When you get invited to adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach for a special presentation around the 30 year anniversary of Predator, you know it’s going to be something special. And so it proved, as the brand opened up the archives to show off some absolute pearls from the past.
In case you hadn’t heard, the Predator – one of the most iconic boots of all time – turns 30 next year, and the celebrations are already well underway. This has been most notably through the recent reveal of the incredibly desirable limited edition drop, which was quickly followed up by the special edition Predstrike collection. Now, the party moves to Germany, as we were invited to a special event that looked back on the history of the silo and its impact on the sport, as well as looking to the future (most of which we can’t tell you about just yet, but trust us, it’s exciting).
Curated by Sam Handy, VP Product and Design, adidas Football, we were treated to a trip down memory lane, bringing us right up to date through what was a visual feast. From Zinedine Zidane’s match-worn gold Predator Mania, created to celebrate Zissou's 2003 FIFA World Player Of The Year award (just the left boot – the right boot is possibly still in Paris), to an original prototype created by Adi Dassler himself, featuring a strip of shark skin on the upper, foreshadowing the Predator line way before its 1994 debut, as well as the rugby-specific Y-3 model from 2019, the Japanese brand’s first crossover, the collection was extensive.
Adidas’s own collection was then further bolstered by that of collectors Hinson (@thepredatorpro) and Chris "Kempy" Kemp (@thepredcollective), who brought some of the highlights of their own personal collections for display, kindly allowing us to debate our favourite Predators with them, while they also shared their own personal stories behind some of their prize pieces.
The journey took us all the way up to the modern day Predator 30, and as we said, there’s more to come on that story…
Photography by SoccerBible.
