Shoes Trending

Everybody wears shoes. They can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, with different styles from different brands. The Shoe industry in the US alone is worth over 30 billion dollars and is growing every year. However, shoes were not always so popular and seen in the same way we look at shoes today.

The oldest surviving shoes are from around 10,000 years ago. However, some research even points to primitive shoes being worn as far back as 40,000 years ago. As early civilizations began to form, sandals started to be worn. These sandals were made up of different materials depending on where they were made, but the most popular materials were wood, rice straw, leather, and leaves. However, in ancient times many people such as Greeks, Hindus, and Egyptians saw little need for footwear and walked around barefoot. The Romans who conquered the Greeks did not adopt aspects of their culture like not wearing shoes. Instead, Romans saw shoes as a symbol of power and necessity in a civilized world. However, slaves and paupers still generally went barefoot.

Moving forward to the middle ages, a new type of shoe called the espadrilles emerged. It was essentially a sandal with a fabric upper portion and often included fabric laces that went around the ankle. The shoes came from Spain in around the 13th century. Around the 15th century is when Pattens became popular for both men and women. Pattens elevated the foot above mud and dirt, and are commonly seen as the predecessor to the modern high heel shoe. Roughly around the 17th century is when the modern shoe with a sewn-on sole was invented.

Fast forward to the present and shoes have changed greatly. We have shoes for every possible purpose and activity. Shoes are a big part of fashion nowadays while in the previous centuries, shoes were used mainly for function. Previously, leather was the main material in shoes, but currently we use materials such as rubber and plastic. This has actually made shoes much less biodegradable, and it is estimated that it takes roughly 1000 years for most mass produced shoes to degrade in a landfill.

Now let’s look at the history of the revolutionary basketball sneakers. If you walk into the mall or in the streets, you are bound to see someone wearing a pair of flashy basketball shoes. Just to put things in perspective, Nike has sold $2.6 billion worth of Jordan’s since its inception, and Lebron James has sold $340 million worth of Lebron’s within the previous year. These are only the sales for two brands of shoes, under Nike, a single company. Now imagine all of the basketball shoes Nike has, and all the shoes in the market from other companies like Adidas and Reebok. The market is huge, but how did all of this start?

To look at the beginning of these shoes, we have to go all the way back to 1917. This is when the Chuck Taylor All-Stars came out. For over 40 years, these were the best-selling basketball shoes in America. The Chuck Taylor All-Stars by Converse were the first brand of shoes to dominate the game because almost everyone had a pair. These shoes by Converse basically dominated the sneaker game until the early 1970’s. Then in 1972, Nike arrived to the basketball shoe scene.

Nike released its first ever shoe in 1972 called, the Nike Bruin. This shoe used leather and suede opposed to canvas. Shortly after in the early 80’s Nike released the Air Force 1’s, which came in three styles: low, mid, and high. There have been over 1700 different colorways with most common being solid white or solid black.  The Air Force 1’s are wildly successful and are still a big part of basketball culture.

Then in 1985, the shoe game changed forever. Nike released the ever so successful and iconic, Jordan 1’s. The first colorway was red and white to match the uniform of the Chicago Bulls. The colorway was later banned by NBA commissioner, David Stern, for having too little white on them. However Michael Jordan continued to wear these shoes on court and was fined $5,000 every time he stepped on the court with them. This just made the Jordan 1’s even more popular. These were the shoes that started the giant Jordan brand that we know today, and have been a huge part of the sneaker game since 1985. While Nike mostly dominates the shoe game now, there are many extremely successful shoes not from Nike that were released before the 2000’s.

The Puma Clyde that came out in 1973, for example, is not remembered by many, but is considered to be the first signature sneaker in basketball history. These shoes, which were endorsed by Walt Frazier, were a big part of the old school hip hop. In 1989, Next Sports released the Wings Hi by Patrick Ewing which were more popular than Frazier’s shoes. While Ewing’s company ended up fading away, many people still remember the shoes and his influences can be seen in newer shoes.

The Question by Reebok in 1996 which were endorsed by Allen Iverson, were a big hit. Allen was a big reason why kids wore reebok back then. Another hugely popular shoe, made by Reebok, came out in 1989, called the Reebok pump. These were the first shoes to have an inflatable pump inside them, which helped with the customized fit. Within a period of four years, 20 million pairs of Reebok Pumps were sold.

Nowadays, most people connect Kobe Bryant with Nike, and his hugely successful shoe line. However, it was not always that way. When Kobe first came into the NBA’s in 1996, he signed a deal with Adidas and created the Adidas Crazy 8’s. However, in 2002 he left Adidas and joined Nike in 2003.

Moving into the 2000’s, shoes started to change their look and new technologies and styles came into shoes. Such as the Nike Shox BB4, which was the first shoe to include Nike Shox-technology.

Another interesting shoe from the early 2000’s were the AND 1 Tai Chi’s by Vince Carter. Looking back now, the shoes look super clunky and strange, but when they first came out they were popular and praised for their design.

During the 2000’s, many old shoes from the 80’s and 90’s were retroed, such as many of the Jordan’s. A retro shoes is shoe that is re-released and molded to the specification of the original model.
And now we move into the present, with recent releases like the Lebron 13’s, the KD8, Kobe 10’s, and the Yeezy 350 boost. This was just a brief overview of the history of shoes in general, and basketball shoes in specific. Shoes, though viewed by some as solely an accessory, are seen as a way of life to others and surely impact society today