The adidas Archive. The Footwear Collection

A$180 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Cologne : Taschen, 2020. Quarto, 34 x 38 cm, (weighs 5.6 kgs), illustrated boards, publisher s illustrated box, pp. 644, illustrated. New copy. Photographs by Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger 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

• Binding: Hardcover

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