adidas

The first Adidas trainers were hand produced by Adolf (Adi) and Rudolph Dassler in 1920 under the Dassler name at home on the kitchen table.

In 1928 the trainers appeared in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. By 1956, at the Melbourne Olympics, the Adidas brand was being promoted.This was the first sports sponsorship. By 1961 Adidas had branched out from trainers into footballs and clothing. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, 80% of all athletes sported footwear with the familiar Adidas 3 stripes.

The Adidas trefoil logo was introduced in 1972.

This represents the continental plates coming together in the spirit of the Olympics. In the same year, the German national football team won the European Championships wearing Adidas boots. In 1974, the German football team win the World Cup and 80% of all tournament players wore Adidas boots. In 1976, 83% of athletes at the Montreal Olympics wore Adidas. The new three strip Adidas Equipment logo was introduced in 1996.

Adidas now produces a vast range of trainers, covering all types of markets and sports under two main logos. The ADIDAS EQUIPMENT RANGE under the three stripe logo, and the ADIDAS ORIGINALS range carries the classic trefoil logo.
Trainerstation's main interest is in the ADIDAS ORIGINALS range, particularly adidas retro trainers and reissues of deadstock classic adidas trainers.

From time to time we may carry some of the equipment range as there are some great modern shoes in that side of the Adidas range, but almost all of our adidas lines are from the ADIDAS ORIGINALS range and sport the wonderful adidas trefoil logo.

ADIDAS ORIGINALS
Because Adidas trainers have been so popular for so long there is a huige heritage to many of the styles. Some of the styles have evolved over the years with literally hundreds of different versions haveing been manufactured. Some styles like Stan Smiths and Superstar are in the Adidas catalog every year. Others are produced occassionally and as special editions and some of these style have near legendary status as they are no so hard to find. Within the Adidas Originals.

The ADIDAS CITIES range contains many examples of  the one off or rare and now much sought after classics such as Adidas Boston, Adidas Munchen, Adidas Paris, Adidas Dublin, Adidas San Francisco and many more. You can see many of these lines in our archives. The most recent Adidas Cities lines we stocked were Stockholm, London and Dublin.

ADIDAS TENNIS TRAINERS have always been popular. Adidas have branded their tennis trainers with the names of tennis greats from the 1970's, which today gives them that retro flavour.

ADIDAS STAN SMITH are the best selling trainers ever, with over 30 million sold.

[but as an alternative there are also ADIDAS Rod Laver and ADIDAS Ilie Nastase styles] The style has evolved over time, and now includes 'Comfort' versions and the new 2.5 version, but the basic style is still recogniseable. No Adidas catalog or collection is complete without Stan Smiths. Over the years there have been literally hundreds, if not thousands of variants and colourways.

ADIDAS FOREST HILLS - one of the modern Adidas classics! Forest Hills have always been premium top of the range tennis trainers. Incredibly lightweight and stylish and always in demand. More recently there have been the fantastic 'Tournament Edition' styles produced as part of Adidas commemoration of '60 years on Centre Court'

Other tennis style trainers from adidas include the Rod Laver and Nastase which provide a nice alternative to the Stan Smith

ADIDAS SL range (originally "Adidas Super Light") such as ADIDAS SL 76 & ADIDAS SL 72' are in huge demand, particularly the Starsky & Hutch reissue of the ADIDAS SL 76.

Currently these are not in production and we are unable to source any, but as soon as we can we will let everyone on the mailing list know about it!
(click here to sign up to mailing list).

The most recent incarnation of the SL 76 style was the red/white 2008 Olympic edition

ADIDAS SUPERSTARS were at one time hard to get hold of even if you were a professional US basketball star. Today this is hard to believe, as the signature shell toe of the adidas superstar has now become firmly established as one of the great classics, popular around the World, and available in hundreds of colourways.

The Superstar is one of the cornerstones of the Adidas range and is always a large part of the catalog, with even greater variety of variants than the Stan Smith. The Adidas Superstar celebrated its 35th anniversery in 2005, and to mark the event Adidas launched a range of 35th anniversary limited edition Superstars, some of which (like the famous Ian Brown version) are among THE most collectible trainers ever produced.  Recent years have also seen an NBA range as a result of Adidas' NBA sponsorship.

Click here to see our current range of Adidas Superstars, and if you would like to take a peek at our archive of past Superstar styles, click here

A close relative of the Superstar and a trainer trainer that shares a similar heritage is the ADIDAS HALF SHELL with Adidas apparantly responding to basketball professionals who cut part of the shell toe off for greater flexibility.

Adidas Half Shells are only available sporadically and tend to sell outr quickly as a result.

Other notable Adidas basketball styles include Top Ten.

ADIDAS MOTOR RACING STYLES

Adidas had a long association with the glamorous World of Motor Racing, with probably the most famous link being the Adidas Goodyear tie up, but more recently the Adidas Porsche association has become another major Adidas style.

ADIDAS GOODYEAR
These sleek and stylish shoes have been an important part of the recent adidas catalog.

ADIDAS PORSCHE DESIGN
Adidas signed a major deal with Porsche and has since been promoting this style at the top end of the range and it has been a very succesful addition.

Other Adidas motor racing styles over the years have included Jerez and Tuscany.

ADIDAS TRIMM TRAB (translation "Keep Fit") have been just one of the many great reissues from adidas in recent times.

Other favourites include:

ADIDAS ORIGINALS

We end this look at Adidas trainers with the objects of beauty you see below taken from our archive...sometimes a picture conveys so much more than words can.