Sneaker Wars

The fascinating story of the enemy brothers behind Adidas and Puma, whose rivalry shaped the modern sports business Adidas and Puma are two of the biggest global brands in sports, paying stars, clubs, and competitions to show off their labels in stadiums and across magazine pages. In Sneaker Wars, journalist Barbara Smit reveals the dramatic, character-driven story of these two power-houses. Started in their mother's laundry room in Germany, Adi and Rudi Dassler's shoe business was an instant success, their spikes worn by Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics. But a vicious feud soon pulled them apart: by the end of World War II, the brothers split the company, dividing their family and hometown. Adidas and Puma revolutionized the world of sport, their rivalry introducing behind-the-scenes deals and multimillion-dollar contracts. From Pelé to Joe Namath, Walt Frazier to Boris Becker, Muhammad Ali to David Beckham, they all contribute to the roller-coaster rise, near collapse, and revival of the two brands. A page-turning narrative, Sneaker Wars is a riveting blend of family drama, business, sports, and history.

Sneaker Wars is the fascinating true story of the enemy brothers behind Adidas and Puma, two of the biggest global brands of athletic footwear. Adi and Rudi Dassler started their shoe business in their mother's laundry room and achieved almost instantaneous success. But by the end of World War II a vicious feud had torn the Dasslers apart, dividing their company and their family and launching them down separate, often contentious paths. Out of the fires of their animosity, two rival sneaker brands were born, brands that would revolutionize the world of professional sports, sparking astonishing behind-the-scenes deals, fabulous ad campaigns, and multimillion-dollar contracts for pro athletes, from Joe Namath to Muhammad Ali to David Beckham.

Readers who have devoured Captain Underpants, Wimpy Kid, and the works of Raina Telgemeier will love the high-energy, hilarious antics of the Foot family from one of the largest names in the UK. Step up to the challenge . . . win or shoes!Meet Ruby and Bear. Their dad has just invented the most amazing thing ever -- flying shoes! But his horrible boss Wendy Wedge knows that entering flying shoes will guarantee the Golden Shoe Award, and she will do anything to win the trophy.Ruby and Bear must outwit a bully, infiltrate a shady company, and rescue their dad all while keeping the shoes hidden. This can only mean one thing. It's . . . shoe wars!The brand new, laugh-out-loud, spectacular stand-alone story from multi-million copy bestselling author and illustrator Liz Pichon.

A cultural history of sneakers, tracing the footprint of one of our most iconic fashions across sports, business, pop culture, and American identity When the athletic shoe graduated from the beaches and croquet courts of the wealthy elite to streetwear ubiquity, its journey through the heart of American life was just getting started. In this rollicking narrative, Nicholas K. Smith carries us through the long twentieth century as sneakers became the totem of subcultures from California skateboarders to New York rappers, the cause of gang violence and riots, the heart of a global economic controversy, the lynchpin in a quest to turn big sports into big business, and the muse of high fashion. Studded with larger-than-life mavericks and unexpected visionaries—from genius rubber inventor, Charles Goodyear, to road-warrior huckster Chuck Taylor, to the feuding brothers who founded Adidas and Puma, to the track coach who changed the sport by pouring rubber in his wife's waffle iron—Kicks introduces us to the sneaker's surprisingly influential, enduring, and evolving legacy.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Sneakers covers nearly everything there is to know about the vast universe of everyone’s favorite comfy athletic shoes.”—Parade “A beautifully assembled collage of image, experience, and inspiration.”—Vogue "One of this year's coolest books."—Men's Journal "The definitive story of the sneaker universe."—WSJ Magazine Featuring exclusive interviews with Virgil Abloh (Off-White), Daniel Bailey, Ronnie Fieg (Kith), DJ Clark Kent, Serena Williams, Alexander Wang, Kobe Bryant and many, many others. Through honesty, intimacy, intelligence, and swagger, Sneakers amounts to a singular rubber-soled taxonomy, a global group portrait of a culture that’s both personal and public, driven by commitment and curiosity, and sustained by our definitive cast of storytellers, historians, and artists. An absolute necessity for design devotees and sneakerheads of all ages! Sneakers is a definitive exploration of the cultural phenomenon of sneakers, now an 85-billion-dollar-a-year industry. This gift-worthy book features 320 pages of photos and interviews with industry gurus, sports legends, and celebrities in a stunning package created by celebrated designer Rodrigo Corral. The book’s carefully-curated list of participants takes readers to the center of the action. Edson Sabajo, owner of Amsterdam’s seminal sneaker boutique, Patta, leads a sneaker hunt that starts in the back-alleys of Philadelphia and ends in the Middle East. Jeff Staple, designer of a pair of sneakers that resells for $6000, recalls the sneaker riot his design kicked off on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 2005. Jim Riswold dishes on making commercials with Michael Jordan. Ronnie Fieg explains the collaborative magic of KITH. Adidas’s Rachel Muscat and Jon Wexler get philosophical about their star collaborator, Kanye West. Nike’s legendary Tinker Hatfield takes a glimpse into the future. Professional tennis player Serena Williams shares an exclusive reveal. And much, much more. From its arresting cover design and thought-provoking interiors to the unprecedented depth of its first-person accounts, Sneakers is an absolute must-have for sneaker lovers and anyone who is interested in design, creative process, street culture, branding, entrepreneurship, art and fashion.

