I'm looking forward to the Wales Vs Portugal tonight - should be a good contest. So a couple more coloured football boots to take a look at

 No prizes for guessing what nationality inspired these 1974 Austrian made boots. 'Toro' are a mid priced football boot in Spain team colours.

A French made Puma boot also from 1974. Suede is French for Sweden so we can see the inspiration for the colourway here too.

My Collection

I guess if I am doing a blog I need to include my shoes as part of the story. I'm starting with one of my favourite shoes the 'Saphir'. In 1970 adidas Germany started to experiment with soft, crushed patent leather and they produced three training shoes made from this material; - 'Saphir', 'Rubin' (red patent) and 'Diamant' (white patent with green stripes). Now these shoes only seem to appear in the 1970 catalogue which may suggest they were just too out there for the time. Adidas describe them as 'Sporty with an elegant note...a harmony in combination quality, practicality and fashion'. Whether they were popular or not - they are a perfect example of adidas coming to terms with their shoes being fashion items. Up until the late 60s the company always considered themselves sports shoe makers for athletes. They only paid limited interest in producing textiles and bags, marketed their shoes for specific sports and spent little on glossy or attractive advertising. But times were changing, eventually they could not ignore the fact that people were increasingly wearing their shoes off the court and the track as fashion items. So into the 1970s we see an increase in the manufacture of bags, tracksuits, t-shirts and inevitably shoes aimed solely at the leisure market. The 'Saphir', as well as the 'Adria', 'Tobacco' and 'Riviera' are ideal demonstrations of the company in transition.

I bought these shoes from a German seller a good few years ago. They were in perfect condition; - boxed, unworn, unlaced, stored well, wrapped in their original tissue paper. I must admit I have worn them sparingly as I concerned that the patent material may split and crack. I've seen that on a few used pairs and they end up looking like a 'Varsity' which is exactly what they are if we were to strip away the glossy varnished surface - same silhouette, same Stern profile sole.

Puma Wimbledon

Puma also produced tennis shoes bearing the name of the famous All England Club in Wimbledon. I don't have a catalogue picture of the first 'Wimbledon' model to date it, but it is exactly the same as the Puma 'Wilhelm Bungert' which features in the 1969 catalogue. It is therefore possible that it was produced directly before the licence with Wilhelm or possibly after he left for adidas. The shoe is made from box calf leather and has (rather unusually) suede reinforcements at the ball and toe part, giving the wearer extra protection during slides and lunges. The toe also has an extended rubber bumper presumably to stop wear during play. It features a Puma Number II sole (Puma were very imaginative with their naming of soles in the early days) which looks very similar to the adidas dish sole. It's pretty rare to find a pair of these today in any condition. I know Will Clayton has a pair of the Puma 'Bungert' which is about the only pair I have seen in anyone's collection.

The Earliest Puma 'Wimbledon' made in Western Germany

'Wilhelm Bungert' from 1969

Wimbledon seems to then take a break until 1977 with the introduction of a very familiar model. Puma used this profile with one or two minor changes on a number of models during this period including 'Tennis Super', 'Hard Court' and 'Davis Cup'. The sole unit is a Puma Star which is made of extremely hard wearing rubber and was apparently 'abrasive proof''. The upper is made of cowhide and the form stripe is fashioned from three rows of perforation holes. The finish is all white except for at the heel and the colour of the outsole. I've seen versions with royal blue, navy and orange outsoles. This shoe was produced until 1985 in the German and Yugoslavian factories, although the latter models had a herring bone pattern on the outsole in comparison to the earlier multi-nub pattern.

1978 catalogue picture of 'Wimbledon'

1984 'Wimbledon' with re-designed herring bone sole with pivot point.

Puma France also produced a 'Wimbledon' from 1982 to 1985. The shoe is made from a mesh nylon with a nubuck vamp, sitting on a dual density PU sole, not un-similar to the famous 'California' model albeit with Velcro straps for fastening.

French Wimbledon

Puma released a few model 'Wimbledon'  models in the late 80s including a couple of Becker variations, but I'm saving Boris for another day.

'Wimbledon Indoor' from 1987, one of the later models to feature the famous name.

I'm sharing a couple of photos from a good friend of mine and fellow collector - Dean Jacobs. These photos are being used for the AOA Volume two book to be released later in the year. It's a book featuring the stories of collectors and their top five shoes. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get a copy of the book (the first volume was for charity and in released in strictly limited numbers) but they have an Instagram page and soon to be a webpage, check them out.

Anyway onto Mr. Jacobs - this lad is free lance designer, photographer and as you can tell by the pictures magician. I'm looking forward to working with Dean on a little project in the future, stay tuned!

