The Shoe Created by Audi: Adidas The Kobe

It is not unusual for designers in other industries to look to the automotive world for inspiration when creating new products. Sometimes the inspiration goes even deeper and turns into a collaboration, one of the most intriguing was between Adidas and Audi that resulted in The Kobe basketball shoe worn by you guessed it, Kobe Bryant at the start of the first Lakers three peat. The shoe was designed and inspired by the original Audi TT.

The similarities of Audi Design language and The Kobe are easily identifiable. At a glance, the TT Roadster has three main features: a continuous line, a clean surface body side, and a bullet-nosed front. These elements also reflected The Kobe. adidas' long-standing grooved shell-toe, from the Superstar, Originals line, looks strikingly similar to an Audi front end grill. The main shoulder line continues around the arches and through the bottom of the shoe as the Audi TT's continuous loop runs from the side of the vehicle around the wheel arches and under the car.

The end result was an iconic basketball shoe that looked unlike any other shoe on the market at the time and even now. The follow up to The Kobe, The Kobe II, featured an even stronger automotive based design but this time around the results were disastrous resulting in a shoe considered by many to be one of the worst. The failure of Kobe II ended any hopes for more sneaker auto crossovers and Kobe left for Nike shortly after.



The Kobe II Look More Auto Inspired, Too Auto Inspired