The Design Museum's latest exhibition, Sneakers Unboxed, showcases the popular shoe as a design object. Curator Ligaya Salazar picks five exhibits that show how the trainer has been at the forefront of material and user innovation.
On show at London's Design Museum until late October, Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street brings together instantly recognisably shoes like the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, collectibles like the Yeezy 350 Zebra and historic designs like 1984's Adidas Micropacer, the first shoe to tout an embedded computer for fitness tracking.
Nike trainers feature in several sections of Sneakers Unboxed
The exhibition also looks at how sneakers have tied into social movements and youth cultures across the globe, starting with New York's basketball and hip-hop communities in the 1970s, and have gone on to spawn a resale market worth more than $6 billion. In doing so, it puts the spotlight on a sector that has not always been taken seriously by institutions.
"A footwear staple for style, performance and comfortwear, Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street reveals the role young people from diverse backgrounds have played in making individual sneakers into style icons and in driving an industry now worth billions," said Salazar.

The exhibition also explores how sneakers have provided a unique platform for experimentation, both in the past and in the present moment.
Recent objects show designers innovating with technologies and processes such as biodesign, c...