And one of their biggest successes was the rhyme "My Adidas" The rappers even wore the Adidas A-15 tracksuit But it took a year for Adidas to bring out Run DMC hi- tops. If there is a flaw in Adidas corporate culture, it's a lack of communication. In 1986, Run DMC were the first rap group to cross over to music's mainstream. You don't need to go to a club in New York to know a good-looking shoe from an ugly shoe.
It makes me laugh when I hear the guys are going to the Ministry of Sound for inspiration They go just because they want to go - and write off a trip. I can hear them saying, `This design was inspired by a reptile I saw on my trip to Guatemala.' Just be honest - you wanted to go to Guatemala."Adidas has had brushes with fashion before - that's why the company is now trying to be a little quicker on the uptake. I try and tell Adidas what's happening - art, technology, cars, Sony PlayStations or films. We have to be way ahead."The cool-hunting idea makes the team back in Germany laugh out loud. "These designers go to London and go to clubs because that's who they are," says Peveto "They want to go to the clubs. They go to Paris or the Louvre because they want to get out of Herzogenaurach [the village where Adi first made his trainers]. She shows Adidas designers round her idea of Cool Britannia to get inspired - from Clerkenwell, to Camden market, the Ministry of Sound and Soho.
"Hopefully I can predict what people will want in the future. Because the UK is such a small country, fashion changes very quickly What's in one day can be out the next. It's up to Broomhead, the youth communications manager (even though she's 31), to predict trainer trends for Britain. Back in Nuremberg, Csanadi may think that Adidas is far from fashion but Broomhead has a different take "Adidas is in fashion," she says "It's not a fashion brand, but it's in fashion. And you can't ignore that." Broomhead, who previously worked on textiles development at Nike, has to reckon what will be "culturally significant" two years in advance. "That was a tough decade to miss in a business like this."But you get to a point where you're so far behind that you're ahead," he continues. "We were so out that we were in." Adidas recognised first there was money to be made by remaking the shoes we loved as children.