adidas Consortium recovers the ZX 8000 , to round up a season of homages in which the ZX 4000, ZX 5000, ZX 6000, ZX 7000 and ZX 9000 had already been recovered and new models from the saga had also been created. The ZX 8000 was a high range training sneaker that tied in all of the innovations of the moment, the visible Torsion System in the sole, the Torsion-Stab in the front, Purolite and Soft Cell in the heel, reflective details... However, its true impact goes beyond runners that were looking for something better; in the middle of the battle for the direction of adidas, some of the old guard designers showed that they could take the brand to the next level.
CRISTIAN DAMIANI TELLS US THE HIDDEN STORY OF THE ADIDAS ZX
Originally created in 1984, the true revolution of the ZX saga began five years later, with new models that were identifiable by name (with numbers of four digits instead of three),the Torsion system and very unusual colour combinations. Whilst in the United States there was a culture being created around backsteball and hip hop sneakers, football-centric countries were mixing trends that came from multicultural neighbourhoods, the last breaths of the casual movement and sports brands.
Far from being the global market in which we currently live in, adidas worked in some countries through licensing and distributing, which is why many of its items became local phenomena, which were only available in certain places. A part of that ZX saga is about to be discovered in markets far from the central influence.
We travel to Argentina to talk with Cristian Damiani (@frain_), an adidas enthusiast who has found many of his childhood stories just half an hour away from his home, in Ruiz Deportes. Carlos’ store, as it’s known there, became a pilgrimage site for sneaker enthusiasts after becoming fossilised with many of its jewels and its history in the inside. Cristian Damiani is a guarantor of the legends of Carlos and of many of those sneakers Made in Argentina.
During the eighties adidas was still working through licenses in many countries and each one of them could create new models. Did the ZX arrive the same way to everyone around the world?
Knowing about other ZX models from around the world from that era, I know that they weren’t the same that the ones being sold in Argentina. In respect to our national manufacturing, not many ZX models were sold here. I can remember the ZX390 as the ones that began the line, the ZX312 for women and also the ZX452 (that served as inspiration for Gary Aspden and Mike Chetcutti, creators of the adidas Spezial, to release this model as away in the most amazing way); ZX310; ZX710, these last pairs were also available for kids.
In Argentina you are one of the biggest adidas connoisseurs and you have a great relationship with European collectors, were the ZX accepted in a similar way in other countries?
I think that the we saw the same result in several countries, first they were used for what they were designed for –for running–, and then you could also see that footwear when it came to dressing yourself and not necessarily in a place where you’re practicing sports. What was later called ‘casual’. Then sports clothing started to gain traction in the streets and the adidas ZX took part in those outfits. After the boom after Carlos’s store, the most important collectors from the UK were looking in awe to the ZX models made in Argentina, amazed to see the formats, the shoe acts he’s and the different soles that they were used to in their country or in the rest of Europe.
The second ZX saga (as of 1988) was much less traditional than the first. What were the main innovations?
In those years, the designs took palettes of stronger colors, I think that the chromatic format of each shoe was thought to the smallest detail. The runner was thought of, but also those who wore them at any occasion. You weren't like the rest if you wore ZX.
The four-figure ZX broke in a lot of ways with the adidas’ classic designs. The colour, the Torsion technology that visibly stood out ... How did the average adidas consumer accept this change?
The consumer favorably accepted the new technologies of adidas for his feet. It was totally innovative to wear Torsion in the shoes you chose to practice your favorite sport. They knew something new was going to happen the moment you put on those shoes. The colours of some ZX4000, for example, were very seductive when choosing a pair, and if that added to having the best - and only - technology, designed to make your footprint even better, it was an unbeatable combo!
During the first half of the eighties, the image of adidas was associated with the terrace phenomenon and real sport. The ZX series, especially from the four digits, was opened to new groups, who were the first to accept them?
I think that the first to accept them were select groups, people who knew about the subject and who had already had experience with adidas running shoes. Then it grew in a huge way and the bulk of the sports public used ZX on their feet. Perhaps it was difficult to accept a sneaker as urban fashion, but that was only at the beginning. There are collectors who only have ZX in their collections, and they’re people with grey hair, so they’ve probably lived it.
Normally, durable designs are clean and almost minimalist (Stan Smith, Superstar ...), however the ZX, especially the second generation, have endured over time with a very different design. Why do you think they have maintained their importance?
Maybe you have to abstract my fanaticism when I talk about what I love most, it’s like when you’re talking about your football team or music band that has been with you your whole life; but a shoe that was designed for a particular sport, and that users decided to use for something beyond that, it speaks of something special, something that may have no explanation. That's why I talk about my fanaticism towards the brand. This has always happened to me, you love something so much that you don't know why it seduces you, it's easy to put it on, it suits you.
It does not happen to me with other brands, it never happened to me nor will it happen to me. It only happens to me with adidas.
