Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums, for communication between foot health professionals about podiatry and related topics.
You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members (PM), upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, earn CPD points and access many other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisments in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport
by Barbara Smit; 2008
Quote:
The fascinating story of the enemy brothers behind adidas and puma, whose rivalry shaped the modern sports business
Adidas and Puma are two of the biggest global brands in sports, paying stars, clubs, and competitions to show off their labels in stadiums and across magazine pages.
In Sneaker Wars, journalist Barbara Smit reveals the dramatic, character-driven story of these two power-houses. Started in their mother's laundry room in Germany, Adi and Rudi Dassler's shoe business was an instant success, their spikes worn by Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics. But a vicious feud soon pulled them apart: by the end of World War II, the brothers split the company, dividing their family and hometown.
Adidas and Puma revolutionized the world of sport, their rivalry introducing behind-the-scenes deals and multimillion-dollar contracts. From Pelé to Joe Namath, Walt Frazier to Boris Becker, Muhammad Ali to David Beckham, they all contribute to the roller-coaster rise, near collapse, and revival of the two brands. A page-turning narrative, Sneaker Wars is a riveting blend of family drama, business, sports, and history.
Quote:
"Barbara Smit deserves high praise."
— Sunday Telegraph
"As a history of how so much of the world came to be shod in running shoes, SNEAKER WARS is a book you’ll read at a sprint. Drawing from dozens of interviews and stacks of documents, Ms. Smit reconstructs an anecdote-rich history of competition, commercialism and corruption."
— Wall Street Journal
"What does David Beckham’s superstardom have to do with a pair of warring Bavarian brothers in the early 1900s? More than you think, according to this compelling book."
— Time Magazine
"SNEAKER WARS is great for understanding the ins and out of the industry."
— Bobbito Garcia "Smit brings a keen reporter’s eye to the schism between Puma and Adidas. The book also ably tells the broader story of the red-hot global sneaker trade."
— Conde Nast Portfolio
Quote:
From Publishers Weekly
It's a long road between the Nazi spectacle of Adolf Hitler's 1936 Olympic Games in Munich and the media frenzy of David Beckham's 2007 move to Los Angeles, but there has been one constant during the intervening years of athletic history-sports shoes. This book traces the evolution of Gebrüder Dassler, a Bavarian shoe company founded by two brothers whose vicious feud led to the creation of two rival, iconic businesses: Adidas and Puma. Smit, an international business journalist, delivers a fascinating story of the complicated intrigues in the lives of both companies, as well as the founders and their descendants. The tale encompasses almost ever major sports figure in modern times, from Jesse Owens, (who wore Dassler shoes during the 1936 Games, unaware that the two brothers were members of the Nazi Party), to basketball legend Walt Frazier, whose signature Puma "Clydes" sold "well over one million pairs throughout the Seventies," kick starting the sports shoe-as-fashion statement trend. Overall, Smit provides a necessary account of how the growth in sports-related businesses has moved athletics "from jolly amateurism to unapologetic greed."
Re: Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport
netizens
A most interesting book. Herzogenaurach in Germany is where Adidas and Puma have been centred almost 100 years. After they fell out and became rivals the city has been divided ever since. The town even spawned two local rival football teams with pitches not more than 100 metres from each other - RSV is sponsored by Adidas, FC Herzogenaurach 1916 by Puma . In the 1920s, Adi and Rudi Dassler were not always rivals and worked happily at the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik. In 1954 The German National Team won the World Cup wearing Adidas screw-in boot studs the idea for which was claimed by Puma. Indeed Germany's national team has won all three of its World Cup titles in Adidas shoes. Rivalry continued and in 1962 World Cup , Pele wore Puma Boots. Later in 1971 Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier both donned Adidas boots for the "Fight of the Century".Court battles abounded over the years to prevent each other from claiming world supremacy for their products. Endorsements of sports stars also be came a game of one up manship with the management of sports stars like Boris Becker playing one company against the other.
A lot more interesting facts are revealed in this book.
Re: Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport
Quote:
Originally Posted by toeslayer
A most interesting book. .....A lot more interesting facts are revealed in this book.
This book only lasted a few night on the bedside table ...I could not put it down....better than a lot of novels I have read!
__________________
Craig Payne
Department of Podiatry
La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia http://www.latrobe.edu.au/podiatry
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________ God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things - right now I am so far behind, I will never die.
The views expressed above are those of the author and not that of La Trobe University This is where I am, where are you?
Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport
Linear Mode
