The Dassler: Number 24- February 2024. Read on for enough three stripe goodness to satisfy the most obsessive adidas fanatic.
Welcome to The Dassler, Twenty-Forth edition.
Welcome to our second edition of The Dassler in 2024, the monthly magazine especially written for (and by) adidas lovers.
Thank you for continuing to subscribe to our little corner of adidas heaven.
This publication is only really about sharing three stripe nuggets of information, that add to the mystique of the adidas legacy. For most of us this legacy started with the 1972 introduction of the Trefoil logo, which took a full three years to design, develop, and approve. But why put a trefoil on the heel tab?
When we first put the Trefoil on the heel of a shoe, it was just an experiment. We wanted to put something there so a runner could always see it on the runner in front of him!
Franz Martz (an adidas business partner)
I was today years old when I found out about the Trefoil on the heel tab!
The Dassler comes out on the Third Saturday of each Month-to take your mind off spending all your money on adidas and give you something to do while waiting for the end of the months pay day!
In this edition we have another in our new feature ‘Retro shoe of the month’ where we share a long forgotten Trainer from the mahoosive adidas back catalogue. Woody writes about the story behind adidas basketball shoe-the Top Ten. Craig shares early memories in his adidas journey. Legendary adidas collector Toby (aka @adidas.under.licence on IG ) shares his (which we humbly think is one of the best ) adidas Top Ten and Craig reviews the latest adidas drops of note, with some Dassler exclusives!
A massive three-striped thank you for subscribing, it takes a lot of hours to research, write, source and edit The Dassler and your support is very much appreciated.
If this is your first visit then we’d highly recommend you run over to the very beginning (obvs wearing a pair of adidas ZX600)to our earlier issues here.
They’ll be news of the adidas annual very soon(again please be patient-it’s a huge designer job to put this together-subscribers first as promised) and a couple of surprise guest writers for 2024.
This is a monthly newsletter, that will contain ultra rare deadstock trainers, new adidas releases & brand exclusive information from 3 stripe social media giant Craig (@adifamily_ *X & Insta*), adidas oddments & apparel reminiscences written by Woody (@dadidassler *X* & Insta) plus loads of articles from special guest writers and we have some absolute adidas legends as guest writers lined up!
The Story behind the stripes.
Adidas Titan
The Titan Track Shoe - a sole inspired by the suction cups of an octopus and a rainy track, first created in 1969.
Sandwiched between the athletic successes on the track of the adidas Tokio/Tokyo in the 1964 Olympics and the Azteca Gold for Mexico in 1968, Adi Dassler was stuck on solving an age old problem for athletes. What shoes could they wear to compete and train in heavy rain and wet surfaces?
The ‘Tokyo 64’ was another Adi secret weapon. Adidas kept their best competition models under wraps until just before an event, in fear of competitors copying their designs. Adi first tested kangaroo suede as an upper in 1963 and the material allowed for an even lighter shoe. The shoe had an ergonomically positioned spike plate and the lengths of spikes could be interchanged depending upon the conditions of the race. New padding and foot form were also utilised - to make the most state of the art track shoe to date. Mike Larrabee, Bob Hayes, Billy Mills and Ann Packer all took Gold wearing the Tokyo 64.
The Azteca continued in the same vein as the Tokyo-built in secret in a factory in Mexico codenamed ‘Canada’. Also only revealed on the eve of the games.
A gold kangaroo leather upper, Adi once again updated the technology of the track spike with special mention to the thick padding from the bottom of the heel to the ball of the foot, offering protection and comfort on the new Tartan synthetic tracks. Jim Hines took the Gold in the 100m wearing ‘Azteca’.
Neil Selvey- Vintage Adidas and Puma Blog
What‘s fascinating is that both shoes could have been blown out of the water by a shoe created by Puma called the Brush. Which was mysteriously banned 2 weeks before the 1968 Olympics by the IAAF. A brilliant article about it here in Sports Illustrated.
Adi Dassler was always listening to athletes , tweaking his designs based on their input and his drive to use adidas to further athletic performance. In fact in 1925 Adi created a new patent for shoes (running and long jump) after incorporating special cushions under the sole. This was the first in a long line of Dassler patents.
He was asked to develop a shoe that could be used in wet weather and also in the Steeplechase, a race which has its origins in an equine event in 18th-century Ireland, as riders would race from town to town using church steeples — at the time the most visible point in each town — as starting and ending points (hence the name steeplechase. In this race athletes had to run around a track, jump hurdles but also jump into water.
In the 1960s, when traditional cinder athletics tracks were replaced by spongy, synthetic surfaces, endurance running experienced a revolution. With many new records broken on the new surface. But this became another factor in solving Adi’s mounting wet weather shoe problem. That alongside the rapidly outdated IAAF rules on athlete’s shoes-where the number of spikes was specified (8) and the number of adjustments made was limited too.
Legend has it that Adi took his Grandchildren to visit the Berlin Aquarium in the 1960’s, they stopped at the tank filled with octopus. Adi observed for several minutes as the octopus used their tentacles and suckers to climb up the sheer class windows. It was this precise moment that he had the idea to use the form of the octopus suckers as a sole unit for a wet weather shoe.
It took some years, huge amounts of sample shoes and many athlete testers, to finally perfect the sucker-like rubber sole unit that Adi wanted.
The new shoe named ‘Titan’ (although why it wasn’t called the Kraken, the giant mythological Octopus-I don’t know! ) was an evolution on the previous Olympic winning models. Featuring a sole unit stuck along the shoe in a wave pattern, most definitely to provide a buffer for the many running pronunciations athletes have. A cross heel support, padded sole (like the Azteca especially in the heel) and tripled stitched across the mid foot, providing stability. The shoe came with an optional forefoot spike set, a padded tongue and the obligatory 3 stripes support.
The shoe became really popular with multi-event athletes (when they could only wear one pair of shoes for all events) as it was extremely ‘grippy’ on many surfaces, great to sprint, jump or throw.
Behind these shoes lies the story of a famous but quite friendly sporting rivalry. The shoe above was worn by West German decathlete Jürgen Hingsen, known for being a rival of Daley Thompson. Best remembered for their skirmish at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where adidas poster boy Thompson, was going for his second Olympic gold. In later life they became firm friends.
The innovative octo-sole unit was later binned in favour of the famous ‘Sharkskin’ (not real shark’s skin but plastic!) sole again designed with inspiration from nature. The shoes were eventually overtaken by, lighter more stable silhouettes.
But the Titan carried on being made well until the early 1980’s and was re-released in 1994.
The legend behind the creation of the adidas Titan still lives on and was chosen, featuring the obligatory octopus, for one of the ‘Every Trefoil has a Story’ campaign in 2005.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Dassler to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.