The adidas Archive. The Footwear Collection | BOOK | English Edition | Taschen Verlag

The thrill of the three stripes | The history of the adidas shoe, from the early beginnings to today

100 years ago, the brothers Adolf ("Adi") and Rudolf Dassler produced their first pair of sports shoes. TASCHEN now presents the first visual reappraisal of the history of the adidas shoe with over 350 models, including never-before-seen prototypes and unique rarities. We encounter Helmut Rahn's final game shoes of the "Miracle of Bern", special models for Run DMC or Lionel Messi, collabs with important designers, musicians and organizations such as Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartney, Yohji Yamamoto, Parley for the Oceans as well as groundbreaking techniques and materials such as the use of recycled plastic from the sea, for which adidas is already considered a pioneer today.

To further develop his products and tailor them to their specific needs, Dassler asked athletes to return their worn shoes after use (to this day, many athletes return their shoes to adidas, often as a thank you after winning a title or attempting a world record). This gave rise to the "adidas archive", one of the world's largest historical archives of a sporting goods manufacturer, which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been documenting comprehensively and in detail for years.

In order to further develop his products and tailor them to their specific needs, Dassler asked athletes to return their worn shoes after use (to this day, many athletes return their shoes to adidas, often as a thank you after winning a title or attempting a world record). This gave rise to the "adidas archive", one of the world's largest historical archives of a sporting goods manufacturer, which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been documenting comprehensively and in detail for years.

Using high-resolution reproduction techniques, as many details as possible were extracted from the shoes. Everything that can be seen - cracks, stains, grass residue, faded signatures - is genuine and brings to light the personal stories of each individual wearer. The viewer is enabled to discover the finest material details such as seams and weave structures and to trace the development of the adidas shoe in detail. With a foreword by long-time designer Jacques Chassaing and five expert essays, the volume documents German sports, design and business history from the beginnings of the Dassler brothers to the founding of adidas to the present day.

Sepp Herberger's instruction "Adi, stoll auf" is almost as legendary as Herbert Zimmermann's radio commentary. The outcome is well known: Germany becomes soccer world champion and Dassler becomes the "shoemaker of the nation". Or the quote from tennis legend Stan Smith: "Some people think I'm a shoe." Or the story of the superstar who became a lifestyle sneaker in the 80s thanks to the song "My adidas" by New York hip-hop group Run DMC. These are just some of the many stories that bring brands and heroes together. It will be interesting to see which sporting highlight comes next.


The photographers and authors:

Christian Habermeier has been working as a photographer and designer since 1989. He studied communication design and taught photography and digital illustration from 2000 to 2006. He also pursues his own projects in Cuba, Kenya, Nepal, India, Switzerland and Hong Kong. He founded studio waldeck photographers in 2000 and was able to realize his long-held vision of a CO2-neutral studio in 2013.

Sebastian Jäger studied design at the Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, specializing in moving image and photography. It was there that he met his former lecturer Christian Habermeier in 2005. Their joint company, studio waldeck photographers, serves clients from industry and the cultural sector. Since 2011, they have been visualizing the holdings of the adidas historical archive.

Content: Hardcover | 644 pages
Dimensions: 32 x 30 cm
Language: Multilingual (English, Italian, Spanish)