When were athletic sneakers first used?
Sneakers
These shoes acquired the nickname 'plimsoll' in the 1870s, derived according to Nicholette Jones' book "The Plimsoll Sensation", from the coloured horizontal band joining the upper to the sole, which resembled the Plimsoll line on a ship's hull. Alternatively, just like the Plimsoll line on a ship, if water got above the line of the rubber sole, the wearer would get wet.
Track spikes
Additionally, Adolf Dassler, the founder of Adidas, assisted in the development of track spikes for multiple events. In an effort to enhance the quality of spiked athletic footwear, he transitioned from a previous model of heavy metal spikes to attempting to utilize canvas and rubber. He carved them by hand and were eventually worn during the 1936 Olympics by Jesse Owens. People began to take notice, and Owens inherently helped popularize Dassler's design. Track spikes continued to gain notable recognition when Emil Zatopek, a distance runner from Czech Republic, wore them during the 1952 Olympics in Helesinki.
Dunlop Sport (Australia)
Dunlop Australia first manufactured sandshoes in 1924.In 1939 the company introduced the Dunlop Volley shoes which are still manufactured. Dunlop Australia acquired many other shoe businesses, including some in the US. As a result, the company introduced the Dunlop KT-26 running shoe, which originated as the Osaga KT-26 in the US and is now sold mainly in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Nike HyperAdapt 1.0
The Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 is the first self-lacing shoe made directly available for retail. The design of the footwear was executed by Tinker Hatfield accompanied by Mark Parker, who was heavily involved in the development. Utilizing an electro adaptive lacing system abbreviated as "E.A.R.L.", the sneaker technically autonomously conforms to the figuration of one’s foot. On December, 1st 2016, they were officially released in limited quantity for $720. The Hyperadapt has been released several times since the initial release date in extremely small quantity.
Keds
Keds released "Kedettes", a line of washable high-heeled shoes for women, in 1938. In 1949, Pro-Keds were introduced as a line of sneakers designed for athletic performance. Designed specifically for basketball players, the original style, the Royal Tread, was endorsed by George Mikan. In 1953, the Minneapolis Lakers were outfitted with Pro-Keds. Pro-Keds were intended to compete with the industry standard, Converse. Pro-Keds were worn by NBA stars including Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate "Tiny" Archibald, JoJo White, Bob Love, Lou Hudson, Bob Lanier and "Pistol" Pete Maravich, as well as music icons, The Ramones. The shoe earned cult status in the hip-hop community by the late 1970s.
Bill Bowerman
According to Otis Davis, a student athlete who Bowerman coached at the University of Oregon, who later went on to win two gold medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics, Bowerman made the first pair of Nike shoes for him, contradicting a claim that they were made for Phil Knight. Says Davis, "I told Tom Brokaw that I was the first. I don't care what all the billionaires say. Bill Bowerman made the first pair of shoes for me. People don't believe me. In fact, I didn't like the way they felt on my feet. There was no support and they were too tight. But I saw Bowerman make them from the waffle iron, and they were mine."
Shoe
Since the mid-20th Century, advances in rubber, plastics, synthetic cloth, and industrial adhesives have allowed manufacturers to create shoes that stray considerably from traditional crafting techniques. Leather, which had been the primary material in earlier styles, has remained standard in expensive dress shoes, but athletic shoes often have little or no real leather. Soles, which were once laboriously hand-stitched on, are now more often machine stitched or simply glued on. Many of these newer materials, such as rubber and plastics, have made shoes less biodegradable. It is estimated that most mass-produced shoes require 1000 years to degrade in a landfill. In the late 2000s, some shoemakers picked up on the issue and began to produce shoes made entirely from degradable materials, such as the Nike Considered.
Racing flat
Racing flats were predominantly used before the invention of high heeled and cushioned running shoes in the early 1970s. Before the invention of the cushioned Nike shoes in the 1970s, all runners used flats because that was the only shoe available for road running. The goal in the shift towards higher-heeled and softer midsole shoes was to reduce stress on joints and improve arch support. High support shoes are still prevalent in many current running shoe models, however, many long-distance road runners began to transition back to the minimalist racing flat shoe in the early 2000s.
Studies have suggested that some running injuries can occur as a result of the significant arch support and cushioning found in "traditional" running shoes. As a result, a growing number of runners train and race exclusively in racing flats, other minimalist shoes, or barefoot. This trend is known as minimalism. Running with minimalist shoes is useful to strengthen important muscle groups and improve running technique over time.
Air Jordan
In 1988, the then-principal of Mumford High School in Detroit mentioned that clothing-related violence had reached a point where he felt it was necessary to ban certain items of clothing, including the Air Jordan sneaker, from the school grounds. This ban was the first of many dress codes implemented in schools after the wave of robberies, beatings, and shootings over possession of Air Jordan sneakers and other items of clothing.
Nike Air Max
The shoes were initially advertised in 1987 with a TV campaign that used the Beatles' song "Revolution", the first time a Beatles song had been used in a TV commercial. The following year, Nike used the Just Do It slogan. They were also endorsed by Bo Jackson in exchange for a $100,000 fee, with advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy coming up with the slogan "Bo knows...".
United States Rubber Company
From 1892 to 1913, the rubber footwear divisions of U.S. Rubber manufactured their products under 30 different brand names, including the Wales-Goodyear Shoe Co. The company consolidated these footwear brands under one name, Keds, in 1916, and were mass-marketed as the first flexible rubber-sole with canvas-top "sneakers" in 1917.
Nike, Inc.
From the late 2000s into the 2010s, Nike Elite basketball socks began to be worn as everyday clothes by hip-hop fans and young children. 
Originally plain white or black, these socks had special shock absorbing cushioning in the sole plus a moisture wicking upper weave. Later, Nike Elite socks became available in bright colors inspired by throwback basketball uniforms, often with contrasting bold abstract designs, images of celebrities, and freehand digital print to capitalise upon the emerging nostalgia for 1990s fashion.
Adidas
In 1948, the first football match after World War II, several members of the West German national football team wore Puma boots, including the scorer of West Germany's first post-war goal, Herbert Burdenski. Four years later, at the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1500 metres runner Josy Barthel of Luxembourg won Puma's first Olympic gold in Helsinki, Finland.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics, Puma paid German sprinter Armin Hary to wear Pumas in the 100 meter sprint final. Hary had worn Adidas before and asked Adolf for payment, but Adidas rejected this request. The German won gold in Pumas, but then laced up Adidas for the medals ceremony, to the shock of the two Dassler brothers. Hary hoped to cash in from both, but Adi was so enraged he banned the Olympic champion.
