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The adidas Archive. The Footwear Collection

150
Availability: In Stock
The adidas story is one of groundbreaking designs, epic moments, and conceiving the all-around sports shoe, worn by the likes of Lionel Messi, Run DMC, and Madonna. A bible for sneaker fans, this book presents adidas’s history through more than 350 pairs of shoes from the “adidas Archive”, including one-of-a-kind originals, vintage models, never-before-seen prototypes, and designs from Stella McCartney, Yohji Yamamoto, Parley for the Oceans, and more.
Hardcover12.5 x 11.7 in.12.40 lb644 pages
“The smudges, the stains, the tears, the history and all 350 models feature in extremely high detail in this extraordinary tribute to this remarkable brand.”
Forbes
“A must for lovers of the footwear brand.”
GQ
“This book tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Adidas sneakers.”
highsnobiety.com
“A mecca for sneakerheads.”
robbreport.com
The adidas Archive. The Footwear Collection

The adidas Archive. The Footwear Collection

150

Three-Stripe Thrills

The history of the adidas shoe, from its earliest beginnings until today

100 years ago the brothers Adolf ("Adi") and Rudolf Dassler made their first pair of sports shoes. Hundreds of groundbreaking designs, epic moments, and star-studded collabs later, this book presents the first visual review of the adidas shoe through more than 350 models including never-before-seen prototypes and one-of-a-kind originals.

To further develop and tailor his products to athletes’ specific needs, Dassler asked them to return their worn footwear when no longer needed, with all the shoes eventually ending up in his attic (to this day, many athletes return their shoes to adidas, often as a thank you after winning a title or breaking a world record). This collection now makes up the "adidas archive", one of the largest, if not the largest archive of any sports goods manufacturer in the world—which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been visually documenting in extreme detail for years.

Shot using the highest reproduction techniques, these images reveal the fine details as much as the stains, the tears, the repair tape, the grass smudges, the faded autographs. It’s all here, unmanipulated and captured in extremely high resolution—and with it comes to light the personal stories of each individual wearer. We encounter the shoes worn by West Germany’s football team during its “miraculous” 1954 World Cup win and those worn by Kathrine Switzer when she ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, before women were officially allowed to compete; custom models for stars from Madonna to Lionel Messi; collabs with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartney, Parley for the Oceans or Yohji Yamamoto; as well as the brand’s trailblazing techniques and materials, like its pioneering use of plastic waste that is intercepted from beaches and coastal communities.

With a foreword by designer Jacques Chassaing and expert texts, each picture tells us the why and the how, but also conveys the driving force behind adidas. What we discover goes beyond mere design; in the end, these are just shoes, worn out by their users who have loved them—but they are also first-hand witnesses of our sports, design, and culture history, from the beginnings of the Dassler brothers and the founding of adidas until today.
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. In 2000 he founded studio waldeck photographers, and in 2013 he achieved his long-held vision of a CO2-neutral studio.

Sebastian Jäger studied design at the Georg-Simon-Ohm University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, focusing on moving images and photography, where he met former lecturer Christian Habermeier in 2005. Their joint company studio waldeck photographers serves customers from industry and the cultural sector. Since 2011, they have been creating a visual record of the holdings of the historical adidas archive.

The adidas Archive. The Footwear Collection
Hardcover31.8 x 29.6 cm5.63 kg644 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-7195-1

Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)

ISBN 978-3-8365-7196-8

Edition: Multilingual (English, Italian, Spanish)
Download product images here

5

/5

10 Ratings

Amazing Book

Zoltan,November 11, 2021
A must have for adidas shoe collectors.Fantastic book, so interesting!

Another kind of history

Ludovica,October 29, 2021
Very detailed and specific, so interesting to see the evolution of the shoes I've grown up in.

Unique and wonderful

Frank M.,October 27, 2021
This is a unique book with vintage and very cool images that underlie the enormous design scope of adidas. I love looking though this book got inspiration.

A must-have

Vincent,October 27, 2021
A very nice archive book guiding you through Adidas history with all their iconic creations.

the best history book on Adidas Footwear

Raul,October 27, 2021
this book is great, a great coffee table book for footwear fans! better than the adidas history printed some years ago by adidas store - rare models, and collection.