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Product History - Original Apollo Creepers

THE ORIGINAL APOLLO

First introduced by Underground in Manchester in 1983, the Apollo is one of the foundational styles of the Underground Originals collection.

Its significance is written into its serial number: 001.

The Apollo was the first style created and the first number allocated when the Underground Originals collection was assembled and presented to the trade from 1987. More than forty years later, it remains part of the collection.

With its sharply pointed toe, interlaced apron, monk strap and buckle fastening sitting above the unmistakable corrugated Creeper sole, the Apollo offers a distinctive interpretation of the Creeper archetype.

Alongside the round-toed Wulfrun, it became one of two defining expressions of Underground’s Creeper DNA.

First one off the production line. Always present.

                                                                                                                The Original Apollo Creeper

                                                                                                        The Apollo featured in Sweden’s Slitz magazine 

FROM NORTHAMPTON TO MANCHESTER

The story of the Apollo is also a story about preservation.

When Underground discovered the original shoe pattern in the early 1980s, the pointed shape, apron front and monk strap Creeper already had a history stretching through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

But by the beginning of the 1980s, much of the Northampton footwear industry had lost interest in the style.

Underground hadn’t. We saw an archetype worth preserving, developing and presenting to a new generation.The existing pattern was adapted, a pointed last selected and the shoe was introduced through our Manchester store in 1983.

When the Underground Originals collection was formally assembled later in the decade, this became 001 – the first style created and the first number allocated.

The name came later. During the 1990s, the shoe was christened the Apollo, taking its name from music venues that shared the name.

                                                                                                            Archive Apollo Catalogue 

WE ASKED OUR FOUNDER

“The shoe industry had largely lost interest in the style. We hadn’t.

We saw something that was worth preserving and re-presenting. The pointed shape had that rock ‘n’ roll attitude and the monk strap Creeper was already a classic.

We didn’t set out to reinvent it. We chose the shape, put it into the collection and stuck with it.

It became 001 because it was the first one. And it has always been there.”

THE APOLLO SILHOUETTE

Apollo and Wulfrun share the same Creeper DNA, but their silhouettes are immediately distinguishable.

Where the Wulfrun has the familiar rounded Creeper toe, the Apollo is constructed on Underground’s Meteor last, producing its characteristic elongated, pointed profile.

The upper combines an interlaced apron with the strap-and-buckle fastening of a monk shoe, all sitting above the corrugated sole of the Creeper.

The original 1983 specification was remarkably simple:

Black leather upper.
Black single Creeper sole.
Silver-coloured metal buckle.
Interlaced apron.

Put an original example alongside an Apollo today and the lineage is immediately apparent.

The essential architecture remains:

Pointed Meteor last.
Monk strap.
Buckle.
Interlaced apron.
Corrugated Creeper sole.

black creepers single sole black leather underground apollo buckle creeper

SAME DNA. DIFFERENT SILHOUETTE.

Apollo and Wulfrun arrived at Underground at approximately the same time.

They weren’t conceived as competitors. They belonged to the same family, offering two different interpretations of the Creeper.

The Wulfrun offered the classic rounded profile.The Apollo offered the sharper point.

For some wearers, that pointed shape carried an unmistakable rock ‘n’ roll attitude.

Both styles initially sold equally and both found their place amongst the overlapping subcultures buying Underground during the 1980s – Teddy Boys and rockabillies, punks, rockers, psychobillies and New Romantics.

Over time, Wulfrun became the larger seller.Apollo maintained its own following.

Black Suede Creepers single sole black suede underground apollo buckle creeper
single sole black suede underground wulfrun creeper shoes UK

A CANVAS FOR EXPERIMENTATION

Black leather was only the starting point.

By 1983, Underground was already producing the style in suede, two-tone combinations and animal-print pony hair.

The construction made experimentation particularly effective. The apron creates a natural frame within the upper, allowing contrasting colours, textures and materials to be introduced without losing the identity of the shoe.

Some combinations became Underground classics:

Black leather.
Black and white leather.
Black leather with leopard-print apron.
Suede.
Pony hair.
Two-tone combinations.

Later came studs, skull buckles and special editions.

The buckle itself became another area for experimentation. Underground commissioned its own hardware and, during the 1990s, introduced skull buckles and studded treatments.