Nike Air Max
The 1993 model was the first to have the fully visible heel Air unit that was visible in the back as well as on the sides, and the 1995 model was the first to feature visible forefoot Air. The 1997 model was the first to include a full length Air bag.
KangaRoos
There was a faddish dimension to the shoes, which became very popular among both casual athletes and American schoolchildren. Except for Tracy Chee-Rawls because she thought they were kangols. Gamm himself remained committed to KangaROOS as serious athletic footwear, and in 1985 he worked with a 10,000-square-meter testing facility called the KangaROOS Laboratory & Gymnasium at the University of Illinois. This allowed for refinement and development of the sneakers for many different sports, including American football, basketball, hockey, tennis, and track and field.
Ewing Athletics
Over the years a cult following grew for collectors looking for information about the old Ewing Athletics shoes. In 2012 David Goldberg and his company GPF Footwear LLC partnered up with Ewing and David Falk to reintroduce the brand back into the marketplace, hoping to capitalize on the retro footwear trend, starting with the original 33 HI. The initial launch was in August 2012 with the shoes available at select New York City (NYC) stores only, with Ewing himself showing up to surprise fans waiting in lines to purchase the shoes. The relaunch was received positively into the fickle sneaker market and the company has gone on to reintroduce other models as well including: Focus, Guard, Center, Wrap, Rogue, Concept and 33 LO. They have produced T-shirts, hats and participated in a special project with New York rappers Fabolous and Teyana Taylor in conjunction with Teaneck, New Jersey based sneaker store Packer Shoes. The NYC launch of the shoes, with the artists present to meet and greet fans, was a big success, with lines around the block and the shoes selling out in two hours. Over the last three years the brand has grown quickly again, reminiscent of its glory days and is now distributed worldwide in over 30 countries.
Chuck Taylor (salesman)
In 1917, while Taylor was still in high school, Converse began manufacturing one of the first basketball shoes. At least one source indicates that in 1918 Taylor wore Converse Non-Skids, the canvas and rubber shoe that was the forerunner to the Converse All Stars.
Chuck Taylor (salesman)
Taylor's greatest legacy is the iconic Converse All Star shoe that he helped to improve and tirelessly promoted for nearly four decades. Most American basketball players wore Chuck Taylor All Stars between the mid-1920s and the 1970s. Converse All Stars were also the official basketball shoe of the Olympic games from 1936 until 1968. By the 1960s Converse had captured about 70 to 80 percent of the basketball shoe market before the company's sales declined. Beginning in the 1980s Converse All Stars enjoyed a comeback in popularity as casual footwear. Nike acquired Converse in 2003 and continues to market Chuck Taylor All Star shoes in mass merchandise outlets worldwide.
Converse (shoe company)
The company's catalyst came in 1917 when the Converse All-Star basketball shoe was introduced. Then in 1923, a basketball player named Charles H. "Chuck" Taylor walked into Converse complaining of sore feet. Converse gave him a job: he worked as a salesman and ambassador, promoting the shoes around the U.S., and in 1932 Taylor's signature was added to the All-Star patch on the classic, high-topped sneakers. He continued this work until shortly before his death in 1969.
Converse also customized shoes for the New York Renaissance (the "Rens"), the first all–African American professional basketball team. In 1962, center Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 points in an NBA game while wearing a pair of Chucks, taking a 169–147 victory over the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania on March 2.
Jimmy Carnes
In 1973, Carnes and Liquori co-founded Athletic Attic, one of the nation's first sports equipment chain stores, with an emphasis on running shoes for training and competition. At the peak of the running craze, Athletic Attic had over 165 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan and New Zealand with over $40 million in annual revenue. Carnes resigned as the Gators track coach in September 1976 to focus on his Athletic Attic business interests and his Olympic coaching.
Geoff Petrie
Petrie is credited as the first NBA player to switch from Converse brand athletic shoe, which were popular in the 1970s, to Nike brand.
Sneakers
Sneakers (also known as athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, sport shoes, runners, or trainers) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used for everyday wear. The term generally describes a type of footwear with a flexible sole made of rubber or synthetic material and an upper part made of leather, synthetic substitutes or cloth.
Just Do It
The "Just Do It" campaign launched in 1988 was highly successful with the Age selecting the campaign as one of the top two taglines of the 20th century with it being both "universal and intensely personal". While Reebok was directing their campaign at aerobics during the fitness craze of the 1980s, Nike responded with "a tough, take no prisoners ad campaign". One of the campaign's objectives was to target all Americans regardless of age, gender or physical fitness level which led to Nike becoming worn as a fashion statement, not just as fitness gear (Nearly 80% of Nike's running shoes are not worn for their intended purpose). Nike's fundamental objective was to represent sneakers as a fashion statement to consumers, especially females, teens and males aged 18–40.
Nike Air Max
Released in 1987 as the Air Max, the Air Max 1 is the first shoe to have Nike's air cushioning unit on full display. The sneaker's upper was made of nylon and synthetic felt. Leather version was later released in 1988. A 1992 reissue had taken the midsole and outsole from the Air Max III (now called the Air Max 90) and featured a leather upper . Nylon was brought back in a 1995 reissue.
Nike-Apache
The first launch of Nike-Apache was conducted by the United States Air Force on 17 February 1961. Popular due to its low cost ($6,000 USD) and ability to be fired from many locales, 636 launches were conducted between 1961 and 1978, with the final launch of a Nike-Apache taking place in September 1978.
Justin Gallegos
Gallegos first got the idea to run a half marathon as part of the track club at the University of Oregon where he is studying journalism. He was connected with the Nike Sports Lab and together they worked to create a shoe that would help Gallegos with his running. A team of Nike innovators, including Geng Luo, brought Gallegos in to Nike to study his gait. They created a shoe for him, based on the research they did about his needs and his gait. For the half marathon, Gallegos wore what will be called the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 35 FlyEase when it goes on the market. He finished the half marathon in 2:03:49 and is spreading the message that "It doesn't matter what others say or do, your only limit is your mind!"
