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DIADORA BY WHU65
THE GOLDEN AGE OF DIADORA BY WHU65
2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the Italian sportswear manufacturer Diadora
but you could easily be forgiven for not noticing this milestone…
The third biggest selling football equipment brand in the USA and with total
sales of around 25 million dollars worth of sporting goods in America alone,
Diadora still has a healthy business. It has offices in Hong Kong, America and
Italy yet has rather slipped down the rankings in the UK. Meanwhile,
manufacturers such as Reebok, New Balance and K-Swiss have increased their share
of the British training shoe market. The boom period that Diadora enjoyed in the
seventies and early eighties when football lads treated their product as highly
prized and much sought after, is now just a distant memory. Many UK stockists
either no longer sell the brand or simply confine shelf space to a mere handful
of selected models often just carrying the latest in a long line of Borg Elite
(or should that be B.Elite?) reissues without the famous signature strip of
course! So where did it all go wrong?
It is of course the early to mid eighties period which will be of most interest
to the match going fraternity across the UK. Diadora produced dozens of
different models during this time and it was originally the tennis shoes that
were snapped up by eager young lads. Popular purchases included the Borg Elite
81 with silver or gold flash, Competition, Tie Break, Master, Mulligan, Torino,
Player, Top Spin, Ace and later on Venice, Ed Moses, Seb Coe and Becker Open.
Originally sourcing these shoes was hard work. This is because Polytrade Ltd
owned the sole UK distribution rights to both the Diadora and Fila brands and
there were only a relatively small amount of official stockists, many of these
being specialist sports shops outside of town and city centres making them far
less accessible. Inner London had the most major concentration of Diadora
outlets but this is perhaps unsurprising given the fact that Polytrade Ltd’s
offices were situated on Jermyn Street in central London (they later moved to
larger premises on New Kings Road SW6 and then on to Garratt Lane SW18). Bemused
shop keepers suddenly found it was non-tennis players who were now buying up
most of their stock as places such as Lillywhites of Piccadilly in London and
Eric Willmont on the Stratford Road in Hall Green Birmingham became happy
hunting grounds.
During 1983 and 1984 the number of official stockists rose sharply as people
realised there was money to be made and it became far easier to find a pair of
Diadora training shoes with mail order adverts even appearing in magazines like
Shoot. Olympus Sports expanded their operations and opened up many new stores
during this period carrying bigger and better ranges of the Italian favoured
sporting brands which now saw second branches in the larger cities as well as
superstores.
The Borg Elite shoes in gold stripes (or “flash” as they were often referred to
at the time) were probably the most popular item from the Diadora stable with UK
football lads. Originally appearing in 1981, they bear a striking resemblance to
a 1978 Borg range model that had been released in a deep red stripe colourway.
There were many different shoes issued under the very successful Borg signature
range especially between 77 and 83. Models included the type he actually wore on
court himself in various designs and colours, the Elite range, Top Spin, Ace,
Trophy and Madeira. Although it was the gold and silver stripe Elite shoes lads
were chasing, Borg actually mainly wore the white/navy blue stripe pro range
shoe on court especially when playing on grass at Wimbledon. He also used the
red stripe version of this shoe in both red and white sole variations often
preferring these on clay court. Bjorn Borg’s tennis shoe contract with Diadora
excluded him from wearing them in both Canada and the U.S.A. where he was
contracted to Tretorn. He did however have provision to wear Diadora running
shoes in America.
Borg Elite’s were very expensive and retailed around the £37 mark in the UK
which was more than a week’s wages for some folk! Sales of the shoe peaked
between 1982 and 1984 and the price eventually rose to 39.99 which was around
double the price of an average training shoe back then. The navy stripe Player
model which was another Diadora tennis shoe of that era was less than half that
price at just £19.99! That said the Elite were a luxury item…
Shoes were made from soft kangaroo skin rather than standard grain leather came
with a numbered certificate card and also a drawstring shoe bag emblazoned with
a picture of Bjorn Borg. Variations of the shoe appeared before its demise and
the famous signature strip to side came in both black and white formats, with
silver/grey and red or cream and black shoe bags, changes to the tongues, soles
as well as logos. Some pairs even had the signature to both the inner and outer
stripes rather than the standard outer.
