Usain Bolt is a Puma man. Source: AFP
THE town of Herzogenaurach in Germany has a population of 22,000 people. It sits on the Aurach river and is 23 kilometres northwest of Nuremberg.
Herzogenaurach is like any other German town except for one big 'but'. It's the battleground of one of the world's most infamous business rivalries: Adidas versus Puma.
This is not the garden variety rivalry of Coca-Cola versus Pepsi or Apple versus Microsoft. This was deeply personal and it bitterly divided a town for 60 years.
The war between Adidas and Puma began in the 1920s when brothers Adolf (Adi) and Rudolph (Rudi) Dassler were partners in the Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Company. According to Fortune, Adi was the quiet one who designed the shoes while Rudi was the confident salesman.
What precipitated the split between the brothers is still debated. One version of the story claimed the brothers wives couldn't stand each other. Another said Rudi had an affair with Adi's wife.
Rudi Dassler's legacy. Source: Supplied
Adi Dassler's legacy. Source: Supplied
There are also stories that tell of when Rudi was called up for military service during World War II, he thought Adi and his wife had schemed to have him sent to war to get him out of the way. Rudi also suspected his brother had ratted him out to the Allies, or so the legend goes.
The final straw was, apparently, an incident during an Allied bomb attack. Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter already occupied by Rudi and his family. When Adi walked in, he supposedly said "the dirty bastards are back again", referring to the planes but Rudi thought his brother was talking about him and his family.
From then on, the schism was permanent and it was vicious.
When the war ended, the brothers split the company and set up their businesses on opposite banks of the Aurach river. Adi named his company Adidas (a combo of his first and last names) while Rudi called his business Ruda, before ultimately settling on Puma.
Maybe you're an Adidas fan? Source: Supplied
Herzogenaurach became a town divided. Puma and Adidas dominated the economy of the town and most of its citizens ended up working for the firms. If you worked for Puma, you didn't speak to an Adidas person. If your family worked for Adidas, you didn't marry someone who worked for Puma. Certain local businesses would only serve people who worked for Adidas or it would only serve people who worked for Puma.
People would look down at your feet before they decided if they would acknowledge you.
Klaus-Peter Gabelein of the town's local Heritage Association told the Guardian: "Even religion and politics were part of the heady mix. Puma was seen as Catholic and politically conservative, Adidas as Protestant and Social Democratic."
But the intense rivalry also drove both companies to become two of the biggest sportswear brands in the world.
This model may be wearing an Adidas top but she's also wearing Puma socks. Sacrilege. Source: News Corp Australia
When the Dassler brothers died in the 1970s, they were buried in the same cemetery but at the opposite ends of the grounds. However, there was rumoured to have been a secret meeting between the brothers before their deaths but it was kept secret from their families, their workers and the town because it would've been bad for business.
But the hatchet wasn't officially buried until 2009 when a friendly football match was organised to heal the wounds.
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