3 Things I Learned Touring The adidas Archive

I’ve had plenty of “pinch-me” moments since starting to work in golf. I’ve interviewed famous athletes, traveled to top-100 golf courses and vacation destinations galore. And how could I forget the mountain of golf shoes I’ve compiled in the process?

But when it comes to that “wow” factor, those things pale in comparison to my time spent recently inside the adidas Archive. Located at adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the Archive isn’t open to the public, and rarely do people other than select employees get to venture down its vast corridors of relics.

Among 40,000-plus items ranging from the first shoe created by founder Adi Dassler to game-used World Cup soccer balls, it was impressed upon me again and again how dedicated, dare I say obsessed, adidas is with performance.

As golfers, we’re concerned with getting better and gaining an advantage. My time spent in the adidas Archive further cemented the idea that perhaps the world’s most iconic sports brand is, indeed, all about performance.

Because I was privileged to experience something like this that very few people ever will, I’d be remiss not to share the three things I learned about adidas’s heritage and how it applies to us today.

1. Golf is important to the brand

For a brand founded on track and field (and perhaps most well known in soccer/football), adidas is a serious player in the golf space. This much was evident when I got to hold and handle the first-ever adidas golf shoe created in 1975.

For 50 years, adidas has been iterating and evolving upon that (quite successfully, I might add) to bring golfers performance-focused footwear. And if the past is any indicator of the future, they’ll continue to perform admirably in our Most Wanted testing.

Why? Because it’s apart of their DNA.

2. It’s OK to be different

Someone has to take the leap. Why shouldn’t it be you?

It’s clear to me after studying piece after piece of the adidas Archive that the brand isn’t scared to try something new. The adidas Gold Cup golf shoe from the 1980s is proof that sometimes different is really, really cool.

That same design philosophy resonates throughout their mainline offerings today, nearly 50 years later. adidas has never shied away from being unique and that’s part of the reason they continue to push the envelope in both performance and culture.

3. The few inspire the many

One thing that stood out to me repeatedly was this idea that adidas develops products for world-class athletes (the few), yet those same products are built to perform for the everyday athlete (the many).

Take, for example, this shoe worn by Sandy Lyle in the 1988 Masters. Of course, adidas makes a great golf shoe for the best golfers in the world but they also ensure that every shoe they produce also works for the golfer who will never get the chance to put on a green jacket.

Sporting heritage

adidas’s rich sporting heritage, as well as their ability to tap into the archives of old, have them positioned to continue a reign of dominant performances in the golf shoe space. If my time in their Archive was in any way a predictor of what’s to come, I can only imagine what adidas will draw up next.