The Mockba — Adidas Behind the Iron Curtain
Design Ideas and Random Thoughts
Read Time: 4 min
Wise words:
“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge..”
– Mikhail Bakunin, a 19th-century Russian revolutionary and philosopher — often called the father of anarchism — who believed that tearing down oppressive systems was the first act of true creation.
Made me think:
🧠 Scarcity Principle
When limited access amplifies desire. Coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
In sneaker culture, it’s the backbone of limited drops — think Nike’s Off-White “The Ten” collaboration or the first Yeezy 750 Boost. By releasing only a few pairs, brands turn ordinary shoes into cultural trophies, proving that sometimes it’s not the product itself that’s valuable — it’s the feeling of almost not getting it.
The Mockba — Bootleg Adidas Behind the Iron Curtain..
Here’s one of the most paradoxical stories in footwear history: a sneaker born from both capitalism and communism — worn by Olympic athletes, Soviet spies, and special forces in Afghanistan.
While the USSR publicly denounced Western “decadence,” it secretly adored German engineering — particularly that of Adidas.
Secret Contracts and Olympic Diplomacy
After World War II, the Olympics became a covert marketing battlefield. Western brands wanted their shoes on the world’s best athletes — and few teams were stronger than the Soviets.
Officially, the USSR maintained an image of proud self-reliance. But internally, the Soviet Sports Committee was desperate. Its footwear industry lacked modern adhesives, foams, and synthetics. In secret, it struck deals with Adidas as early as the 1960s, a partnership documented in state archives long before the famous 1980 Moscow Olympics.
According to a 1979 report titled “On the Partnership with Adidas (FRG)”, the collaboration had already been running for two decades. The Soviets even ordered shoes from Converse in 1965 — 46 pairs of basketball trainers — a surreal contradiction in a state that officially condemned American capitalism.
The Great Rebrand: Adidas → Mockba
When the USSR prepared to host the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Adidas was chosen as the official supplier. Then came the geopolitical bombshell: the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Western countries boycotted the Games. Adidas, a West German company, faced diplomatic disaster — a lucrative contract it couldn’t honour publicly.
The solution? Rename everything.
Adidas agreed to continue production but under a new name: Mockba (pronounced as "Mosk-va" and literally meaning “Moscow”). The three stripes stayed in some cases (sometimes changed to 2 or 4)and all Adidas logos and text were removed. Even more astonishingly, production was moved entirely to the Soviet Union, with all German equipment, moulds, and chemical supplies transferred to local factories.
This created a strange hybrid: authentic Adidas shoes, made in the USSR, bearing no Adidas branding.
Factory Espionage and Design Control
Adidas was meticulous. The company handpicked the workforce: only women under 23 with no previous factory experience were hired — the theory being that they hadn’t yet learned “bad habits” from Soviet production lines. These young women were trained exclusively to produce Adidas-level quality under German supervision.
The result was remarkable: the Mockba sneaker was one of the best-made products in the entire Soviet consumer landscape — supple suede, strong adhesives, and clean finishing that rivalled its Western twin, the Gazelle.
From Olympics to War Zones
Ironically, the shoes meant to symbolize international unity ended up on soldiers’ feet.
When Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in 1979, they found their standard-issue boots useless on rocky, steep terrain. The Mockba trainers — light, quiet, and grippy — became the footwear of choice for Spetsnaz and VDV paratroopers. U.S. military reports from the mid-1990s even mention Soviet special forces wearing “tennis-type footwear” in combat.
The Ministry of Defence tried to suppress photos of troops wearing sneakers in war, but a few leaked — instantly elevating the Mockba to cult status. They later reappeared in Chechnya, in films, action figures, and even video games, becoming an unintentional icon of Soviet design and irony.
The Cult of the Blue Gazelle
The Soviet-made “Mockba Gazelle” came in several colors, but civilians only ever saw blue — leading to the belief that no other version existed. Most pairs were exported or reserved for Olympic teams, making them near-mythical at home.
For Soviet citizens, these sneakers weren’t just footwear; they were a passport to modernity. Before 1980, sneakers were strictly gym gear. After the Olympics, they became a fashion statement — worn with jeans, at offices, on streets. A nationwide craze erupted, creating instant shortages.
An Unlikely Legacy
Production of the Mockba trainer continued long after the USSR collapsed, finally ending in 2011 as part of Russia’s military reform. By then, it had lived several lives: Olympic gear, combat footwear, and a symbol of Soviet ingenuity under Western disguise.
It remains a testament to the absurd beauty of design under constraint — when ideology, necessity, and aesthetics collide to make something that was never supposed to exist.
My Recommends this week:
📘 Made in USSR: Soviet Design 1950–1989 by Alexander
Lavrentiev – A fascinating look into how design ideology adapted (and sometimes resisted) totalitarian control.
👉 Check it out here
📺 Everything Is Television
Derek Thompson’s “Everything Is Television” argues that AI and online media won’t free up our time as promised; instead, they increase pressure on attention and make time feel scarcer, while illustrating the risks of audience capture and privacy concerns. In short, everything will eventually just be a shot video clip.
👉 Check it out here
👟 Footwear Prototypes
For a deep dive into innovative footwear design where I share original concepts, explore unique shoe materials, and discuss design strategy—all curated for anyone passionate about shoemaking, luxury design, and seeing fresh stuff, check out & follow my LinkedIn feed