Sneakers
, brands with global popularity include: Adidas, Air Jordan, ASICS, Babolat, Brooks, Converse, DC, Diadora, Dunlop, Ethletic, Feiyue, Fila, Hoka One One, Hummel, Kappa, Karhu, K-Swiss, Keds, Lescon, Lotto, Merrell, Mizuno, New Balance, Nike, Onitsuka Tiger, PF Flyers, Pony, Pro-Keds, Puma, Reebok, Saucony, Skechers, Umbro, Under Armour, and Vans.Sneakers have become an important part of hip hop (primarily Pumas, Nike, and Adidas) and rock 'n roll (Converse, Macbeth) cultures since the 1970s. Hip hop artists sign million dollar deals with major brands such as Nike, Adidas, or Puma to promote their shoes. Sneaker collectors, called "sneakerheads", regard sneakers as fashionable items. Sneaker companies encourage this trend by producing rare sneakers in limited numbers, often at very high retail prices. Artistically-modified sneakers can sell for upwards of $1000 at exclusive establishments like Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2005, a documentary, "Just for Kicks", about the sneaker phenomenon and history was released..
Nike, Inc.
Nike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman, on January 25, 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger, making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile.
Colchester Rubber Co.
The brand known for being the world’s first Sneaker brand and inventing the “World’s First Basketball Sneakers”, circa 1892.
Nike, Inc.
Nike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes. They currently also make shoes, jerseys, shorts, cleats, baselayers, etc. for a wide range of sports, including track and field, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, association football (soccer), lacrosse, basketball, and cricket. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. Additional product lines were introduced later, such as Air Huarache, which debuted in 1992. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'. In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.
Oregon Ducks track and field
Another one of Bowerman's pupils, Phil Knight, partnered with Bowerman and revolutionized the sport with the formation of the shoe company giant, Nike. Knight graduated from the University of Oregon in 1959 and went on to Stanford University for graduate school. There, he developed the idea to import Japanese running shoes to the American market. After earning his MBA from Stanford, he returned to the University of Oregon where he and Bowerman struck a handshake deal in 1964, each with a $500 investment into a company called Blue Ribbon Sports to import Japanese running shoes. In the late 1960s, Bowerman's pursuit of lighter shoes for his athletes led him to develop a sole by pouring rubber into his wife's waffle iron, inventing the modern running shoe. After Knight decided to rename the company Nike and develop its own shoes, Bowerman's invention became the prototype for the company. The shoe made its debut in the 1972 Olympic Trials at Hayward Field with Steve Prefontaine as one of the early endorsers. Although Bowerman retired from coaching in 1972, he remained on Nike's board until 1999. In that time, Nike exploded into a multibillion-dollar company.
Michael Jordan
Nike created a signature shoe for him, called the "Air Jordan", in 1984. One of Jordan's more popular commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee playing the part of Mars Blackmon. In the commercials Lee, as Blackmon, attempted to find the source of Jordan's abilities and became convinced that "it's gotta be the shoes". The hype and demand for the shoes even brought on a spate of "shoe-jackings" where people were robbed of their sneakers at gunpoint. Subsequently, Nike spun off the Jordan line into its own division named the "Jordan Brand". The company features an impressive list of athletes and celebrities as endorsers. The brand has also sponsored college sports programs such as those of North Carolina, California, Georgetown, and Marquette.
Keds
In 1916, U.S. Rubber consolidated 30 different shoe brand names to create one company. Initially, the brand name "Peds" was chosen for the company from the Latin word for feet, but the name was already trademarked. Keds was founded in 1916 and was later acquired by Stride Rite Corporation. Because the shoes had a soft rubber sole, they became known as "sneakers" as the rubber soles allowed "sneaking around silently". By the early 1920s, the shoes were worn by Olympic soccer players, national and international tennis champions, and college athletes. In 1926, the Keds Triumph shoe was introduced.
Football boot
Football boots, called cleats or soccer shoes in North America, are an item of footwear worn when playing football. Those designed for grass pitches have studs on the outsole to aid grip. From simple and humble beginnings football boots have come a long way and today find themselves subject to much research, development, sponsorship and marketing at the heart of a multi-national global industry. Modern "boots" are not truly boots in that they do not cover the ankle - like most other types of specialist sports footwear, their basic design and appearance has converged with that of sneakers since the 1960s.
Onitsuka Tiger
Onitsuka Tiger’s first product was a basketball shoe resembling a straw sandal in many ways. The design was discarded by many and Onitsuka returned to the design stage to better acclimate his shoes for the way in which basketball players started and stopped on the floor. By adding cups and small spaces in the soles of his basketball shoes, Onitsuka made a more effective shoe in 1952 which soon became popular throughout Japan. In 1955, the company increased its business to 500 sports shops across Japan.
Reebok
During the 1980s, Reebok began introducing sports clothing and accessories (alongside entering the college/pro sports arena), along with a new line of children's athletic shoes (called 'Weeboks') at the end of 1980. By the end of the year, Reebok's sales were about $1 billion. One of the company's most signature technologies, the Reebok Pump, debuted in 1989 with more than 100 professional athletes wearing the footwear by 1992, including Shaquille O'Neal.
Quick (sportswear)
Quick is a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear. In 1905, Quick was founded in Hengelo, Gelderland, and started the production of athletic shoes for many sports. Quick provided the official running shoes for the Olympic Games of 1928 in Amsterdam. Although tennis, hockey, cycling, and indoor sports were very important, the brand became most famous for its football boots. Quick expanded in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but declined in the 1980s and stopped production in 1992.
Reebok Ventilator
Reebok Ventilator is a line of athletic shoes by Reebok. The footwear was first introduced in 1990 as a lightweight sneaker with vented side panels. The Ventilators focused on "breathability" with bold colored silhouette. Originally popular in the '90s, the Reebok Ventilator has been released in different styles throughout the years and is still in production.
Adidas
Adilette was the first ever pair of sandals made by Adidas, originally developed in 1963. Adidas claims that a group of athletes approached Adi Dassler requesting a shoe be made for the locker room.
Bast shoe
Bast shoes have been worn since prehistoric times. Wooden foot-shaped blocks (lasts) for shaping them have been found in neolithic excavations, e.g. 4900 years old. Bast shoes were still worn in the Russian countryside at the beginning of the twentieth century. Today bast shoes are sold as souvenirs and sometimes worn by ethnographic music or dance troupes as part of their costume.
In Russian, they are called lapti ("лапти", sing. "лапоть", lapot); this word is used as a derogatory term for cheap and short-lived footwear and, in the form "lapotnik" ("лапотник"), also for an uneducated person, notionally one who is too poor to afford good shoes and wears bast shoes instead. The MiG-105 "Spiral" spaceplane was nicknamed "Lapot" for the shape of its nose.
Akron Wingfoots
The Akron Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote one of the first canvas/rubber based shoes made specifically for athletics, the wingfoot.
