The first Air Jordan and Imelda Marcos's 3,000 pairs of shoes

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

This week’s programmes are all about the history of footwear.

First we take a trip back to the 1960’s when Brazilians were introduced to a new type of footwear, which went on to become one of the country’s biggest exports.

Plus the story of how a then rookie basketball player called Michael Jordan signed a deal with Nike that revolutionised sports marketing.

We also hear about the thousands of shoes owned by the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos.

Then we learn how one family feud led to the creation of two massive sportswear companies, Adidas and Puma.

Finally, we hear how a Czech company revolutionised shoe production and brought affordable footwear to the world.

Contributors: Sergio Sanchez - Author and former employee of Havainas. Sonny Vaccaro - Former Nike executive. Dr Alex Sherlock – Lecturer in the school of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and founder of the Footwear Research Network. Sigi Dassler – Daughter of Adi Dassler the founder of Adidas. Mick Pinion – Former Bata engineer.

(Photo: Air Jordan Original. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the History Hour Podcast from the BBC World Service with me
0:08.8	Max Pearson the past brought to life by those who were there. This week we're looking at individuals
0:14.1	who've left their mark on the history of footwear, including the rookie basketball
0:18.8	player whose deal with Nike changed the game for sports marketing.
0:22.3	And I said give it all. Mikey changed the game for sports marketing.
0:22.6	And I said, give it all to the kid.
0:26.1	I refer to him as a kid, not even Michael Jordan.
0:29.1	That's history also.
0:30.6	I didn't say give it to Jordan. It was just the kid.
0:34.0	Also the former first lady of the Philippines with 3,000 shoes.
0:38.0	Because when they went to my classes, they did not find skeletons, only shoes.
0:43.0	You beautifully made Maricina shoes.
0:45.0	Plus the sibling rivalry that sparked the creation of Adidas and Puma
0:50.0	and Bata, the Czech shoe company that made footwear affordable all over the globe.
0:54.0	We do not fear the future he declared. Half the people in the world go barefoot.
0:59.0	Of the remainder only 5% are well shot.
1:03.0	That's coming up in the podcast, so let's lace up, slip on and strap in.
1:07.0	First up, a true world beater.
1:09.0	Johnny Iansen takes us back to Brazil in the 1960s. At that time Brazilians were introduced to a new type of footwear
1:16.4	which had just been created and which would go on to become one of the country's biggest exports.
1:21.6	Because Brazil is south of the equator, it was the middle of winter when we arrived.
1:27.0	But with the temperatures in the mid-90s and the sun blazing down, you've never have known.
	...

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