Jessie Owens' spikes, Ali's gloves and boots, Beamon's running shoes - this is heritage...
I'm just back from a couple of days out in Germany with adidas outdoor – more about that tomorrow, but we got a sneaky look at their 2011 kit and first impressions are that the clothing, in particular, is much improved and also more discretely branded, which will either bother you or not.
But the one thing that absolutely knocked me over and tells you all about the brand's history, is the so-called 'Walk of Fame' at the company's headquarters near Nuremburg.
It's the corporate equivalent of a display of family brick-a-brack and goes right the way back to 1928 when Adi Dassler founded the company. And if you have any interest in sport, it's amazing.
Browse along the wall and it's like a who's who of sport from the last 100 years or so – atheletics? Those are Bob Beaman's spikes, the ones he set the world record in at Mexico City. And remember unbeatable 400-metre hurdler Ed Moses? Yep, those would be his shoes then.
And most amazing of all, from 1936, a pair of track shoes worn by the great black American sprinter, Jessie Owens. Yes, German-made shoes. With two stripes rather than three because the familiar triple-striped identity didn't launch until 1949.
The Greatest? You got it. Ali's ring boots and a pair of gloves, 'float' one one hand, 'sting' on the other, and just along the wall, minimalist gymnastic shoes worn by Nadia Comaneci. And it goes on and one. Basketball shoes in size 17 or something. Franz Beckenbauer's football boots. The ball made specially for a world cup football final. A list of modern tennis greats.
It's genuinely fascinating. And of course it's there to underline the adidas heritage in sports generally.
Not unreasonably, you're thinking, what about the outdoors? What about mountaineering? And to be fair to adidas, they were approached by the legendary Reinhold Messner, pioneer of super-alpinism in the Himalya, who asked them to produce a lightweight boot for walking in to base camp as an alternative to heavy, stiff mountain boots.
The result was the Supertrek, which mated a lightweight leather upper with the sole unit from a running shoes – shades of Brasher there – in a quite innovative way and which Messner wore for the walk to Everest Base Camp before making the first ascent of the mountain – along with Peter Habeler – without supplementary oxygen.
Okay, that was a long time ago, but what adidas is saying is that it's taking the outdoors seriously again and, crucially, it wants to bring the athlete-driven values it has in other sports to the outdoors. Can it do it? Can it produce exceptional outdoor kit and just as importantly, will outdoors people accept it as an authentic brand?
Time, I guess, will tell.
