Adidas Originals has released a film tracking a recent journey to Argentina made by four collectors of the brand's products, including Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown.
Titled "Sole Searching in South America," the film purports to be about a trek by obsessive Adidas collectors and their meeting with an equally obsessive shop owner. But ultimately it proves the enduring power of brand identity.
The adventure began in January after Adidas in London learned about a shop in a suburb of Buenos Aires that was stacked to the ceiling with vintage products, much of it dating back to the early 1980s -- shoes, track suits, travel bags and more.
Adidas Original execs, accompanied by four well-known collectors, travel to South America and discover a "room of treasures" beyond anything they could have hoped for. Carlos Ruiz, a widower who has owned the shop for 34 years, movingly explains that the small business is a form of therapy for him. He conserved the stock of vintage Adidas gear, he says, because he knew it was "a noble product that was going to last."
Rare pieces from Ruiz’s collection will be exhibited in the U.K. in the forthcoming Spezial exhibition, a part of Design Manchester 14, which kicks off this week.