adidas Originals Presents The Legacy of Craftsmanship

words // Brandon Richard

For more than 40 years, Markus Thaler has lent his wealth of knowledge to adidas shoe design. Preserving values instilled by brand founder and mentor Adi Dassler, Thaler leads an adidas Originals team that encourages its designers to learn all aspects of footwear manufacturing, from traditional methods of to boundary-pushing technical innovations. For four decades, Markus has lived and breathed adidas' ethos and helped develop some of the brand's most recognized silhouettes.

With a well-deserved retirement on the horizon, adidas Originals presents "The Legacy of Craftsmanship," a short film that documents Thaler passing his knowledge on to a handful of young Originals designers as they create an extremely limited run of hand-made footwear for Lionel Messi, Snoop Dogg, Caroline Wozniacki and Derrick Rose.

Markus may be approaching the end of his run with adidas, but it's clear that he'll inspire generations of designers for years to come.

You can watch "The Legacy of Craftsmanship" above and see Derrick Rose's Torsion Attitude, Messi's Samba, Snoop Dogg's Pro Shell and Caroline Wozniacki's Court Star below. Also be sure to stick around for detailed shots of each shoe.