Adolf "Adi" Dassler was the founder of the German sportswear company Adidas.Trained as a cobbler, Adi Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's laundry after his return from World War I. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe factory, and the Zehlein brothers, who produced the handmade spikes for track shoes in their blacksmith's shop, supported Dassler in starting his own business. On 1 July 1924, his older brother Rudolf Dassler joined the business, which became the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik.