“I started making shoes in my mother’s laundry room… and ended up putting them on the greatest athletes in the world.” 👟🔥 I grew up in a small German town, surrounded by war and scarcity. While other kids kicked around a ball, I was obsessed—with feet. How they moved, how they landed. I began crafting shoes by hand with old tools, scraps of leather, and no customers—just an overwhelming passion. I wasn’t trying to make stylish shoes. I wanted to make shoes that performed—that helped athletes push their limits. 🧵⚙️ My brother and I started a company together, but business and pride tore us apart. He founded Puma. I built Adidas. Two brothers turned into rivals. Even our families stopped speaking. But I kept going—testing spikes, designing shoes for sport, not fashion. Then came the Berlin Olympics. Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete, wore my handmade shoes in Nazi Germany—and won four gold medals. The world saw what a well-built shoe could do. 🏅🇩🇪 War didn’t spare me. My factories were bombed. My workers scattered. I had to rebuild everything from rubble. Day and night, I worked—not just to revive a brand, but to prove that passion could survive even the darkest moments. Adidas wasn’t just a label. It was my resistance. 💣🛠️ Today, Adidas stands as a global icon—not because of wealth, but because it was born from obsession: to help athletes perform better. It all started with one shoe, made by hand, in a humble laundry room. The rest? Fueled by persistence. 💪🌍 “When you build with passion, even mud becomes a racetrack.” 👣🔥 – Adi Dassler, Founder of Adidas