50 years after Stan Smith's Wimbledon title, his signature shoes remain a major feat
“When I'm walking, I generally look at people's feet more than I look at their faces just to see what they're wearing,”
said Smith, 75, sitting under a canopy in the back yard of the stately three-story house
he rents every Wimbledon fortnight, one of the houses closest to the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.
Hard to blame him for his foot fixation. Over the last 50 years, Adidas has sold more than 100 million
Stan Smith tennis shoes, now a fashion statement and not something competitive players would wear on the court.
Smith, the onetime standout at Pasadena High and USC, made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1988 for the most pairs sold
approximately 22 million — and that number climbed in the 1990s when Adidas released the Stan Smith II and retro Stan Smith 80s
The most common ones are uncomplicated, with clean white leather and a touch of green on the back.