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adidas Skateboarding

Major sportswear label adidas originates from humble beginnings. On his return from World War 1, Adolf Dassler began producing sportswear shoes in his mothers laundry room, it didn’t take long for the popularity of the footwear to bloom and through desire of innovation, Dassler started something bigger than he could have ever imagined. With the popularity of the shoes soaring, adidas needed an identity. It just so happens that in 1952 adidas acquired the Three Stripe logo and trademark from another sportswear brand Karhu Sports, for €1600 equivalent of todays money and two bottles of whiskey, which in hindsight seems amusing to the scale of how adidas would grow; this would be the start of the 3-stripe brand as we know it. With it’s new branding in place, it wouldn’t take long for adidas to conquer the world of sportswear. Branching out from footwear, the brand would start developing adidas Sweatpants, adidas T-Shirts, adidas Sweatshirts and numerous other pieces of adidas Apparel

adidas has since invested in innumerable mainstream sports worldwide, endorsing athletes and pushing the confines of what is possible with sporting apparel and equipment. Then comes adidas’ entrance into skateboarding. Skateboarding is undeniably different to other sports; it comes with somewhat a counter culture, a culture that often despises the mainstream. adidas has worked hard to earn the respect of skateboarders and the industry, by trying to not directly change it, but instead coinciding to make skateboarding grow.




Bearing this in mind, it’s not to say that adidas hasn’t utilised their sportswear heritage within skateboarding. As a brand known for innovating sports shoes, adidas Skateboarding has pushed boundaries in terms of skate shoe engineering, with shoes such as the adidas Busenitz, with its classic adidas Samba inspired tongue and multiple models including the adidas Busenitz Vulc and the adidas Busenitz ADV. Lucas Puig is another adidas team pro to use classic adidas styles, with the adidas Lucas Premiere, adidas Lucas Premiere ADV, and the adidas Lucas Premiere Primeknit drawing a muse from retro White adidas Shoes with a tennis like design.

To put all of this into context, adidas has successfully integrated parts of its sportswear heritage into the skate industry and with the crossover of skateboarding, sportswear and fashion in full force the styles are ever more apparent throughout the media and of course out on the streets; just think of those adidas Sweatpants in skate videos for instance. Though undoubtedly there must be a medium ground, since adidas as a brand has consciously worked so hard to propel themselves as a skateboarding brand for skateboarders. The functionality of adidas Skateboarding shoes and its apparel must remain with a focus on skateboarding.

With the release of the very first adidas Skateboarding full-length feature film ‘Away Days’, which came out in 2016, the time had definitely come to show the world the product of their labour and the result was nothing less than spectacular. The adidas Skateboarding ‘Away Days’ video did an astounding job of keeping the integrity of pure skateboarding culture intact, with the use of peak videography, editing, music and the intermittent dialogue from adidas OG Mark Gonzalez. Though first it raised the eyebrows of many sceptics, ‘Away Days’ blew the minds of the skateboarding world. One major element of ‘Away Days’ was the fact that it completely enthrals you in skateboarding; you’d be forgiven for forgetting that adidas is predominantly an athletic and sportswear brand, but of course meanwhile you’re still visually digesting the adidas Skateboarding range including: The adidas Busenitz, countless variations of the adidas Samba, the adidas Suciu ADV and more adidas Vulc skateboarding shoes.

It seems as if adidas is investing more in skate videos, with the recent release of ‘One Stop’, which features team rider Miles Silvas skating a line in Los Angeles that was filmed entirely in one take. The video represents not only the consistency of Silvas, but also the technicality of the new adidas Skateboarding shoe the adidas City Cup. The adidas City Cup is a prime example of adidas infusing classic shapes and silhouettes with innovatively, engineered technology purely designed for skateboarding. The adidas City Cup draws its inspiration from the retro adidas Powerphase and adidas Montreal shoes.

adidas’ future in skateboarding is an exciting one, with their fluid combination of new video projects and footwear they’ve definitely proven how much of the brand is now devoted to skateboarding. It’s safe to say they’ve come a long way since the first adidas Skate Shoes.

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