The Miracle of Bern and Adidas

Germany was very slowly recovering from the destructions of World War II. The country had lost millions of men; ten of thousands remained in the Soviet camps of Stalinist Russia, and a whole generation was growing up almost without fathers. Women not only had to rebuild the destroyed German cities after the war, they also had to replace men in the families in the raising of children and in the struggle for feeding the family. Poverty dominated every-day life, and the "Wirtschaftswunder"of economic productivity had only just begun.

When prisoners of war returned from Russia, they were confronted with a society alien to them, and with their sons, who were in search of new role models, which their fathers couldn't be. The members of the German national soccer team - the heroes of Bern - turned out to be those role models.

The "Wunder of Bern" was just as much a miracle as the result of very clever sports tactics and superior equipment - Adi Dassler, founder of sporting-goods giant Adidas, had invented adjustable cleats for this German team.

The World Cup victory was in many ways the first positive experience for post-war Germany as a nation. It inspired the German people´s spirit and, some say, encouraged them to achievements, even the economic production known as the "Wirtschaftswunder".

The following videos show the highlights of the last 6 minutes of the 1954 World Cup final, which is legendary in history...

Adi Dassler - the man who gave Adidas its name

Adolf Dassler was inspired by a single idea when he made his first shoes in 1920, at the age of just 20. His vision was to provide every athlete with the best footwear for his respective discipline. It was this principle that guided him right up until his death in 1978. 700 patents and other industrial property rights worldwide are proof of his permanent quest for perfection.

His first shoe, made from the few materials available in the difficult post-war period, was produced from canvas. A passionate athlete himself, from the very beginning Adi Dassler was in close contact with sports participants and was always present in person at important sports events.

Adi Dassler focused his work on the classic disciplines of track and field. Athletes wore special shoes from his workshop for the first time at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. In the mid 1920s he was already experimenting with spikes.

In the mid 1930s Adi Dassler was already making 30 different shoes for eleven sports, and he had a workforce of almost 100 employees. In less than two decades adidas advanced to become the world’s leading sports shoe manufacturer.

After the turmoil of the Second World War, Adi Dassler made a fresh start. In 1947, with 47 workers, he began putting into practice the knowledge gained from the pre-war period and also new ideas. Adi Dassler made the first post-war sports shoes using canvas and rubber from American fuel tanks. In 1948 he introduced adidas as the company name, a combination of his own first and last name. One year later he registered the - to this day - unmistakable Three Stripes.

The breakthrough came for Adi Dassler when Germany won the Soccer World Cup in 1954. In the legendary Final against Hungary, the German team wore boots with screw-in studs – by adidas.

Over the years adidas cleats has revolutionized the way soccer shoes are made. Always staying at the fore-front of soccer shoes design and technology. Adidas soccer cleats was the first to introduce special soccer shoes with studs and spikes.

Parallel to the rapid developments in sport, Adi Dassler strove to specialize and optimize his products. Adi Dassler was the first entrepreneur to use sports promotion in order to make the public aware of his innovations. He started using well-known athletes as advertising for his products. Many famous athletes such as Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Max Schmeling, Sepp Herberger and Franz Beckenbauer counted themselves among the friends of the Dassler Family.

Aggressive publicity became one of the cornerstones of his corporate policy. From now on, Adi Dassler came up with a product innovation for every major event, documenting the superiority of adidas footwear. In constant contact with active athletes in a wide variety of disciplines, he developed the optimal shoe for almost every sport. Together with his son Horst, Adi Dassler created an international company that was, and still is, present at all the world’s sporting events.

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