crooked tongues magazine News Features

Everybody knows the adidas Trimm Trab and its impact on shoe culture in Europe. We assume they do, anyway. That was kicking off long before anyone coveted an Air Force 1. Appearing circa 1977, that multi purpose training design has been the subject of a whole lot of retroing and debating, with every minor change closely examined by folks who grew up obsessed with that silhouette. However, that wasn't the start of the Trimm shoe phenomenon. This simple training design is the adidas Trimm Star; a shoe that has long been a rarity that barely crops up beyond the collections of true shoe Jedis who've got West German-made editions in the faded blue box — we've long associated the Trimm Star with a colourway like this one, blending brown with burgundy, but everything seemed a little lighter, from the gums sole to the upper. We're not sure whether that was down to age, but it's back — a low profile, slim design in a good suede with a soft leather lining, plus the Ghilly lacing system that separates it from several other adidas designs circa 1972. There's a blocked-out line where the Continental logo used to be though.

On noticing that there were plenty of overweight kids, (who we like to imagine were carrying on like Üter from The Simpsons or Augustus Gloop) the West German government implemented the Trimm-Dich (keep fit) campaign in 1970. These shoes were the officially approved footwear for that campaign. There was this model, the T-Master, which was extremely similar and best known in its green and yellow makeup plus the Trimm Master which, as we understand, is a different shoe to the T-Master because it used canvas and was made for indoor wear. Confused yet? The adidas Trimm Star will also be coming out in a T-Master colourway too. If that's all a little bemusing, just appreciate and understand how far adidas was ahead of the curve in the early 1970s. What was state-of-the-art then is basic now, but the level of thought that went into models like this can't be underestimated. Over 40 years after they first debuted, these still get the Trimmy thumbs up and the Trimm Star reissue will be arriving in the Crooked Tongues store in the next month or so.