Bavaria, Germany · Germany · Sportswear
Adidas Originals is a sub-brand of the German sportswear company Adidas, focusing on the brand's heritage and classic designs. Launched in 2001, it reinterprets iconic styles from the Adidas archive, such as the Stan Smith and Superstar sneakers, for contemporary fashion. The aesthetic blends athletic history with streetwear culture, marked by the trefoil logo, and holds significant cultural relevance in urban fashion.
adidas Originals
History
Adi Dassler began making athletic shoes in the 1920s and founded the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory with his brother Rudolf in 1924. The brothers separated after World War II; Adi established adidas in 1949, while Rudolf went on to create Puma. Adidas became closely associated with elite sport, notably supplying footwear to the German team at the 1954 World Cup, before expanding into apparel in 1967. Over subsequent decades the brand moved beyond performance sports into global popular culture, from Run-DMC’s embrace of the Superstar in the 1980s to contemporary fashion collaborations and adidas Originals.
Founder
Adolf Dassler
Creative director
Bjørn Gulden
In the archive