Adidas Stan Smith

The Stan Smith is a tennis shoe from the German sportswear manufacturer Adidas. Adidas developed the shoe in 1971 alongside the Nastase model for the tennis players Stan Smith and Ilie Năstase, who faced each other in the Wimbledon final in 1972 and won a doubles match together in the same year. Horst Dassler had been searching for new active athletes whose names he could use since the withdrawal of Robert Haillet, after Adidas named a nearly identical shoe in 1965. Daniel Dell, an American tennis manager, suggested the American Stan Smith. He accepted the offer to receive royalties for the use of his name. For Adidas, the shoe was a market opener in the United States.