A BRIEF HISTORY OF ADIDAS EQT

As a new era of adidas EQT dawns and the infamous green Three Stripes reappear across the German brand’s functional and minimalist product, it’s important to reflect on the history of the legendary line, its cultural capital and its rich heritage of sporting excellence.

After the heady excess of the ’80s, where bright colours, maximalist design and in-your-face gaucheness reigned supreme, the latter part of the decade and the early ‘90s saw a shift in design language and perception. Searching for an antidote to the decadence of the decade of greed, adidas’ marketing guru Robert Strasser and design legend Peter Moore took things back to the origins of the brand in the face of dwindling sales and a pessimistic business outlook on the horizon. Looking to the past as a way of looking to the future, Strasser and Moore pored over early images in the adidas archive at the brand’s HQ in Herzogenaurach, evaluating what led the brand to becoming a titan of sportswear in the mid 20th century. Becoming enamoured with the sentiment of the brand at its origins and infancy, the duo sought to create a compelling, modern demonstration of that same passion for producing sporting footwear and apparel with a distinct adidas edge. Embodying Louis Sullivan’s often quoted maxim, “form follows function”, Strasser and Moore’s fledgling project began to grow legs, with their ideas and approach filtered through this attitude and ideological perspective. Working under the principle first championed by Adi Dassler when the brand was founded in 1949, “only the best for the athlete”, Strasser and Moore focussed on creating product that symbolised a dedication to athletic excellence, starting from the trainers up.

Channelling the original approach of brand, the duo drew inspiration from an image of the brand’s founder inspecting an early adidas football boot. Creating an all-new sub-line of adidas footwear that the innovative pair named adidas Equipment, or EQT as it became commonly known, the modus operandi of the line was to create functional footwear and apparel for a wide variety of sports with an aesthetic sensibility to match.

Targeted at athletes, in line with the original philosophy of the adidas brand, EQT created footwear products for sports ranging from running and basketball to golf, squash and fencing, alongside a host of other sports. Debuting in 1990, the line saw Strasser and Moore scale things back and focus on the core of what makes adidas product what it is. With functionality as its driving force, EQT’s visual codes sat in line with this overarching ideology. Using the brand’s Three Stripes as a template, a subtle 30-degree rotation and dissected logo introduced an all-new approach to adidas branding that was immediately recognisable yet undoubtedly fresh, compelling and rooted in a progressive technical attitude. Dressed in a green and black combination that adidas specifically stated were “not fashion colours”, the EQT manifesto outlined that the pairing of hues was selected for their bold and modern properties. Initially facing opposition to the use of green in EQT branding – adidas’ key colour had always been blue, the colour of Bavaria – Strasser’s dedication and resolve ensured that the branding remained true to his and Moore’s original vision.

Enlisting adidas heavyweight Jacques Chassaing to help create the very first EQT product range, Strasser and Moore embarked on a what Chassaing described as a “puritanical approach” to design. Removing any non-functional decorations, the trio retooled the trademark Three Stripes to reintroduce Dassler’s original functional approach. Creating the “Riemen” system, where the Three Stripes provided support and functionality as a part of the eyestays, EQT footwear embodied an attitude that comprehensively centred around performance, comfort and support. Colourways stuck to the four base colours of green, black, white and grey, while naming was descriptive and utilitarian. Simple in essence, the results were ultimately gestalt.

Further entrenching itself in the world of performance, EQT sought out existing adidas technologies to enhance the line’s athletic prowess. Looking to Chassaing’s lauded and much-collected ZX range for technological inspiration, the Torsion and Soft Cell tech that was synonymous with the ZX Thousand sneaker line was incorporated into the majority of the EQT footwear line, supplementing the original designs with a backbone of proven functionality. Extending beyond traditional sports and into the outdoor world, EQT created a new category titled Adventure, featuring rugged styles that built on the brand’s offering of hiking boots, rooting them further into the core philosophy of the Equipment brand; “Everything that is essential. And nothing that is not.”

Regarded as a significant success, EQT’s collections in 1991 and 1993 have been heralded as milestone moments in the history of the adidas brand. Recognised as being key to saving the brand in a position of economic turmoil, turning adidas around and propelling it into once again taking its place as one of the big players in the sporting arena, EQT challenged the attitudes of the previous decade while celebrating the heritage of the brand. With their sneakers continuing to remain admired as icons of modern design, from the Tennis Clay Court Lo to the Running Support and the Running Cushion sneakers, EQT’s statement of intent remains a grounding principle behind the brand and pervades the product they create even 35 years later.