Of all the variations, one of the most recognisably Underground remains one of the simplest: metal studs following the line of the Apollo apron.

Underneath them all remained 001.

 

HACIENDA

One version deserves its own place in the Apollo story.

Black leather was combined with a leopard-print apron to create one of our favourite interpretations of the shoe.

It was originally given its own name: Hacienda.

The reference was unmistakably Manchester. The Haçienda club was around the corner from Underground’s studio and formed part of the cultural landscape in which the brand was developing.

During the 2000s, the naming of the collection was harmonised and Hacienda became part of the Apollo family.

The black leather and leopard combination remains one of the defining Apollo treatments.

FROM MANCHESTER TO THE WORLD

From the Manchester store, Apollo travelled.

Among its earliest export markets were Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. As Underground expanded internationally, the shoe found customers throughout Europe, including France and Italy, before reaching the United States, Japan and Hong Kong.

Different markets developed different preferences. In the United States, leather versions and the leather-and-leopard combination proved particularly successful.

By the 1990s, Apollo was firmly established within Underground’s international collection.

Then fashion moved on but Underground continued to carry the flag

Demand for Creepers fell back during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but Apollo remained in production. There was never a decision to discontinue it.

As pointed footwear began to return during the 2000s, followed by a much wider revival of interest in Creepers around 2011, a new generation discovered the style.

Underground had continued producing it throughout.

Apollo was waiting for them.

2012 press features

FROM SUBCULTURE TO FASHION – AND BACK AGAIN

Apollo has always been capable of moving between different cultural worlds.

It has been worn by musicians including Billy Gibbons, Yungblud and Key of SHINee, and featured in titles including Vogue, Elle, Tatler and Grazia.

It has also provided the starting point for some very different Underground collaborations.

For Mugler, Underground worked with Anna Trevelyan and Nicola Formichetti to take the Creeper into a very different fashion environment.

In another collaboration Molly Goddard offered another interpretation.

At the other end of the spectrum came Motörhead, with an Ace of Spades collaboration rooted firmly in rock ‘n’ roll.

Molly Goddard and Motörhead might appear to occupy opposite ends of fashion and music.

For Underground, and for Apollo, that is precisely the point.

                                                                                                  UNDERGROUND X MOLLY GODDARD

                                                                                              UNDERGROUND X MOTORHEAD ACE OF SPADES

FROM MANCHESTER TO GOTHAM CITY

Perhaps the Apollo’s most unexpected journey came in 1995.

Underground produced a special pair for Jim Carrey as The Riddler in Batman Forever.

The Creepers were transformed in green and silver glitter to accompany the character’s flamboyant costume – an extraordinary reinterpretation of a shoe that had started life in the Underground collection twelve years earlier.

The shoes survived with their original Underground box and production documentation and subsequently entered the film memorabilia market.

From Manchester subculture to Gotham City.

ALLGENDER FROM DAY ONE

Today we describe Apollo as Allgender.

In 1983 we didn’t. Not because the principle was different, but because there seemed little reason to make the distinction. Apollo was simply a shoe for whoever wanted to wear it.Underground sold the product straight through the size range rather than creating separate men’s and women’s versions. Customers bought across that range from the beginning.

It would be disingenuous to claim that Underground set out in 1983 with a consciously formulated gender-neutral strategy.

It was more instinctive than that.

Subcultures are for all.

The shoe was for everyone, so we sold it to everyone.

More than forty years later, nothing about that principle has changed.

APOLLO 001 – AN UNDERGROUND ORIGINAL

Fashion has embraced the Creeper and discarded it more than once.

Underground never did.The Apollo has survived not because it was continually redesigned to follow fashion, but because its fundamental design didn’t need changing.

Materials changed, Colours changed, Sole heights changed, Hardware changed, The people wearing it changed butThe Apollo remained.

Take everything else away and what remains is essentially the shoe Underground put into its Manchester store in 1983:

Pointed Meteor last.
Monk strap.
Buckle.
Interlaced apron.
Corrugated Creeper sole.

The first style created for the Underground Originals collection.

The first number allocated.

More than forty years later, still in the collection.

UNDERGROUND ORIGINAL APOLLO- 001.

FIRST ONE OFF THE PRODUCTION LINE. ALWAYS PRESENT.

                                          SHOP THE APOLLO COLLECTION HERE 

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