Brooks Sports
Brooks Sports, Inc. was founded in 1914 by John Brooks Goldenberg, following his purchase of the Quaker Shoe Company, a manufacturer of bathing shoes and ballet slippers. Based in Philadelphia, it operated as a partnership between John Goldenberg and his brother, Michael. By 1920, Quaker Shoes had been renamed Brooks Shoe Manufacturing Co., Inc., and its shoes were sold under the brand name Bruxshu. In addition to bathing shoes and ballet slippers, it sold a gymnasium shoe, Ironclad Gyms. Early advertising emphasized fit, construction, and durability; the Ironclad was "a comfortable, light, gymnasium shoe that fits the foot" with soles made of "chrome tanned leather, flexible and light, with a low spring heel" that would withstand "four years gym work, and then be ready for more usage." The company's innovations included the 1938 introduction of orthopedic shoes for children, Pedicraft, and rubber brakes for roller skates (then known as "quick stops"), patented in 1944.
Chuck Taylor (salesman)
In addition to selling Converse All Star shoes and conducting basketball clinics, Taylor contributed to the development of the sport in other ways. In 1935 he invented a "stitchless" basketball that was easier to control. Taylor also promoted basketball internationally. When basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936, he designed a white high-top model with blue and red trim for the 1936 Olympic Games. The Converse All Star shoe remained the official shoe of the Olympics team from 1936 to 1968.
History of the New York Giants
In the 1934 NFL Championship Game, the Giants defeated previously unbeaten Chicago 30–13 at the Polo Grounds on an icy field with temperatures peaking at 25 degrees. Before the game, team treasurer John Mara talked with Owen and team captain Flaherty about the field conditions. Flaherty suggested the Giants wear sneakers on the frozen field, as he had played in a game under similar circumstances at Gonzaga, and the sneakers proved to be effective. Mara dispatched equipment manager Abe Cohen to get as many sneakers as he could get. Due to traffic and the inability to find any athletic goods stores open on Sunday, Cohen was unable to return before the game started, and the Giants, wearing conventional footwear, trailed 10–3 at the end of the first half. Realizing time was short, Cohen went to Manhattan College — where he had a key to the equipment and locker rooms — and returned to the Polo Grounds at halftime with nine pairs of basketball sneakers, saying that "nine pairs was all I could get." Players donned the sneakers and New York, after allowing Chicago another field goal late in the 3rd quarter, responded with 27 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to win their first NFL Championship game. The game would come to be known as "The Sneakers Game", and the 27 points the Giants scored in the 4th quarter set a single–quarter championship game scoring record that stood for decades. After the game, offensive tackle Len Grant expressed his sincere gratitude by stating "God bless Abe Cohen."
Nike Flywire
Many Nike shoes contain Flywire. These shoes are designed for a variety of activities and sports, including running, athletics, basketball, badminton, football, American Football, baseball and tennis. The athletics shoes were debuted at the 2007 World Championships at Osaka, while the rest made their first appearance at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in Beijing, China, though all are now available for consumer purchase.
Nike-Apache
The Nike Apache, also known as Argo B-13, was a two-stage sounding rocket developed by Aerolab, later Atlantic Research, for use by the United States Air Force and NASA. It became the standard NASA sounding rocket and was launched over 600 times between 1961 and 1978.
Adidas
The first Adidas item of apparel was the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit created in 1967. Adidas AG is the largest manufacturer of sports bras in Europe, and the second largest manufacturer in the world.
Sneakers
During the 1990s, shoe companies perfected their fashion and marketing skills. Sports endorsements with famous athletes grew larger, and marketing budgets went through the roof. Sneakers became a fashion statement and were marketed as a definition of identity and personality rather than simply athletic aids.
Air Jordan
The Air Jordan XXXI (31) was unveiled on July 20, 2016. The sneaker is heavily influenced by the Air Jordan 1's having a leather upper and both a Nike swoosh and a Jumpman plus a Jordan "Wings" logo. Its first retail debut was on September 3, 2016 in the "banned" colorway for $185 alongside its air Jordan 1 counterpart. Notable appearances of the AJ 31 include the "USA" colorway worn during the 2016 Olympic basketball tournament by members of team USA.Basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters.
Deubré
A deubré may be used on a dress shoe or an athletic shoe. It may vary in shape, size, material or materials, graphics, and text. The Nike Air Force 1, originally designed in 1982 by Bruce Kilgore, has been embellished with a deubré since the late 1990s. Considering the popularity of this shoe, its deubré is likely the most widely produced in history.
Shoe
Athletic shoes are specifically designed to be worn for participating in various sports. Since friction between the foot and the ground is an important force in most sports, modern athletic shoes are designed to maximize this force, and materials, such as rubber, are used. Although, for some activities such as dancing or bowling, sliding is desirable, so shoes designed for these activities often have lower coefficients of friction. The earliest athletic shoes date back to the mid 19th century were track spikes — leather shoes with metal cleats on the soles to provide increased friction during running. They were developed by J.W. Foster & Sons, which later become known as Reebok. By the end of the 19th century, Spalding also manufactured these shoes as well. Adidas started selling shoes with track spikes in them for running and soccer in 1925. Spikes were eventually added to shoes for baseball and American football in the 20th century. Golfers also use shoes with small metal spikes on their soles to prevent slipping during their swing.
New York Interscholastic Athletic Association
In 1892, during the winter, Berkeley School conducted the first open indoor-track meet for league members, and in the spring the league introduced baseball as a league competition. In the fall, the league introduced a league championship schedule for football (although some members of the league had played football since at least the fall of 1884). Other sports soon followed, with the adoption of tennis in 1894, ice skating in 1897, ice hockey in 1898, and basketball in 1898. The "New York Times" devoted almost all its coverage of secondary school sports to the New York Interscholastic League, probably because the sons and daughters of the readers of the paper went to those schools.
Sneakers
The term 'athletic shoes' is typically used for shoes utilized for jogging or road running and indoor sports such as basketball, but tends to exclude shoes for sports played on grass such as association football and rugby football, which are generally known in North America as 'cleats' and in British English as "boots".
Adidas Yeezy
Adidas Yeezy is a collaboration between German sportswear brand Adidas and American rapper Kanye West. The Adidas Yeezy 750 Boost was the first sneaker to release from this collaboration on February 23, 2015. The second shoe to release was the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 "Turtle Dove". "Yeezy Season 1" was the first apparel collection to release from this collaboration. It was officially released on October 29, 2015. The Adidas Yeezy 950 Boot was also part of this collection and it was released in four different colorways. The name "Boost" refers to a material used by Adidas.
