I’m Mandeep Chopra, Founder of Limited Edt. Since it started in 2003, Limited Edt has been responsible for growing the sneaker community in Singapore and it’s now the go-to store for sneakerheads.

Our family story is intrinsically linked to sports and adidas. Our sporting goods business started in 1949, coincidently the same year adidas was founded. It was called Sportshop adidas and it mainly retailed adidas sports shoes and equipment, acting as a distribution hub to supply other parts of Southeast Asia. My earliest adidas memories were of watching football on television in the ’80s and admiring the kits that were worn by the UK teams. I used to wear those Beckenbauer shorts, the really short shorts that football players wore. I got them from Dad’s Sportshop adidas. I also remember hearing the story of the time my grandfather met Adi Dassler when he had a meeting at adidas headquarters.

In the early ’90s, Queensway Shopping Centre became the destination mall for sportswear in Singapore, which it still is today. My father opened a fleet of more ‘modern’ stores – called Sportshop 2000 – to complement the more traditional sporting goods stores. Sportshop 2000 was where all the best brands and products had to be – including the EQT range. The store and Queensway Shopping Centre have changed a lot since then and so has sports retail, it has become much more niche. Limited Edt was born out of this environment, established in 2003 as the first specialty sneaker boutique of its kind in Singapore.

My first memory of Equipment was seeing the range in my dad’s store. I grew up loving and playing all sorts of sports from football to tennis to basketball. As a kid, a dream of mine was to own something from the adidas Equipment line, whatever the sport it was for. I admired the iconic teal colourway and how it represented the pinnacle of adidas.

I would love to see something for skateboarding.

Conceptualising and designing with my co-designer is always my favourite. We get the creative juices flowing – and the adidas team is so easy to work with. It is truly a collaborative process.

The ’90s were my teenage years, grunge and hip-hop filled my ears and I was introduced to the world of clubbing. Zouk was the nightclub I visited most often, with its lights, glitz, glamour and flashy cars. It was all captivating. Zouk launched in 1991, the same year as the EQT range. Then there’s the super cars that we often see in Singapore; and Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, which takes place at night. These references formed the basis of what Jonning Chng, my co-designer, and myself used to design the shoe. We worked on the adidas EQT Race Walk – the shoe’s simple, clean lines felt very contemporary to me back then and still do now. The shoe’s luxe materials mimic the interior of supercars: super soft leather, nubuck and durable nylon that looks like carbon fibre. Sleek, bold lines symbolise speed and movement; and the glow-in-the dark piping and 3M materials represent the nightlife element and the beautiful cityscape of Singapore. It is also a nod to Limited Edt’s first ever adidas collaboration 10 years ago.