The Adi Dassler System
A look back at Adi Dassler’s obsessive, athlete-first system and what today’s sportswear giants are desperately trying to rediscover.
The history of sportswear has a long timeline. One of the most influential figures in the evolution of sports shoes is Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas.
Adi is a product of a larger family shoe production, most notably his older brother Rudolf, with whom he ran Gebrüder Dassler until they split in 1948. A once-shared ambition of two brothers turned into a bitter rivalry, fueling Adi to pursue competitive strategies that we see in sports brands today.
One of these strategies would come to be known as the “Adi Dassler System.”
What is this System?
Not defined as a classic business framework, it was simply placed as a label for Adi’s method of operating. Adi was an incredibly personable man who would obsess over solving the direct problems of athletes. He famously travelled to meet athletes, observe their movements, ask for feedback, and then return to his factory to iterate.
Adi is, of course, the pioneer of this system. However, Adidas was for a long time a family business, until its restructuring decades later. This meant his wife and other family members were central to the system as well. Adi would go as far as having athletes stay in the house with his family to work.
The highest exemplification of this system was Adi Dassler’s relationship with then-German head coach Sepp Herberger. Like something out of a movie, timelines and characters aligned to create something magical. Adi Dassler worked hand in hand with Sepp Herberger to provide the best football boots for the German team to wear during the 1954 World Cup. With countless iterations throughout their training and preparation, Adi had the honour of journeying alongside them.
Then, dramatically, the “Wunder von Bern” occurs. Germany, down on the odds, defeats the favourite Hungary 3–2 after trailing by two goals. An injection of euphoria surges through a Germany starving for a glimmer of silver lining in a scarred and war-torn nation. And what brand stands at the forefront of the team? Adidas.
The Adi Dassler System is the modus operandi behind the foundational elements that the global brand was built upon. Developing products for and in collaboration with athletes. This might not be a new phenomenon that Adi created, yet he adopted the concept and dedicated himself to it like no other.
The Lessons
One of the oldest lessons in business is that great businessmen have great relationships. This rings true with Adi Dassler. Nurture the relationships in your field, and they will reward you.
Another key outcome of Adi’s style was that he established product-market fit. Before marketing, Adidas ensured it had the right product. Products that the best athletes wore on the track or field. The closeness to the athletes ensured the product added value.
Parallels with Today
The style of working directly with athletes in order to generate world-class sportswear has been copied and re-established across different verticals and different brands. However, it holds a particularly important lesson for the top leaders of the sportswear game. I am directly referring to Adidas and Nike.
The Adi Dassler System is an old-school success story that both brands are desperately trying to rediscover.
Exponential growth across all of sports inevitably leads to a dilution of identity. The parallels with today are clear. The race to be everywhere—every sport, every culture, every trend—comes at the cost of the core identity that once made them meaningful.
For Nike, that origin was running. It was their soul. But somewhere along the way, they lost sight of it. Now, that very space is being redefined by niche challengers like ON Running, who are reclaiming the performance-first ethos.
Want to read more like this? Check out my Nike piece here.