Zietz and Hainer join together to celebrate PEACE ONE DAY.

New initiative ‘PEACE ONE DAY’ has bought together the two global leaders in sporting goods – Puma and adidas – to make them shake hands for the first time in 60 years following a family feud.

Puma and adidas were founded by brothers Rudolf and Adi Dassler – under the original name Gebrüder Dassler Sportschuhfabrick - in the 1940’s, but their partnership soon dissolved and Rudi left to form Puma, while Adi formed adidas.

PEACE ONE DAY was started by Jeremy Gilley as a film project in order to establish an annual day of ceasefire and non-violence. In 2001 he achieved his primary objective of having the UN general assembly adopt a resolution by all UN member states to formally establish an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

Puma and adidas will be playing football together on the upcoming PEACE DAY on 21 September as a show of reconciliation between the two companies.

Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of Puma, said: “We are uniting on this day as a commitment to Peace day. Our common goal being that our collaboration today will help create awareness for the day.

“Kofi Annan once said that ‘individuals can make a difference and collectively we can make a major contribution’. I believe that is the case also for companies.”

Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas AG, commented: “We at adidas are very proud to support PEACE ONE DAY together with Puma. We firmly believe that sport can bring the world together. Sport has shown this at countless occasions in the past and we are committed to the positive values found in sport: performance and passion, teamwork and fair play.”