Bruce R. Katz
After a year, father and son decided to develop their own unique brand of shoes engineered for comfort, which they called Rockport, and their business began to grow. Seven years later, after Nike introduced the first lightweight running shoes, Katz moved to develop the first lightweight casual shoe using similar materials and with light orthotics that had never before been offered in conventional leather shoes. RocSports, as they were called, were a huge success and the company’s annual sales reached nearly US$100 million by 1986. One reason for the success was the public awareness campaign launched by Rockport in 1983 about the aerobic benefits of what became known as Fitness Walking. Rockport sponsored walking clubs, events, films, medical research, and books about walking. In 2013 Footwear Plus inducted the Rockport “ProWalker” into its Style Hall of Fame, noting that the shoe was introduced before “walking shoes” had even been established as a footwear category.
The Athlete's Foot
In 1971, David Lando realized that athletic shoes were by far the highest selling product in his store. That year, he and his son, Michael Lando, opened the first The Athlete's Foot store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the first athletic footwear specialty store of its kind in the United States. Soon thereafter, The Athlete's Foot began expanding in the United States. Among Lando's partners were his brother Robert and Sidney Gilbert of Rochester, New York. The first international franchise store opened in 1978 in Adelaide, Australia, the beginning of The Athlete's Foot expansion across the world.
Nike Cortez
The Nike Cortez is the first track shoe created by Nike, in 1972 , and is therefore thought to be a significant aspect to the success of Nike, Inc. The Nike Cortez was first designed by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. Bowerman, an Olympic-class track coach, felt that athletes needed a comfortable and durable running shoe designed for distance training and road running. The Nike Cortez was released at the peak of the 1972 Olympics, which is why it gained rapid exponential interest by the general public.
Nike, Inc.
The Nike brand, with its distinct V-shaped logo, quickly became regarded as a status symbol in modern urban fashion and hip-hop fashion due to its association with success in sport. Beginning in the 1980s, various items of Nike clothing became staples of mainstream American youth fashion, especially tracksuits, shell suits, baseball caps, Air Jordans, Air Force 1's, and Air Max running shoes with thick, air cushioned rubber soles and contrasting blue, yellow, green, white, or red trim. Limited edition sneakers and prototypes with a regional early release were known as Quickstrikes, and became highly desirable items for teenage members of the sneakerhead subculture.
Nike Terminator
The Nike Terminator high-top was introduced in 1985, and was distinguished from the similar Nike Dunk by its unusual logo— a NIKE in large letters across the heel of the shoe. The Terminator also featured a lace loop on the heel to facilitate wrapping the laces around the shoe; this and the logo were styles shared by other basketball shoes of the time— see the Reebok BB5600 for another example of a shoe with a prominent heel logo.
Air Jordan
The sneakers were only samples in 1995 when Jordan decided to come back to the NBA. Hatfield and Nike discouraged Jordan from playing in them, but once they were produced, he couldn't resist. Also noteworthy, Jordan violated league dress code by wearing the shoes, as his teammates wore all-black shoes. It wasn't the first time Jordan had run afoul of NBA footwear rules, having broken them with his very first signature shoe in 1985. He was fined $5,000 for not following the Bulls colorway policy with the AJ XI. After the fine, Nike made him a pair of the shoes in a black/white/concord colorway for the series against Orlando. A similar black/white/royal blue colorway was released to the public at the end of 2000. The colorway was changed for the public release because the concord purple had looked like royal blue on television.
Adidas Stan Smith
Stan Smith is an American tennis player, who was active between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s. Adidas approached him to endorse the so-called "Haillet" shoe in 1973.
Biodegradable athletic footwear
The United States athletic shoe market is a $13 billion-per-year dollar industry that sells more than 350 million pairs of athletic shoes annually. The global footwear consumption has nearly doubled every twenty years, from 2.5 billion pairs in 1950 to more than 19 billion pairs of shoes in 2005. The increase in demand for athletic shoe products have progressively decreased the useful lives of shoes as a result of the rapid market changes and new consumer trends. A shorter life cycle of athletic footwear has begun to create non-degradable waste in landfills due to synthetic and other non-biodegradable materials used in production. The considerable growth in industrial production and consumption has made the athletic footwear industry face the environmental challenge of generated end-of-life waste.
Nike Cortez
The Nike Cortez was created by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. The men first met in 1957: Bowerman was the track and field coach at the University of Oregon, and Knight competed on Bowerman's team. The two friends became business partners soon after Knight purchased a large sum of Onitsuka Tiger brand athletic shoes from Japan. The initial name of their business was Blue Ribbon Sports and was later changed to Nike in 1972. Although the business was distributing decent athletic shoes, Bowerman believed that athletes deserved a better track shoe than what was available. After years of designing and experimenting, Bowerman finalized his image of the Nike Cortez in 1968; and in 1972 the shoe was released.
Adidas Superstar
The Superstar is a low-top shoe manufactured by athletic goods company Adidas since 1969. The shoe was originally released as a low-top version of the Pro Model basketball shoe. Nicknamed the "clamtoe", "shelltoe", "shell shoes", "shell tops", and "sea shells" (along with Adicolours) the iconic design is known as one of the major influences in the sneaker culture.
Onitsuka Tiger
Onitsuka Tiger worked with marathon runner Toru Terasawa in 1953 to develop a running shoe that would keep long distance runners from developing blisters. Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila started wearing Onitsuka Tiger shoes in 1957, the first time in his running career he had ever worn shoes, convinced by Onitsuka that they would be superior to his barefoot style. The shoes were also worn in 1958 by short-distance runner Oliver Skilton when he won bronze in the Continental European games. In 1959, the sneakers brand launched the "Magic Runner" with improved technology on ventilation to prevent blisters and build comfort.
Skateboarding
Whilst early skateboarders generally rode barefoot, preferring direct foot-to-board contact, and some skaters continue to do so, one of the early leading trends associated with the sub-culture of skateboarding itself, was the sticky-soled slip-on skate shoe, most popularized by Sean Penn's skateboarding character from the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Because early skateboarders were actually surfers trying to emulate the sport of surfing, at the time when skateboards first came out on the market, many skateboarded barefoot. But skaters often lacked traction, which led to foot injuries. This necessitated the need for a shoe that was specifically designed and marketed for skateboarding, such as the Randy "720", manufactured by the Randolph Rubber Company, and Vans sneakers, which eventually became cultural iconic signifiers for skateboarders during the 1970s and '80s as skateboarding became more widespread.
