Legendary 80’s Sneakers to Star at International Design Exhibition

Legendary Startas sneakers, which marked 80’s ex-Yu fashion, are set to be the stars of the 5th Dan D (D Day) International Festival of Design which starts today in Zagreb…

Startas pop up, an exhibition of competition works, will be held from 28 – 31 May at the Lauba Art Gallery in the capital.

The Startas sneaker brand was born in 1976 thanks to the new techniques of rubber vulcanization invented in the 70’s, and were initially designed for table tennis players. The little canvas shoes quickly became iconic in the sports world and a fashion must-have in the former republic, hitting their heights in 1987 when they were the official sponsor of the University Olympic Games in Zagreb. The Startas factory, located in Vukovar, was badly hit by the bombings in the area during the war, forcing the company to shut down production between 1991 and 1997. In 1998, the factory slowly restarted production with only 1,000 employees – a dramatic reduction from the 22,000 employees it had before the war. From 2008 to 2013, five years spent rethinking and re-launching the brand in the Balkans, both Startas and Croatia are making their entrance in Europe thanks to new designs by Mauro Massarotto.

The exhibition will display sneakers from the Autumn / Winter 2014/2015 design competition, which was won by Nina Bačun and Roberta Bratović with their designs named Mimeomai. Second prize was won by Draga Komparak for his Startas – Festive , whilst third prize went to team Pancer-Budić (Alica Pancer, Vendi Budić, Ana Mack, Sandro Jurišić) for their design titled Startas – Flying High.