babies wear them,

嬰兒穿著它們。

even the US vice president is a fan.

甚至美國副總統也是一個粉絲。

Sneakers. Trainers. The tennis shoe.

運動鞋。訓練鞋。網球鞋。

Whatever you want to call them, they're everywhere -

無論你怎麼稱呼它們，它們無處不在 --

maybe even on your own feet right now.

也許現在就在你自己的腳上。

Tens of billions of pairs are manufactured every year.

每年生產幾百億對。

The biggest athletic shoe companies make more in revenue

最大的運動鞋公司的收入更多

than the GDP of some countries.

比一些國家的國內生產總值還要高。

So how did a piece of rubber, leather and canvas

那麼，一塊橡膠、皮革和帆布是如何做到的呢？

become such big business?

成為這樣的大生意？

Let's go back to the late 19th Century.

讓我們回到19世紀末。

New sports like croquet and tennis required new footwear

新的運動如槌球和網球需要新的鞋類

to protect the grass lawns they were played on.

以保護他們所玩的草地。

Not long after, sneaker brands started to appear.

不久之後，運動鞋品牌開始出現。

Converse's most famous shoe, the All-Star, made its debut in 1917.

匡威最著名的鞋子，全明星，在1917年首次亮相。

Two of the biggest names in the sneaker game, Adidas and Puma,

運動鞋遊戲中最大的兩個名字，阿迪達斯和彪馬。

were each founded by a German brother.

都是由一個德國兄弟創立的。

Adi and Rudolf Dassler

阿迪和魯道夫-達斯勒

got together in the 1920s

在20世紀20年代走到了一起

to make athletic shoes.

製作運動鞋。

The Dassler brothers capitalised on something that's common sense today.

達斯勒兄弟利用了一些在今天看來是常識的東西。

If you want people to buy your shoes, get someone famous to wear them.

如果你想讓人們購買你的鞋子，那就找一個有名的人穿上它。

That person was US Olympian Jesse Owens.

這個人就是美國奧運選手傑西-歐文斯。

But Owens, a black athlete,

但是歐文斯，一個黑人運動員。

was set to compete at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin

準備參加1936年的柏林奧運會。

at a time when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis

在阿道夫-希特勒和納粹的時候

were firmly in control of Germany.

牢固地控制了德國。

The Dassler brothers who, along with many German industrialists,

達斯勒兄弟與許多德國工業家一起。

had joined the Nazi party, took a risk in approaching Owens.

他曾加入納粹黨，冒著風險接近歐文斯。

The risk paid off when Owens went on to win four gold medals.

這一風險得到了回報，歐文斯後來贏得了四枚金牌。

It was an incredible coup -

這是一個令人難以置信的政變 --

a black man upstaging Hitler's racist ideology on the world stage.

一個黑人在世界舞臺上顛覆了希特勒的種族主義意識形態。

And he was wearing Dassler shoes.

而且他還穿著達斯勒的鞋子。

After the war, the brothers split, each to form their own company -

戰後，兄弟倆分道揚鑣，各自組建自己的公司------。

Adi set up Adidas and Rudi, Puma.

阿迪設立了阿迪達斯，魯迪設立了彪馬。

In fact, Adidas is an amalgamation

事實上，阿迪達斯是一個混合體。

of its founder's first and second names, Adi and Dassler.

其創始人的第一個和第二個名字，阿迪和達斯勒。

His brother Rudi tried the same trick, and called his brand 'Ruda'

他的兄弟魯迪嘗試了同樣的伎倆，並將他的品牌稱為 "魯達"。

before realising that it didn't roll off the tongue.

然後才意識到這句話並沒有從嘴裡說出來。

But the story of sneakers is not just about

但運動鞋的故事不僅僅是關於

finding the right name for your product.

為你的產品找到合適的名字。

It's also about marketing.

這也是關於市場營銷。

Nike sold huge numbers of shoes during the jogging boom of the 1970s.

在20世紀70年代的慢跑熱潮中，耐克銷售了大量的鞋子。

But when they wanted to move beyond running,

但當他們想超越跑步時。

they needed something extra special.

他們需要一些特別的東西。

And they found it in basketball legend Michael Jordan,

而他們在籃球傳奇人物邁克爾-喬丹身上找到了這種感覺。

making him the biggest athletic spokesperson of all time.

使他成為有史以來最大的運動員代言人。

The Nike-Jordan partnership was a huge success

尼爾-喬丹的合作關係是一個巨大的成功

generating more than $100 million in sales in its first 12 months,

在最初的12個月裡，它的銷售額超過了1億美元。

rising to an incredible $3.6 billion,

增長到令人難以置信的36億美元。

or around £2.6 billion, in revenue in 2020.

或約26億英鎊，在2020年的收入。

Nike was also adept at spotting other opportunities.

耐克也善於發現其他機會。

Did you know they paid just $35, or roughly £284, in today's money

你知道嗎，他們只支付了35美元，或大約284英鎊，以今天的貨幣計算

for their famous Swoosh logo?

為他們著名的Swoosh標誌？

And that the famous Nike slogan “Just Do it”

還有那句著名的耐克口號 "Just Do it"

was inspired by the last words, “Let's Do it”,

靈感來自於最後一句話："我們來做吧"。

of murderer Gary Gilmore prior to his 1977 execution?

謀殺犯加里-吉爾莫在1977年被處決前的照片？

It's not just athletes - and death row inmates -

不僅僅是運動員--和死囚--的問題。

who inspire us to wear sneakers.

激發我們穿運動鞋的人。

In the mid-80s, hip-hop group Run-DMC signed a landmark deal with Adidas

80年代中期，嘻哈組合Run-DMC與阿迪達斯簽訂了一份具有里程碑意義的協議。

paving the way for many more lucractive partnerships

為更多有吸引力的夥伴關係鋪平道路

between shoe makers and artists.

在製鞋師和藝術家之間。

Today, Kanye West and Rihanna each have their own line of sneakers.

今天，坎耶-韋斯特和蕾哈娜都有自己的運動鞋系列。

And they're worth big bucks.

而且它們價值不菲。

West's collaboration with Adidas, the Yeezy sneaker line,

韋斯特與阿迪達斯的合作，即Yeezy運動鞋系列。

was valued at over £1.2 billion in 2019 .

2019年的估值超過12億英鎊。

But what does our appetite for all these shoes mean for the world?

但我們對所有這些鞋子的胃口對世界意味著什麼？

Environmentally they are something of a disaster.

在環境方面，它們是一場災難。

A single shoe can contain 65 different parts,

一雙鞋可以包含65個不同的部件。

and hundreds of different processing steps.

和數百個不同的處理步驟。

As you can imagine, our shoes stick around in landfills

你可以想象，我們的鞋子在垃圾填埋場停留了很久

long after we've thrown them away.

在我們把它們扔掉之後的很長一段時間。

A rubber sole might take 80 years to biodegrade.

一個橡膠鞋底可能需要80年的時間來進行生物降解。

Plastics and synthetics take hundreds more.

塑膠和合成材料要多花數百元。

Several sneaker companies are experimenting

一些運動鞋公司正在進行試驗

with recycled materials and more sustainable production methods.

使用回收材料和更可持續的生產方法。

But the legacy of our love affair with sneakers

但是，我們對運動鞋的熱愛所留下的遺產

will be with us for many, many years to come.

將在未來的許多年裡與我們同在。