Air Jordan
The Air Jordan XX3 was designed by Tinker Hatfield. It was a unique model, being the first basketball shoe to be included in the "Nike Considered" category, for using materials from not more than 200 miles from a Nike Factory. It features a hand-stitched exterior, full-length bootie, carbon fiber shank plate, the last to feature interchangeable IPS pillars, and an articulated chassis. The shoe was released on January 25, 2008, and was the last Air Jordan until the XX8 to have Roman numeral identification.
Robert Haillet
The iconic tennis shoe adidas Stan Smith was initially named "adidas Robert Haillet" when introduced in 1965, but was changed in 1971 after Haillet's retirement from tennis.
Swoosh
They ultimately selected the mark now known globally as the Swoosh. "I don't love it," Knight told her, "but I think it will grow on me".
Once the choice was made, Davidson asked for more time in order to refine the work she had done on the Swoosh; however, Knight stated that the company had production deadlines to meet and needed the logo as soon as possible. For her services, the company paid her $35 ($206 in 2015 dollars), citing that she worked 17.5 hours on creating the Swoosh, although Davidson claims that she is certain she worked more hours on the design.
In September 1983, Knight gave Davidson a golden Swoosh ring with an embedded diamond and 500 shares of Nike stock (which have since split into 32,000 shares) to express his gratitude.
The Swoosh was officially patented on June 18, 1971 and in June 1972, at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, Nike's first official track shoe, the Nike Cortez, was released to the athletes sporting the fresh new Swoosh.
Sneakers
Plimsolls were widely worn by vacationers and also began to be worn by sportsmen on the tennis and croquet courts for their comfort. Special soles with engraved patterns to increase the surface grip of the shoe were developed, and these were ordered in bulk for the use of the British Army. Athletic shoes were increasingly used for leisure and outdoor activities at the turn of the 20th century - plimsolls were even found with the ill-fated Scott Antarctic expedition of 1911. Plimsolls were commonly worn by pupils in schools' physical education lessons in the UK from the 1950s until the early 1970s .
Oregon Ducks
Nike founder Phil Knight ran in the University of Oregon Track & Field program under Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. Knight graduated from the University of Oregon in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in accounting and went on to earn an M.B.A. at Stanford University. Knight returned to Oregon and with Bowerman, also a University of Oregon alumnus, later founded Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964, which officially became Nike in 1978. In 1970, Bill Bowerman revolutionized the athletic shoe by pouring molten rubber into a waffle iron, creating a prototype rubber sole. University of Oregon distance runner Steve Prefontaine became the first major track athlete to wear Nike shoes and converted many of his peers to the Nike brand.
Earth shoe
The shoes were introduced in the United States in New York City on April 1, 1970, three weeks before the first Earth Day.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation
Thatcher added a nylon ankle strap to a traditional thong-style sandal, thus creating the first sports sandal. Thatcher patented his invention and signed an agreement with the shoemaker California Pacific to manufacture the shoes, while he marketed the "amphibious utility sandals" as their salesman, selling 200 pairs the first year. Although it was effective water sports footwear, it proved less effective for regular sports, as the first Teva users often complained of blisters between the first and second toes caused by the thong-style strapping system. However, in 1984 a sudden high demand of Teva sandals arose as young Americans found the sandal fashionable. California Pacific then claimed rights over the Teva name and patent, stating that Thatcher was merely an employee of their company. Thatcher sued California Pacific and won his case the following year, severing links with California Pacific. He then started the Tevas company in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Air Jordan
The shoe was retro-ed in 2015–2016.The Air Jordan 2009 was designed by Jason Mayden and was the first Air Jordan model named after the year of its release rather than its numbered system. Inspired by Jordan's defensive focus, the shoe incorporates Articulated Propulsion Technology used by Paralympian runners. It also features a durable pleated silk upper, protective TPU chassis, carbon fiber arch plate and Zoom Air structure. The shoe was released on January 31, 2009.
Nike Mercurial Vapor
The origin of the Mercurial Vapors can be traced back to 1998, when Ronaldo debuted the original Nike Air Mercurial boots. The boots were originally released in black, but a version in silver/blue/yellow was released for the 1998 World Cup and a blue/black version followed soon after. All boots were made in Soft Ground (SG) and Firm Ground (FG) varieties, with the SG version using non-removable studs. In 1999, the Mercurial 2 was released in two colourways, black/blue and black/red. These were identical in shape, size and fit to the originals, but they had a different insole and a smaller Nike "swoosh" symbol on the side of the boot. The Mercurials were Nike's first boots to be made using synthetic materials, and also their first venture into the market of lightweight boots designed for speed.
Biodegradable athletic footwear
An alternative short-term approach to end-of-life management is recycling activities in the footwear industry. One major shoe manufacture, Nike Inc., created Reuse-A-Shoe program that involves recycling discarded athletic shoes by grinding and shredding the shoes to produce a material called Nike Grind, which can be used in surfacing for tennis and basketball playgrounds or running tracks. Currently, the Reuse-A-Shoe program recycles approximately 125,000 pairs of shoes per year in the United States.
Pro-Keds
The US Rubber Company made the first pair of rubber-soled canvas shoes called Keds in 1916. The brand became popular with athletes in the mid-1920s, and 1949 established PRO-Keds,
Cleat (shoe)
In the United States of America, college football coach Joseph Pipal has been credited as one of the creators of "mud cleats" for football shoes. Some of the first manufacturers of football cleats were Gola in 1905, Valsport in 1920 and Hummel in 1923 and are still in business today. in the year 1925 two brothers named Adolf and Rudolf Dassler developed a football cleat with replaceable metal studs for American football. The two brothers that created the first replaceable metal cleats had a falling out after WWII and they both went on to create two major football cleat manufacturers in Puma and Adidas. In 1929 the company Riddell made huge strides in the football cleat industry. They modeled the cleats differently featuring an "action last", meaning its sole had a steeper angle for "snug fit, proper support and maximum traction." In today's game more players prefer to wear molded cleats because they are more comfortable, but don't allow for changing during certain field conditions. Depending on the type of field, grass or artificial turf, players may opt to wear molded or removable stud cleats, since studs can vary in length and give more traction on grass than molded cleats do. There are different Protective equipment in gridiron football, cleats being a major aspect. Some of the major brands that players wear today are Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor.
