It all started in his mother's laundry room in the sleepy German town of Herzogenaurach. There Adolf Dassler, whom everyone called "Adi", and his brother Rudolf made their first pair of sneakers. After hundreds of innovative designs, epic moments and countless star collaborations, this book presents the first visual history of adidas shoes through more than 350 models, including never-before-seen prototypes and one-of-a-kind originals. To develop and improve the adaptation of its products to the specific needs of athletes, Dassler asked them to return worn out shoes when they were no longer needed, footwear that ended up accumulating in his attic (many athletes today still return their shoes to adidas, often as a thank you after winning a title or breaking a world record). This collection now constitutes the adidas Historical Archive, one of the largest, if not the largest, archives of any sporting goods manufacturer in the world, which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have visually documented for years in great detail. Using the most sophisticated reproduction techniques, these images reveal details as subtle as stains, tears, patch tape fragments, grass stains or faded autographs. It's all here, captured in extremely high resolution and unretouched to bring out each user's personal stories. We can see the shoes worn by the West German soccer team in their "miraculous" World Cup victory in 1954 and the ones Kathrine Switzer wore when she ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, before women could officially participate. ; custom models for big stars, from Madonna to Lionel Messi; collaborations with artists like Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartney, Parley for the Oceans or Yohji Yamamoto; as well as the brand's pioneering techniques and materials, such as its novel use of plastic waste collected from beaches and coastal communities. Christian Habermeier, Sebastian Jäger Taschen Hardcover, 31.8 x 29.6 cm, 5.63 kg, 644 pages ISBN 978-3-8365-7196-8 Multilingual edition: Spanish, English, Italian