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141Australian tari%u00a0s on footwear in the 1970s and 1980s not only propped up local manufacturing, but they also made the marque running brands like Puma, adidas and Nike prohibitively expensive. This paved the way for the muchloved Dunlop KT 26 to become one of the most popular and iconic sports shoes of the period. The original KT 26 (KT was short for kinetic technology, and the 26 represented the miles in a marathon) was designed by Jerry Stubberfield for Osaga in the US. They caught the eye of a Dunlop rep at a shoe fair in New York City, and a licensing deal was done. They were adapted and released as the Dunlop KT 26 in Australia in 1978. With their modern styling and accessible pricing, the humble KT 26 was a runaway success. The shoes were a mainstay of sports carnivals and blue-light discos, and even became the o%u00a0icial runner worn in the Australian prison system. The original %u2018Dad Shoe%u2019, the KT 26 was the runner of choice if you wanted to take up exercise for the first time in years, with hamstring injuries added at no extra cost.For many years they were made at Dunlop%u2019s Alexandria factory in Sydney, but when tari%u00a0s were slowly removed, local manufacturing couldn%u2019t compete and production was moved o%u00a0shore in the 1990s. Many purists argued that overseas-made shoes didn%u2019t have the same quality, but the KT 26 managed to hang on, and by the early 2000s it was claimed that more than 5 million pairs had been sold since their launch in 1978. Sadly, however, the writing was on the wall for this little sports shoe that could. The humble runner that never really looked good with jeans and wasn%u2019t really suitable for exercise went to the farm in 2014 with barely a whimper. YEAR 1978DESIGNER Jerry Stubberfield/Dunlop Design TeamMANUFACTURER DunlopThe shoes were a mainstay of sports carnivals and blue-light discos, and even became the official runner worn in the Australian prison system.