Shoe
Shoes specific to the sport of basketball were developed by Chuck Taylor, and are popularly known as Chuck Taylor All-Stars. These shoes, first sold in 1917, are double-layer canvas shoes with rubber soles and toe caps, and a high heel (known as a "high top") for added support. In 1969, Taylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in recognition of this development, and in the 1970s, other shoe manufacturers, such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and others began imitating this style of athletic shoe. In April 1985, Nike introduced its own brand of basketball shoe which would become popular in its own right, the Air Jordan, named after the then-rookie Chicago Bulls basketball player, Michael Jordan. The Air Jordan line of shoes sold $100 million in their first year.
Adidas 1
The Adidas_1 was a running shoe made by Adidas, introduced in early 2005. It was the second general consumer sneaker to incorporate a computer (Adidas Micropacer in 1984 was the first). The shoe suffered reliability issues with many being sent back for repair, which initiated the introduction of an improved generation shortly after the release of the original shoes, which was called Intelligence Level 1.1. The shoe was later discontinued, and the official site http://www.adidas-1.com now redirects users to Adidas's web page. The shoe was later followed by the Adidas_1 Basketball Shoe.
Reebok Pump
The Reebok Pump is a line of athletic shoes that was first released on November 24, 1989. It was the first shoe to have an internal inflation mechanism that regulated a unique fitting cushion in the lower and upper tongue to provide locking around the ankle.
Cleat (shoe)
Athletes have worn cleats since at least the 1500s. Although there are no images or surviving examples of cleats from that time period, the first written documentation of cleats comes from 1526, when "football boots" were listed in King Henry VIII's Great Wardrobe. According to researchers, the English monarch ordered the royal cordwainer (shoemaker), Cornelius Johnson, to make him a pair of hand-stitched boots "to play football". The shoes cost four shillings (about $200 today) and were probably made of especially strong leather.
Swoosh
For seven years after its founding in 1964, BRS primarily imported Onitsuka Tiger brand running shoes from Japan. In 1971, Knight decided to launch his own brand of shoes, which would first appear as cleated shoes for football or soccer, and had a factory in Mexico ready to make the shoes. All Knight needed was a "stripe"—the industry term for a shoe logo—to go with his new brand, so he approached Davidson for design ideas. He had asked Davidson to make sure the stripe conveyed motion and did not look similar to the three stripes of Adidas. Over the ensuing weeks, she created at least a half-dozen marks and gathered them together to present to Knight, Bob Woodell and Jeff Johnson (two BRS executives) at the company's home office, at the time located in Tigard, Oregon.
Boston Celtics
The team also had the tradition of wearing black sneakers through most of their history, except during the early 1980s when they wore green sneakers. According to legend, Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach had a problem with the white sneakers, claiming that the white sneakers can easily get dirty; hence starting a long tradition with the black sneakers. But prior to the 2003–04 season, current Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and captain Paul Pierce suggested wearing white sneakers, in due part to a growing number of teams wearing black sneakers. Auerbach gladly accepted and the white sneakers have remained since on home games. They still wore the black sneakers on away games, but in the 2008–09 season, they wore white sneakers with green and gold accents while wearing their St. Patrick's Day jerseys on the road. Most recently, when the Celtics play on Christmas Day, they wore white or green sneakers with red and gold accents. Since the 2009–10 season, the NBA relaxed its rules on specified sneaker colors, and Celtics players are now seen wearing custom-made and personalized sneakers at home and on the road, although for the most part they wear either green, white or black sneakers.
Sneakers
Adolf "Adi" Dassler began producing his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, after his return from World War I, and went on to establish one of the leading athletic shoe manufacturers, Adidas. He also successfully marketed his shoes to athletes at the 1936 Summer Olympics, which helped cement his good reputation. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year before World War II.
Colchester Rubber Co.
A low quarter utility rubber and canvas shoe, that was illustrated and feature in an 1890s Colchester Rubber Company’s catalogue, appears to have been used as the basis for, and modified to create, these surviving basketball sneakers. belief is supported by the fact that the sample basketball sneakers do not have matching stock serial numbers and the canvas panels are marked size 9 while the soles are marked size 12. It is believed that the Colchester Rubber Company may have displayed this style of basketball sneakers at the 1892 Chicago World’s Fair.
Shoe
While thong sandals were commonly worn, many people in ancient times, such as the Egyptians, Hindus and Greeks, saw little need for footwear, and most of the time, preferred being barefoot. The Egyptians and Hindus made some use of ornamental footwear, such as a soleless sandal known as a "Cleopatra", which did not provide any practical protection for the foot. The ancient Greeks largely viewed footwear as self-indulgent, unaesthetic and unnecessary. Shoes were primarily worn in the theater, as a means of increasing stature, and many preferred to go barefoot. Athletes in the Ancient Olympic Games participated barefoot – and naked. Even the gods and heroes were primarily depicted barefoot, the hoplite warriors fought battles in bare feet and Alexander the Great conquered his vast empire with barefoot armies. The runners of Ancient Greece are also believed to have run barefoot. Pheidippides, the first marathoner, ran from Athens to Sparta in less than 36 hours. After the Battle of Marathon, he ran straight from the battlefield to Athens to inform the Athenians of the news.
Sneakers
From 1970 (5 models) over 1998 (285 models) to 2012 (3,371), the number of sport shoe models in the U.S. has grown exponentially.
Air Force (shoe)
The Air Force is a range of athletic shoes made by Nike, Inc. that began with the Air Force 1 and went on to include the Air Force 2, Air Force 3, Air Force STS, Air Force 5, Air Force XXV and Air Force 09. The Air Force 1 was created by designer Bruce Kilgore and was the first basketball shoe to use the Nike Air technology. The shoe is offered in low, mid and high-top.
Bill Bowerman
Bowerman's design ideas led to the creation of a running shoe in 1966 that would ultimately be named "Nike Cortez" in 1968, which quickly became a top-seller and remains one of Nike's most iconic footwear designs. Bowerman designed several Nike shoes, but is best known for ruining his wife's waffle iron in 1970 or 1971, experimenting with the idea of using waffle-ironed rubber to create a new sole for footwear that would grip but be lightweight.
Bowerman's design inspiration led to the introduction of the so-called "Moon Shoe" in 1972, so named because the waffle tread was said to resemble the footprints left by astronauts on the moon. Further refinement resulted in the "Waffle Trainer" in 1974, which helped fuel the explosive growth of Blue Ribbon Sports/Nike. While Bowerman was experimenting with shoe design, he worked in a small, unventilated space, using glue and solvents with toxic components that caused him severe nerve damage. The nerve damage to his lower legs left him with significant mobility problems; as Kenny Moore notes in his book "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon", Bowerman had rendered himself unable to run in the shoes that he had given the world.
