Puma Group

Activity

The company manufactures sports equipment under the brands Puma and Tretorn, has subsidiaries in the USA (about 20% of total sales), France, Switzerland, Spain, and Hong Kong. Over 1/3 of products made in Germany are exported. The company (as of April 2008) owns a network of 116 stores (including 20 in Russia).

The number of personnel in 2006 was 6.8 thousand people. Profit in 2007 amounted to 2.37 billion euros (including the number of chain stores - 406.4 million euros), net profit - 269 million euros.

Story

Soon after World War I, in the early 1920s, the Dasslers at the family council decided to carry out a family business - sewing shoes. 1 product of the Dassler family were family slippers and orthopedic shoes for disabled athletes (of which there were a large number after the war). The material for them was decommissioned military equipment, and the soles were cut out of old car tires.

The brothers Adolf (Adi) and Rudolf (Rudi) Dassler played a leading role in this family business, in 1924 they officially registered the “Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory” (“Gebrüder Dassler”). 2 brothers with reverse morals were complemented by a friend of a friend - Adolf - a measured and balanced manufacturer, while Rudolf is an active and sociable salesman.

In 1925 Adolf invented and sewed the world's first studded football boots. The football model turned out to be comfortable and, together with gymnastic slippers, became the leading product of the Dasslers. The demand for their shoes was so great that in fact, in 1926 they were able to build a factory that employed 25 people and produced up to 100 pairs of shoes a day. In 1928, the brothers' spikes, created jointly with Joseph Weitzer, received a patent from the German bureau. At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, the brothers' shoes are seen for the first time in major sports. At the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, the German-German Arthur Jonat, speaking in Dassler shoes, became 3rd in the 100 meters. This was the first major triumph of a marketing campaign based on collaboration with athletes.

Subsequently, the beginning of World War II, not paying attention to the fact that both Dassler brothers were staunch members of the Nazi Party, the Dassler factories were confiscated by the Nazis, and the brothers themselves went to the front. At one of the factories, the Nazis tried to make hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, however, the factory equipment was not adapted for such manufacture, as a result of which Adolf was returned from the army a year later - to make training shoes for German soldiers

The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach fell into the South American zone of occupation. Rudolph ended up in a prisoner of war camp, the Dassler factory supplies 1,000 hockey skates to the United States under the terms of indemnity. As compensation for the skates, she receives decommissioned USA Army ammunition - tents, shabby baseball gloves, etc. In 1946, the occupation ended, Rudolf returned from a prisoner of war camp. The brothers had a chance to raise the family business almost from zero. Dassler shoes were again made from the remnants of military ammunition, and 47 employees received wages with a product (wood, yarn, etc.)

In the spring of 1948, shortly after the death of the founder, the brothers parted due to discord. Rudolf arrested a fresh factory for himself, and Adolf an old one. They agreed not to use the name and symbols of the home firm. Adi called his own company Addas, and Rudy called his own RuDa (from Rudolf Dassler). But after a few months, Addas reincarnated into adidas (short for Adi Dassler), and Ruda into Puma. For example, the world-famous brand at that time, Dassler, ceased to exist.

The brothers themselves, until the end of their own days, kept silence about the grounds of discord. It is likely that Rudi, for example, did not manage to excuse Adi, in fact, that after the war he did not try to release him from the prisoner of war camp, using his acquaintance with South American officers. And it has the opportunity to be, they simply failed to share the legacy of the founder. In any case, after the collapse of the home company, the brothers did not talk to each other (except in court), and Puma and adidas became the most fierce rivals.