Well done to Wales yesterday - incredible team spirit, commitment and talent to beat Belgium in the quarter finals of Euro 2016. Todays boots are therefore red and white in their honour.

Hurricane from the 1974 German catalogue

National from the 1975 Swedish catalogue

Adidas vs Puma Part 2

Todays adidas vs Puma looks at two mid-70s training shoes. Puma Fit were introduced in 1970 as an economy priced training and jogging shoe. The original was white with a black form stripe. The first Fit model with a yellow upper was introduced in 1976 courtesy of the French factory and a year later we were introduced to the Gold Fit which incorporated a new sole unit. Gold Fit were manufactured (with some variation) until 1980.

Gold Fit in 1977

Adidas Kopenhagen were introduced in 1976 and were one of many leather and suede training shoes released in this decade named after European cities. The first  run were made in Western Germany, before production moved to Yugoslavia where the shoe was produced until 1980.

Kopenhagen in 1977

Well it’s that time of the year again and despite the rain it’s already shaping up to be an interesting tournament! Let’s see if Djokovic can come from two sets down, while Andy Murray should be on Centre Court this afternoon. I thought I’d take this opportunity to look at the adidas Wimbledon - first released in 1979 and one of their most fondly remembered tennis shoes.

It wasn’t the first time adidas named checked the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament. Wilhelm Bungert was the star of German tennis in the late 1960s, reaching the final of Wimbledon in 1967 before finally losing to the Australian John Newcombe. After briefly bearing a signature model for Puma, Bungert jumped ships to adidas and had four different shoes produced under his name. The Wilhelm Bungert Wimbledon was introduced in 1970 and was marketed as a shoe for world class players. It featured a kangaroo leather upper, a long wearing rubber toe box and perforation holes between the leather stripes as well as on the shoes tongue for increased ventilation. The earliest incarnation had a herringbone dish sole which had first been introduced on the model ‘Tennis’ from the mid-1960s. This was replaced with a multi-nub dish sole in 1972.

The 'Wilhelm Bungert Wimbledon' from 1975 with multi-nub sole.

Bungert retired from professional tennis in 1972, but shoes bearing his name continued to be produced. In 1976 adidas rebadged the Wimbledon to bear Dutch champion and Grand Slam doubles specialist Tom Okker’s name. Basically - bar the name change, it’s the same shoe and was produced until 1979.

'Wilhelm Bungert Wimbledon' becomes 'Tom Okker Wimbledon' in 1976

1979 was a good year for German tennis shoes. Adidas Germany had originally only paid a moderate amount of interest in tennis, happy to let adidas France take centre stage in marketing and production. With the introduction of polyurethane [PU] soles in 1975 they started to take the sport more seriously producing the excellent models ‘Professional’ and ‘Centre Court’ in that year, followed by the pioneering ‘Forest Hills’ a year later. ’79 saw the introduction of ‘Master’, ‘Grand Prix’ and ‘Wimbledon’ all using the new dual density PU sole which offered outstanding shock absorption. At first glance (with the exception of the colour of the stripes) the ‘Grand Prix’ and ‘Wimbledon’ look very similar. Both models were derby cut with an upper made from oxhide leather and a perforated nubuck vamp, sitting on the dual density PU sole. However close examination of the ankle collar reveals the additional padding added to the ‘Wimbledon’ to improve comfort and the reason why it was recommended by many leading orthopaedists. The shoe was produced until 1985, with the final version being known as ‘Wimbledon GL’ and some variations along the way. Because of the material the sole was made out of, it is extremely difficult to find a vintage pair these days and even if you did it would be unwearable without a sole transplant. It is a shame that adidas have never revisited this model as I am sure there would be enough call to see it, but maybe one day we will see it once again.

The original 1979 'Wimbledon' made in Western Germany

And 1979 'Grand Prix' for comparison

'Wimbledon' from 1981. The shoe is now made in the Yugoslavian factory and the adidas branding has been omitted from the middle stripe.

This version of 'Wimbledon' with navy stripes was manufactured from 1979 to 1983 and only appears in Swiss catalogues.

'Wimbledon II' with navy and purple stripes from the adidas archive in Herzogenaurach. It is unclear whether this shoe was ever released or was merely a sample, it does not appear in any of the catalogues I have. With thanks to Phil Murray and Paul Coates for the picture.

Wimbledon was also produced under licence in several countries such as New Zealand, Argentina and Mexico. The Brazilian version (circa 80-81) has a completely different sole unit, presumably because Vulcabras (the Brazilian licensee) did not own the machinery to manufacture dual density PU soles. With thanks to Bobby Mac for the photo.

'Wimbledon GL' the final version of Wimbledon made in Austria (from a 1985 UK catalogue)