Story of bitter Adidas vs Puma family fallout to be told in new TV series


The bitter brotherly feud that sparked the creation of sports-shoe brands Adidas and Puma in the same small German town in the 1940s is to be turned into a television series with the help of family archives, its producers have announced.

Hollywood-based film producer No Fat Ego is backing the project, which has the blessing of the family behind the Adidas empire founded by Adolf โ€œAdiโ€ Dassler.

It will delve into one of the most fascinating fraternal blow-ups in corporate history, which pitted Adi against his brother Rudolf (โ€œRudiโ€), who went on to create rival Puma.

The two men jointly ran a family-owned footwear company before falling out during World War II, with their post-conflict animus splitting their town of Herzogenaurach to this day.

Rudolf โ€œRudiโ€ Dassler (left) and Adolf โ€œAdiโ€ Dassler. Photo: Handout/Getty Images
Rudolf โ€œRudiโ€ Dassler (left) and Adolf โ€œAdiโ€ Dassler. Photo: Handout/Getty Images

Scriptwriter Mark Williams, behind the hit Netflix series Ozark, has been hired to lead the project and is currently going through Dassler family home videos and memorabilia to work on the story.

โ€œEverybody knows the brands, but the story behind them is something we donโ€™t really fully know,โ€ Williams said at the Cannes Film Festival, which is currently running in France.

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