I've been meaning to post about this for a month or so now. The Adidas Superstar is one of the very few classic, timeless shoes. A style that has changed very little over the 35 year span it has been produced. It has been a cultural symbol, a fashion statement and actually athletic footwear along the way. The website Adidas put together is very sharp and contains quite a bit of info. The only drawback is it may be a bit slow loading if you do not have high-speed internet. I loved checking out the history and how Adolph (Adi) Dassler decided on the three stripes and the importance of it being visually distinguishable. Jesse Owens ran in them! (they only had two stripes at that point). The interviews with the collectors were interesting also. Adidas designed 35 unique style, organized into five groups (Anniversary, Cities, Expression, Music, Consortium). The Consortium are very limited runs, most of them under 1000 pairs worldwide. They were developed in conjunction with specialty footwear stores in Japan, California, and UK that have had long-standing relationships with Adidas.
Adidas issued golden tickets that admitted the holders to exclusive parties in five cities across the globe where they had the chance to win one of 300 pairs of Model 35, which came in a leather bound wood box along with all the necessary leather care products. It is all white with a leather sole! (like a premium dress shoe!) Each model has such a cool story. After reading all about the 'shelltoes' I couldn't help but take my navy w/white stripe Superstars that I got in '98 and clean them up a bit. And I'm also the proud owner of the Boston's.
So cool. So Cool. So Cool!
(interesting historical sidenote, Adi and his brother began the business together. They formed Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik and made "Dassler" shoes in 1924. Jessie Owens ran in them in the 1936 Olympics. After time in a WWII POW camp, Rudolph split in 1948 and formed PUMA. The Dassler sons sold their stake in PUMA in 1989.)