The Adidas Archive. 40th Ed.

More than 100 years ago, brothers Adolf (Adi) and Rudolf Dassler created their first pair of sports shoes. Hundreds of groundbreaking designs, epic moments and star-studded collaborations later, this book presents a visual review of adidas sneakers through nearly 200 models.

To further develop and tailor his products to the specific needs of athletes, Dassler asked them to return their worn-out sneakers when they no longer wore them. All used sneakers eventually ended 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 forms the adidas archive, one of the largest, if not the largest, archives of any sports equipment manufacturer in the world - which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been documenting visually in extreme detail for years. Using the highest reproduction techniques, these images reveal the fine details as much as the stains, the tears, the repair tape, the grass stains, the faded autographs. It's all here, unmanipulated and captured in extremely high resolution - and with it, the personal stories of each wearer come to light. We come across the shoes worn by the West German football team during its miraculous 1954 World Cup victory, 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; collaborations with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartney or Yohji Yamamoto; as well as the brand's groundbreaking techniques and materials.

A perfect gift idea for the sneaker-loving athlete.

The book is in English.