In front of us right now is a collection of some of the most prized design pieces in the world. Aesthetically daring, scientifically innovative, and as the original advertising tagline communicated in 1994: 100% legal and 0% fair. It’s the first ever football boot to be sold featuring rubber fins, the boot that David Beckham once saw being played with and thought, “I’ve got to get myself a pair of those. Let me try them on.” That’s a story that Becks tells himself. The adidas Predator is a football boot full of stories—and Hinson has got the lot.
“Quickly, it became an obsession,” Hinson, a 42-year-old from the Wirral, tells me in a studio in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle area. “It was never just about the boots; it was their attachment to football history and culture. Every time I watched a match on TV, I’d look for the boots first; it’s never-ending...”
Hinson has every model and every colourway you could ever imagine. Looking around at the pairs sat in an organised pile in front of us, there are boots you remember really wanting as a kid and a couple of pairs of boots you’d forgotten ever existed. Hinson isn’t just an obsessive; he’s The Authority. He doesn’t just collect; he preserves. The history of the adidas Predator is in very safe hands of the affable Evertonian whose @thepredatorpro Instagram account is the holy grail for Predator fans, and it’s our (and your) privilege to have a sneak peek at a fraction of his collection…
What I’m doing isn’t transactional. It’s about preserving football history, and you just can’t put a figure on that.”
“His technique was incredible,” Hinson tells me about how watching Becks play started it all off for him. “We all tried it on a Sunday morning, shooting from 20 to 25 yards out. He showed that if you worked hard, you would always have a chance. And then there was the fashion side of it, which set him apart from most and proved that if you wanted to be ‘different’, you could be different. That was really appealing to me, and the Predator boot was central to all that.”