Written By: Nusayabah Samrin
The history of Adidas started in Herzogenaurach a small town in Germany where the Dassler family lived and the story is about the two sons in the family, the brothers name was Adolf and Rudolf Dassler. Adolf began to make shoes in his mother’s wash kitchen(laundry room) and his goal was to create something that was going to help athletes perform better, that is why she started creating shoes. What Adolf invented was the most famous shoes design at the Olympics was the shoes with the spices on it, which allowed runners to run faster. He was the inventor and the creator of the product and his brother Rudolf was the sales and marketing person, who would take that shoe creation and try to sell it.
Unfortunately, Adolf and Rudolf had a disagreement and Adolf kept doing what he did and stay where he was but Rudolf moved to the other side of the river, in the same town and he started his own company. Soon after, Adolf started a company that has since grown into Adidas. For those who did not know, the name Adidas came from Adolf’s nicknames “Adi” and his last name “Dassler” which became Adidas and the name can be pronounced in European or North American Accent.
Fun fact is that Rudolf went across the river to start his own company called Puma and both the Adidas and Puma companies are still based in the small town of Herzogenaurach, Germany, across the river from each other.
Ever wonder why there are three strips on each side of the Adidas shoe, what is so symbolic about it? Adolf was very focused on footwear that one of the things he was trying to do was that the footwear remained stable while wearing the shoes as a person does any physical activity, so it was important to keep in mind the size of a person’s feet don’t slip. So the idea Adolf came up with was that instead of adding extra fabric or materials on the outside of the shoes that are super bulky, he was thinking about how he could put little strips of material to give a person wearing the shoe that stability. So it went from 4 strips, then 3 strips then 2 strips and finally the iconic 3 stripes.
“Impossible is nothing” is Adidas campaign which has been running for a few years and the latest version of this is “I am possible”
Lesley Hawkins the vice president of Adidas has been in retail for a very long time and how she came to be in the position that she is in today. She moved to Montreal to study in McGill university, she started off studying in entrepreneurship and accounting but she realized that accounting was not for her so she moved to marketing, which was the best decision she made for herself. While studying she needed a job and she got a job in the golf industry which spiked a passion for her which she spent working in for 31 years. After Lesley graduating she went to work for a very small company of only 3 people, that’s why she left there and went back to the gold industry.
Then Lesley started working for cobra which is a new up coming company and she worked as the Junior Administrative Support Clerk, so she got a chance to work in every business field. Then she moved onto Titleist and Footjoy who needed someone to run marketing and she was open to doing that. Lesley had to move to toronto to run Footjoy and she had no idea about gold but she learned. When she started with Foot joy it was number one on the market place and it was a good position and she was the only woman at the table, the only female executive and that was because the gold industry and very male dominated industry.
Finally Lesley did a lateral move to Adidas and it was a creative place, fun, Innovative place to work. She took over adida golf and when the sold tailor made they want her to be the general manager for Adidas golf Canada and then in september they came to her saying “so what do you know about retail” and Leasley said “little bits” and then they asked her how do you felt about running retail for Canada and Lesley was all in. As you can tell from her job experience she loves sports and that’s what makes her get up everyday in the morning to do her job.
We had the opportunity to meet Lesley Hawkin as a class and learn about the Adidas company.
Also, don’t forget to go and check out the brand new store Adidas opened at Sherway Garden mall on March 11 2022, it’s fresh, new and exciting. You don’t want to miss out!
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