This day in Adidas history

On this day in 1949 Adi Dassler registered his shoe making company Adidas. The name Adidas came from the the shortened version of his first name (Adolf) combined with the the first part of his last name Das. Later on the name was said to be an acronym for "all day i dream about sports".

The business dates back to 1920 when Adi, a big sports fan, made his first pair of soccer shoes from old World War I scraps found in battlefields. Around this same time his dad converted their weaving factory into a shoe factory. At the time these shoes were very cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear. In 1923 Adi's brother Rudolf entered the business as a sales man. By 1937 the family business was making 30 different models of shoes for 11 different sports.

Following a rift in the family due to political ties during World War II the two brothers split up. They split apart the business and Adi kept the larger of the two factories. Adi had created all of the designs and shared his patents with his brother. So Rudolf began creating shoes that were basically his brothers for a company known today as Puma.

Adi began using white leather support stripes along the sides to differentiate himself from puma. The business started its great success when the west German soccer team needed a sponsor. Puma had already landed and  lost the contract. The shoes became famous on July 4 1954 when the west Germans conquered Hungary for the world cup. Adi's adjustable spikes on the soles of the shoes were credited with giving the Germans the advantage. The coach was so impressed he actually instead Adi stand in the victory photo.

From humble beginnings of a man making shoes from old scraps found in a filed to one of the largest sports companies in the world Adidas has truly come a long way.