SNEAKERS UNBOXED: STUDIO TO STREET

Unlike most product categories, sneaker sales increased throughout 2020. How does this “everyday” item – both a cultural and status symbol – sustain a lucrative industry? Sneakers Unboxed guides viewers through the category’s history, design process and style. Technology interweaves these themes, from unseen prototypes to the final showstopper: adidas’ FutureCraft.Strung shoe-making robot. On display are high fashion examples from brands including Y3; the most traded sneaker of all time, the Yeezy 350 Zebra; alongside classics from Converse and

Nike; cutting forward to sustainable creations by

Helen Kirkum. Contextualizing these designs is the sneaker’s role in social movements, communities and subcultures, such as the West Coast Skaters, and retailers integral to early sneaker culture, including Footwork, Reed Space and Patta.

Opens May 18, 2021 Design Museum, London