INSIDE THE ADIDAS SNEAKER ARCHIVE

So little time, so many shoes...

Earlier this year, The World’s Greatest Boogazine dispatched one of its intrepid reporters (fresh from a miserable Melbourne winter), towards an impossibly sun-drenched Euro summer. After six inedible plane meals, crying babies, burly blokes snoring at a level that could wake Stevie Wonder, a missed connection and two bouts of lost luggage, we finally touched down in Herzogenrauch, Germany, hometown of the one and only Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler.

We arrived to find a summer that was about as hot as Tori Spelling. But that was of little concern – we had been invited into the bosom of the iconic three stripes to see exactly what goes on first hand. The schedule was jam packed, but after our heartfelt request to the PR department, we had our wish granted. For 15 glorious minutes we were given unfettered access to the adidas archive, home of literally thousands of items from this sporting giant’s history.

With so little time and so many shoes, it was quite frankly an existential nightmare. Where to look? What to photograph? What to fondle?