>was referring to his family. From there, things quickly unraveled.

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<v Speaker 2>When Rudy was called up to serve in the Nazi

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<v Speaker 2>military in nineteen forty three, he was sure that Oddi

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<v Speaker 2>had arranged it to have him sent away from the factory.

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<v Speaker 2>Anxious to get back, Rudy deserted his post in nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>forty five. Later, when arrested for desertion, he again blamed Addi,

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<v Speaker 2>who it appears did snitch on him. After a few

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<v Speaker 2>more scuffles, the two split up the company in nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>forty eight, moving assets and employees into one of two

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<v Speaker 2>competing operations located on opposite sides of the Roof River

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<v Speaker 2>that flowed through the town. Oddi renamed his business Adidas,

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<v Speaker 2>combining his first and last names. Rudy did the same,

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<v Speaker 2>dubbing his Ruda, though he later changed it to Puma.

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<v Speaker 2>Soon most of the town's citizens were employed by either

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<v Speaker 2>Adidas or Puma, and these siblings intense rivalry spread throughout

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<v Speaker 2>the town. If you worked for one company, you did

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<v Speaker 2>not socialize with employees of the other. Marrying across enemy

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<v Speaker 2>lines was strictly foreboden. You only shopped in the stores

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<v Speaker 2>on the same side as the river as the factory

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<v Speaker 2>in which you were employed. Over time, Adidas far surpassed

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<v Speaker 2>Puma in sales thanks to Audi's creativity and technical acumen,

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<v Speaker 2>though Puma also did quite well. But while the two

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<v Speaker 2>were hard at work competing against one another, they paid

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<v Speaker 2>no attention to another shoe company, Nike, that was quietly

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<v Speaker 2>gaining market share. Today, Nike is king of the sports

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<v Speaker 2>shoe business with twenty seventeen sales of twenty one billion

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<v Speaker 2>dollars compared to Adidas's ten billion dollars and Puma's two billion.

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<v Speaker 2>The brothers did speak to one another a few times

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<v Speaker 2>later in life, but they never reconciled. Both died in

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<v Speaker 2>the nineteen seventies and were buried at opposite ends of

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<v Speaker 2>the local cemetery. Their feud finally ended in two thousand

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<v Speaker 2>and nine when employees of both companies played together in

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<v Speaker 2>a friendly soccer match. Nonetheless, the Dossler Brothers epic fight

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<v Speaker 2>was named by Time. Mack scene is one of history's

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<v Speaker 2>top ten family feuds, alongside such notables as Canaan Abele

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<v Speaker 2>and the Hatfields and McCoy's. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 2>the article the family Feud that spawned Adidas and Puma

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<v Speaker 2>on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Melanie Redzeeky McManus.

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<v Speaker 2>Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership

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<v Speaker 2>with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 2>Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the Airheartradio app,

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<v Speaker 2>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.