The adidas Archive
The Footwear Collection
In 1924 the Dassler brothers, Adolf ("Adi") and Rudolf, made their first pair of sports shoes. After hundreds of innovative designs, epic moments and stellar collaborations, Taschen's "Adidas archive" book offers an updated visual panorama of adidas shoes across nearly 200 models.
To develop and adapt footwear to each athlete's needs, Dassler asks them to return worn shoes when no longer used, and they all end up in his attic. Many athletes return their shoes to adidas, including as a thank you after breaking a record or winning a major title.
From here was born the collection that constitutes the "Adidas archive", one of the largest of any sporting goods manufacturer in the world.
Photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been visually documenting it in detail for years.
These images reveal minute details as much as stains, tears, repairs, grass stains and faded athlete autographs. There is nothing retouched or manipulated, just real images captured at very high resolution that highlight the personal stories of each athlete who wore them.
Documented in the book are, among others, the shoes worn by the West German soccer team during their 1954 World Cup victory and those worn by Kathrine Switzer when she ran the Boston Marathon in 1967 (before women were officially allowed to participate). ).
Custom models made for stars are described, from Madonna to Lionel Messi and for collaborations with artists such as Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartney or Yohji Yamamoto, in addition to the "pioneering" materials and techniques of the German brand.
Complete with expertly written text, each image tells the "why and how" and describes adidas' driving force. What you discover by reading the book goes beyond the design and creation of sports shoes. It tells the stories of athletes who wore them and often "loved" them, witnesses of sporting, design, fashion and cultural history, from the beginnings of the Dassler brothers and the founding of adidas up to recent days.
Taschen has been creating beautiful books since 1980, synonymous with accessible publishing, helping enthusiasts from all over the world to create their own library of art, anthropology, aphrodisia and much more at affordable prices, always remaining faithful to the company's beliefs.
