The relationship between adidas and Yohji Yamamoto spans over 2 decades, cementing the timeless partnership of the two global entities in fashion and sportswear. The implementation of Y-3 after Yamamoto’s initial adidas projects displayed how much the footwear titan believed in Yamamoto’s vision of making sportswear elegant and chic. Over the span of 20 years, adidas and Yamamoto created runway collections and products that mixed the worlds of fashion and sportswear with projects that used cohesive language drawn from each brand's ethos. There was, and still is, a perfect equilibrium. With a special invite from the adidas Originals team, ARCHIVE.pdf visited the adidas campus in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Led by adidas Historian and Archivist, Ms. Sandra Trapp, the team explored the deep history of adidas, the importance of adidas Originals, and the relationship between adidas and Yohji Yamamoto.
Photos from Adidas 75 Years Exhibition
The first stop was the exhibition. HALFTIME, a newly designed building by adidas and COBE Architects, housed the 75 Years of adidas exhibition that explored the entire journey of the German sportswear brand. A significant portion of this exhibition chaptered the brand’s important relationship with Yamamoto. There was a selection of products that showcased the pivotal moments of the partnership, as adidas was the first in the industry to introduce a new lifestyle segment focusing on sports performance-inspired fashion.
5 Defining Moments
The YY Mei Brocade was a laceless slip-on sneaker that was one of the first products that Yamamoto redesigned for the brand, featured in his Spring/Summer 2002 womenswear runway show. Brocade (Japanese shuttle-woven silks) were utilized for the uppers of the sneaker, and each individual pair uniquely possessed different floral patterns. The sneaker would help pave the way for Y-3 in the upcoming year.The Y-3 Spring/Summer 2003 Ready-to-Wear collection was Yohji Yamamoto’s attempt to make sportswear elegant and the Y-3 floral jersey dress came as one of the highlights of the collection. It featured elements of a football jersey with the shoulder stripes and collared neckline, but it also featured elements of a springtime floral dress that grazed the body perfectly. Yamamoto and his team were officially setting the foundations of Y-3, bridging the gap between runway fashion and sportswear.
Yohji Yamamoto Mei Brocade and section of the 75 Years of adidas exhibition
The back-painted perforated leather biker jacket from the Spring/Summer 2004 Heroes collection was the foundation piece of the exhibition. Award ceremony-inspired pieces featured portraits of Y-3 medalists sporting the iconic 3 stripes in their post-victory glory. The airbrush portraits were done by Saeko Tsuemura, a Japanese designer and illustrator that often blurred the lines between reality and fantasy. Tsuemura was a frequent collaborator of Yamamoto, as she applied her prominent airbrush painting styles to various YY collections such as Autumn/Winter 1991 and Spring/Summer 2002. The leather jackets helped celebrate the 1st anniversary of the line, as models walked the runway waving flags with 3 stripes representing Olympic athletes with their country’s flag during the Opening Ceremony. Two decades later, it is one of the most coveted pieces from Y-3.
Images of Yohji Yamamoto Adidas Y-3 HEROES leather jacket
The Y-3 “Cutout Wedge” from 2010 was a particularly avant-garde gesture for the sportswear world in the 2010s. The silhouette was a new development from the “Cushion Wedge" that was previewed the season prior, as it featured upper cut-outs that allowed for sleek breathability. The leather upper was combined with an ‘adiPRENE’ wedge sole that represented the innovative adidas technology and Yamamoto’s fearless ethos to test boundaries and redefine normality. He wanted to challenge the definition of the Y-3 Woman. The Y-3 Real Madrid football jersey from 2014 was the final moment in the YY and Y-3 branch of the exhibition. Designed for the 2014-2015 Real Madrid season, this was a major moment in the sportswear world as fashion transcended the runway and reached the pitch. The jersey was part of the third kit for a Real Madrid team that featured football legends like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez, and many more. The kit incorporated two mythical beasts that originated from Eastern Asian culture: the dragon king & dragon bird. The king symbolized the greatness, glory, and power of the La Liga club while the bird represented resistance, determination, and agility. This moment also spotlighted Yohji Yamamoto’s curiosity for football: previously, Yamamoto spent the end of his Y-3 Spring/Summer 2010 Ready-to-Wear runway taking penalty goal kicks with Zinedine Zidane; truly an iconic moment in fashion and sportswear.
Y-3 Football Highlights
The Archive
After exploring the historical moments of adidas and Yohji Yamamoto, the next stop was the adidas archive. Prepped with museum-level gloves, Ms. Sandra Trapp showcased various types of adidas products and history dating back to the 1950s. The adidas SL 72 was a focal point of this exploration. Inspired by the SL 72 mule clog from the late 1990s, Yohji Yamamoto reworked the SL 72 mule that would be shown on the runway of his Spring/Summer 2002 womenswear collection in various colorways. Dubbed the SL 72 YY Embroidered, it debuted along the YY Mei Brocade. Models walked the runway in the sleek adidas silhouettes that sported Yamamoto’s famous signature on top of the iconic 3 stripes. The floral elements caught the eye as the tailored pants and dresses draped perfectly on top of the haute-couture SL 72 variant. The collection felt lightweight and effortless, emphasized greatly by the scalloped-edged mules.
Archive Images and Yohji SL-72 Mules
As it was designed and developed before the inception of Y-3, the SL 72 YY Embroidered previewed the foundational design pillars to what a relationship between adidas and Yohji Yamamoto would look like. He took structural elements from the original adidas SL 72 mule and translated them perfectly onto the YY SL 72 Embroidered, as it had the same sawtooth outsole, laceless elements, and toe cap construction. The biggest differentiator is the all leather upper; complemented with contrasting floral embroidery throughout the upper and into the sockliner, the mule perfectly displayed the Eastern Asian elements that Yamamoto implemented in his design process for his namesake brand. The SL 72 YY Embroidered was the breath of fresh air that adidas needed and the elegant sportswear that Yamamoto had romanticized.This was a perfect representation of what was to come in the next two decades. Yohji Yamamoto embraced the 1 + 1 = 3 formula, where collaborations between two creators must create something completely new and different while still embracing heritage elements from both sides.
SL-72 and Archive Tour Images
Full Circle
Two decades later, everything has come full circle. The SL 72 is being reintroduced as a new legacy member in the adidas Originals family, both in the OG and RS (Reshaped) models, while Y-3 is still trailblazing and redefining the concept of elegant sportswear. A decade after the 2014 Real Madrid kit, Yamamoto and his team has designed a kit for the 2024 Real Madrid Men’s and Women’s teams along with a 2024 Predator Elite Y-3 cleat. There is a significant importance to adidas remaining authentic to its brand heritage when creating product and storytelling. In its attempt to introduce a new lifestyle segment focusing on sports performance-inspired fashion 20 years ago, adidas and Yohji Yamamoto have ultimately redefined the relationship between sportswear and fashion. The result is a modern uniform of the streets.Designed in Japanese and German ateliers and intended for the world.