This is the first academic study of sneakers and the subculture that surrounds them. Since the 1980s, American sneaker enthusiasts, popularly known as “sneakerheads” or “sneakerholics”, have created a distinctive identity for themselves, while sneaker manufacturers such as Reebok, Puma and Nike have become global fashion brands. How have sneakers come to gain this status and what makes them fashionable? In what ways are sneaker subcultures bound up with gender identity and why are sneakerholics mostly young men? Based on the author's own ethnographic fieldwork in New York, where sneaker subculture is said to have originated, this unique study traces the transformation of sneakers from sportswear to fashion symbol. Sneakers explores the obsessions and idiosyncrasies surrounding the sneaker phenomenon, from competitive subcultures to sneaker painting and artwork. It is a valuable contribution to the growing study of footwear in fashion studies and will appeal to students of fashion theory, gender studies, sociology, and popular culture.

Sally Jenkins, bestselling co-author of It's Not About the Bike, revives a forgotten piece of history in The Real All Americans. In doing so, she has crafted a truly inspirational story about a Native American football team that is as much about football as Lance Armstrong's book was about a bike. If you’d guess that Yale or Harvard ruled the college gridiron in 1911 and 1912, you’d be wrong. The most popular team belonged to an institution called the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Its story begins with Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, a fierce abolitionist who believed that Native Americans deserved a place in American society. In 1879, Pratt made a treacherous journey to the Dakota Territory to recruit Carlisle’s first students. Years later, three students approached Pratt with the notion of forming a football team. Pratt liked the idea, and in less than twenty years the Carlisle football team was defeating their Ivy League opponents and in the process changing the way the game was played. Sally Jenkins gives this story of unlikely champions a breathtaking immediacy. We see the legendary Jim Thorpe kicking a winning field goal, watch an injured Dwight D. Eisenhower limping off the field, and follow the glorious rise of Coach Glenn “Pop” Warner as well as his unexpected fall from grace. The Real All Americans is about the end of a culture and the birth of a game that has thrilled Americans for generations. It is an inspiring reminder of the extraordinary things that can be achieved when we set aside our differences and embrace a common purpose.

From a former college basketball player and Executive at Nike, a "riveting" (Sports Illustrated) insider's account into the business of college basketball exposes the corrupt and racist systems that exploit young athletes and offers a new way forward For Merl Code, basketball was life. In college he played point guard for Clemson before turning pro. Later, when he pivoted to marketing, he found himself thrust into a startling world of profit-driven college basketball programs. He realized that the NCAA's amateurism rules could be used to exploit young athletes, and athletes of color in particular. Now, for the first time, Code will share his side of the explosive story of college basketball's dark reality—a system that begins with young talent in AAU programs and culminates at the highest levels of the NBA. Propulsive, urgent, and eye-opening, Black Market exposes the truth to offer a more just way forward for both colleges and athletes.

Every Sneaker Story Worth Telling! A 15-year anthology of cult magazine Sneaker Freaker When self-acclaimed Sneakerhead Simon "Woody" Wood decided to pursue his love of sneakers--and freebie footwear--with a publication, the mighty Sneaker Freaker was born. From its punk fanzine style first edition in 2002 to today's slick print and online operation, the independent magazine has remained at the fore of the global sneaker scene, documenting every collab, limited edition, retro reissue, Quickstrike, custom shoe and more, with raw, fastidious passion. This massive anthology celebrates 15 years of Sneaker Freaker, featuring the magazine's finest pages together with over 130 pages of expert sneaker content never seen before. As "funny and serious, meaningful and pointless at the same time" as the magazine's own ethos, the book packs in more than 650 pages of dense insider knowledge, hundreds of beautiful photos, as well as Woody's own obsessional observations. The book rollicks through some 100 years of sneaker history, documenting Air Max, Air Force, All Stars, Dapper Dan, Michael Jordan, Reebok Pump, and Nike Skateboarding, alongside more obscure treasures like Troop, SPX, and Vision Street Wear. All the major sneaker moments are all there, from Kanye to adidas Futurecraft, Nike Air Force 1 to New Balance, as well as landmark collabs, leading advertising campaigns, and crux talking points, not least Nike vs adidas. All Sneaker Freaker pages have been meticulously redesigned for this book edition, with fresh updates bringing every story up to speed, while preserving the charm of the original prose. Through all the limited editions, customs, retro reissues, and samples, this is the definitive source of sneaker knowledge you'll love as hard as your Beaters. "The most definitive sneaker culture magazine on the planet!" -- MTV

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns muchof value about the world he lives in.