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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Editorial Reviews
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."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“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)
“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)
“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)
“Barbara Smit deserves high praise.” (Sunday Telegraph)
“First-class piece of investigative reporting... enthralling narrative tale... invaluable contribution to our understanding of shoes, sports, corruption.” (David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero)
“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)
“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)
“Barbara Smit deserves high praise.” (Sunday Telegraph)
“First-class piece of investigative reporting... enthralling narrative tale... invaluable contribution to our understanding of shoes, sports, corruption.” (David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero)
“SNEAKER WARS is great for understanding the ins and out of the industry.” (Bobbito Garcia)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Blue Roses
Format:Hardcover
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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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!
I have six competitive brothers, but the Dassler boys take the cake when it comes to being creative and vindictive with one another. Fascinating!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sole Brothers
Very informative book about the history and rivalry between two very stylish iconic sneaker brands. These two styles were neighborhood competitors throughout NYC in the 70s and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by LiteBlue Gator
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Book on the Amazing Sneaker Industry
This book was truly amazing. It is the never-before told story on the history of adidas and puma. What most people never knew was that they were really one family initially,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Brooklyn Joe
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the...
While on the surface Smit's "Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport" seems to be more of an... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Maxwell Fohrman
5.0 out of 5 stars
from an industry fan
highly recommended if you're interested in the industry and into how sports business was built from zero. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Paulo I. Mercado Gonzalez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great look at the start of the sports commercialization
Sneaker Wars sets out to cover a wide range of topics related to the rivalry between Adidas and Puma in addition to the start of the commercialization of sports. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Lehigh History Student
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting read, but more detail on Adidas.
I'm more of a Puma fan, but have a few things from Adidas too. This book offers interesting insight into how two feuding brothers created these two iconic companies in postwar... Read more
Published on December 31, 2010 by Don S.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!
What an amazing book, especially if you like sports, specially soccer, and would like to know more about its evolution throughout economical side.
Published on July 18, 2010 by Luís Gomes
3.0 out of 5 stars
Suspicious
Although it wasn't a very important part of the book, the details on the Run DMC account were blatantly wrong. Read more
Published on April 30, 2010 by Carl B.
3.0 out of 5 stars
David Beckham's Feet
Adidas and Puma are iconic sneakers. I went to junior high school on Long Island the mid 1980s and remember paying an inordinate amount of attention to what sneakers were being... Read more
Published on August 8, 2009 by Jason A. Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating story
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. Read more
Published on May 5, 2009 by Gil
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