Puma Born From Adidas' Rib

Herzogenaurach, a 1000-yeal old village in northern Germany is home to not one, but two big time athletic brands—Adidas and Puma.

A recent article in Sports Business Journal (subscribers only), profiled Puma's CEO, Jochen Zeitz and his affinity for blending fashion with sports.

Douglas Holt, L'Oreal Chair of Marketing at the University of Oxford said, "He reinvented Puma to live at this intersection, as the most stylish sports brand, or perhaps the most sporty fashion brand."

The article also recounts the history of Adidas and Puma. From 1924 until 1948, Rudy and Adolph Dassler sold sports shoes under the Dassler Bros. brand, drawing admiration of Olympians like Jesse Owens. Rudy split from his brother in 1948, forming Puma and making a town divided from what was once a company town.