Diadora originally survived the Italian sportswear crash far better than their
fellow countrymen Tacchini and Fila. This was due to the fact that although
sportswear had been ditched as other looks became de rigeur before the Paninaro
style clothing started to take hold, training shoes were still seen as an
essential wardrobe item for many. Ellesse lasted a while longer due to the
popularity of their versatile ski coat range. It now became running and leisure
shoes that lads wanted though rather than the predominantly white tennis shoes
of the past. Ed Moses was another favourite signature model from Diadora as were
Seb Coe and also the suede Venice shoe which also came in assorted colour
combinations. Popular variations of the Ed Moses included the white/navy,
white/red and burgundy/silver stripe combos. As the styles and looks began to
change and diversify on the terraces, Diadora found itself being left out in the
cold. New Balance jogging shoes had become popular along with various designs
from market leaders Nike and Adidas. Diadora seemed to lose favour with many
lads as the decade drew to a close and the Pat Cash and Boris Becker models no
longer cut the mustard for many.
Fast forward to early in 2001 and the Borg Elite are back on the agenda. Not to
be outdone in the vintage revival stakes, the company brought back the Elite in
both gold and silver stripe versions. Tacchini and Fila had already been
pro-active in the nostalgia reissue markets. Tacchini led the way in the late
nineties with some retro tracksuit designs which they followed in 2000 with
reissues of the Dallas and Ghibli track tops. Unfortunately the 2001 Elite
reissues carry no Borg signature as with their previous efforts of the nineties.
Despite the fact that the shade of gold was much darker and there was no
stitching along the sole unit to upper on the front half of the shoe, it was
essentially a reasonable effort. Obviously there was no certificate card or shoe
bag either.
The first couple of runs in 2001 and 2002 did not appear to sell all that well
as the sales racks were full for as little as £12.99 a pair and few shops were
charging more than £19.99 at the end of season. It wasn’t until the 2003 and
later 2005 issues that we saw sell outs at full price and a booming business on
Ebay with pairs fetching well over £100 and as much as £175 just for reissues.
Very strange given the fact that during the same period, I personally witnessed
an original deadstock unworn pair of golds only sell for £250 in a UK size 10
and a pair of unworn navy stripe Borg in a UK 8 fetch just £80! Elite’s now seem
to be a yearly favourite with Diadora reissuing further runs in the last couple
of years including kangaroo skin versions and also models with heritage shoe
bags.
It is very unlikely that we will ever see the famous Bjorn Borg signature adorn
the side of the shoes again as Borg now runs his own successful clothing
business and is reluctant to let others use his mark and indeed now incorporates
this on the side of his own designed footwear. Despite business setbacks of the
past, he has managed to come back from his financial problems to front a company
pushing on 5 major fronts – clothing, footwear, bags, underwear and eyewear. He
now has 10 concept stores and up to the first half of 2008 saw profits up 26% to
SEK 1.165 million. Most of the footwear range is unlikely to appeal to your
average football type but one or two of the plainer models are more palatable.
The USA market has been flooded with Elite hybrid reissue models in numerous
colours including green, navy blue, sky blue, red, tangerine and black. You
could be forgiven for thinking that Diadora had never designed any other shoes
apart from Borg Elite and Equipe as their output from their so called “Heritage”
range has been somewhat limited to say the least. Other than the Master shoes
which were issued again in 2002 in both red and navy blue stripes, Diadora seem
somewhat reluctant to plunder their vaults and exploit it in the same way that
both Nike and Adidas regularly do. It’s not like they don’t have the back
catalogue available – Vilas, Tie Break, Venice, Player, Ed Moses, Davis Cup and
many others are crying out for a well done reissue.
There is apparently interest from Diadora in a couple of well known eighties
models for the 2009 collection which would at least be progress however small. I
will not name them here as I feel it is perhaps best to wait and see if it ever
comes to fruition first. Diadora is the only Italian sportswear manufacturer
that still has some of its product made in Italy which makes a refreshing change
in today’s climate of cheaply made mass produced Far East fodder. It is just a
shame that they could not mark their 60th anniversary in the UK with a fitting
tribute whatever that may have been…
