Original version

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

In the Studio

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Inside the brains of the world’s most creative people

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

In the Studio: Designing football boots

Magazines & Reviews

Designing football boots

20/07/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Designing football boots

Dave Surace and Rob Ashcroft of adidas on designing the next pair of football boots

Dave Surace and Rob Ashcroft of adidas on designing the next pair of football boots for the years ahead.

Adidas senior design director, Dave Surace and senior category director Rob Ashcroft create the next pair of football boots for the years ahead. These boots - if a success - will sit on shop shelves across the world and grace the feet of the biggest footballing stars.

Football journalist Raphael Honigstein guides us through the duo's process, as they balance new, exciting ideas with tried and tested formulas. Dave sketches out the new design, discussing the materials he uses and the dream boots he has in his mind, and reflects on how designing links back to his childhood.

For Rob Ashcroft, his domain lies in what has worked before. Armed with the stats about which designs sell well and why, he guides Dave and his team towards a boot that not only looks good, but performs well on the pitch and the shop floor too.

But what is success for them both? A slick design? An impressed athlete? Or a sales boom? And which one of these takes precedence when designing a new football boot?

Raphael follows the process from rigorous testing to the storytelling of the product, and hears the final moment when Dave and Rob get to unbox their creation for the very first time.

Producer: Sean Allsop

(Image: A pair of Adidas X Speedflow boots, courtesy of adidas)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

In the Studio

Designing football boots

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service