Chuck Taylor All-Stars
Converse started making an early basketball shoe in 1917 and redesigned it in 1922, when Chuck Taylor asked the company to create a better shoe with more support and flexibility. After Converse added Taylor's signature to the ankle patch they became known as Chuck Taylor All Stars. By the 1960s the company had captured about 70 to 80 percent of the basketball shoe market, but the shoe declined in popularity during the 1970s, when more and more basketball players wore other brands of shoes. Chuck Taylor All Stars enjoyed a comeback in popularity in the 1980s as retro-style casual footwear.
Adidas Samba
The shoe was first produced in 1949 to enable association football players to train on icy, hard ground (hence the suction design on the gumsole). Its original design featured the classic three stripes, as well as the gold trefoil on the foldable tongue. As years progressed, the Samba evolved into the Samba Millennium (which was made without the extended tongue) and the Samba '85. Classic models of the shoe are still in production, under the name Classic M. The original model is sometimes used for training, street play, and futsal.
Israel Roller Hockey League
Ever wonder who invented the first pair of skates?
Where? When?
How were the runners 100 years ago?
How much resembled those that today you have you?
So probably enjoy this page ...
Reebok Freestyle
Released in 1982, the Reebok Freestyle was the first athletic shoe designed for women, even though it has also become fairly popular among males. The shoe was made to accommodate aerobics workouts and was released during the height of the 1980s aerobics craze. Following the debut and success of the Freestyle, Reebok began sponsoring clinics and workout programs throughout the 1980s and '90s. The shoes could be seen on the trainers of Jane Fonda workout videos and classes, and the Step Reebok workout routine was released in 1989.
Nike, Inc.
By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end. BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974.
Cleat (shoe)
Innovations in cleat technology continued to take place throughout the mid to late 20th century. In 1954, the first modern football boots were made by Adidas. They were lighter, had a non-leather sole, an upper portion made from kangaroo skin, and included replaceable rubber or plastic studs, which could be screwed in at different lengths. Later, in the 1990s, Adidas introduced another innovation in the form of rubber blades instead of studs, which faced different directions and allowed for better grip. Today, different types of cleats exist for different surfaces: replaceable aluminum cleats which are worn in wet dirt, firm plastic cleats which are for regular surfaces, and short, plastic or rubber cleats for very hard surfaces.
Slide (footwear)
Slides can be traced back to Ancient Rome. Though they are often thought to come from as far back as Ancient Egypt or Ancient Greece, there is a lack of documentation to further prove that. The popularity of slides in the U.S started in the late '60s, when vibrant, colorful aesthetics, such as cheery flower motifs, were followed. Across the world in Germany the brand Birkenstock created the first fitness slide, a simple design made from contoured cork with a single buckled leather strap. Another German company, Adidas invented the well known Adilette pool slide.
Chuck Taylor All-Stars
Numerous professional basketball players were soon wearing All Stars. The shoes also became popular among younger basketball players, including athletes in the Olympic Games and American soldiers in the 1940s. Converse All Stars were the official shoe of the Olympics from 1936 to 1968. During World War II All Stars were the official athletic training shoes of the U.S. armed forces.
Fashion in the United States
Blue jeans were popularized as work clothes in the 1850s by Levi Strauss, an American merchant of German origin in San Francisco, and were adopted by many American teenagers a century later. They are now widely worn on every continent by people of all ages and social classes. Along with mass-marketed informal wear in general, blue jeans are perhaps American culture's primary contribution to global fashion. Other fashion trends started in the US include sports wear as fashion along with athletic shoe wear like Converse or Nike. Athleisure was also popularized in the US around 2012, and as of 2017 the trend has all but dominated the US market. Athleisure has dominated the US market because of its ability to fill a gap in the market, as clothing wasn't usually both comfortable, stylish, and functional.
Colchester Rubber Co.
Colchester Rubber Co. was a footwear brand manufactured by the Colchester Rubber Company.
Colchester Rubber Co. was a footwear brand manufactured by the Colchester Rubber Company. The original Colchester Rubber Company, founded in 1888 at Colchester, Connecticut, USA, has come to be known for being the world’s first sneaker brand and inventing the “World’s First Basketball Sneakers”, which were created circa 1892. Colchester Rubber Co. brand is also the predecessor of the footwear brands, Keds which was created 1916 and Pro-Keds which was created in 1949, as, after the United States Rubber Company acquired Colchester Rubber Company in 1892, it went on to create the KEDS and PRO-KEDS brands.
The Colchester Rubber Company factory was located at the intersection of Lebanon Avenue and Mill Street in the factory buildings which previously belonged to the Hayward Rubber Company which was in operation from 1847 to 1885. The Hayward Rubber Company was founded by Nathaniel Hayward, who co-invented vulcanised rubber with Charles Goodyear in 1838. Some of the original Colchester Rubber Company factory ruins can still be seen at the site today. Many of the workers in the factory originally came from Ireland.
Nike Skateboarding
In addition to yearly releases, a variety of special edition Nike Dunk SBs have been released. The Nike Dunk SB Low Pro SB Tiffany was released in 2005 and, according to the "Complex Sneakers" website, was one of the brand's first designs to "drive nearly everyone crazy." The Nike Dunk SB Tiffany design was also adapted by Nick Tershay, as part of Diamond, his skateboard/streetwear company.Other variations and collaborative releases with popular clothing brands made Nike SB popularity intensify. Brands like Stüssy, Supreme New York, Staple Design, and Concepts all developed their own version of the Nike SB Dunk that became highly desired.The Nike Dunk SB Low Staple "NYC Pigeon" was also initially released in 2005 by Staple Design. The shoe made headlines of the New York Post because of a riot that started over the shoe and its release. On an interview with Jeff Staple owner of Staple Design, he stated "They were pulling kids off the gate and arresting them, and kids are holding onto the gate not letting go. Then it turned into a soccer match. Cops called higher level police, like SWAT, and some of the people who came to wait in line brought their own weapons. We saw machetes and baseball bats on the ground. It was crazy. It was just go to a store and buy shoes before that.” Nike SB made an impact on what is known today as sneaker culture, and in an article from Hypebeast, which says "the success of SB and my desire to have them to the cool color schemes which allowed us as a community to nickname each shoe and the coinciding box colors that signaled different eras" and with limited product and high demand it added more to the triumph of Nike SB at the time. Footage of the Australian team skateboarding at the 2012 Thunderdome competition event, held at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia, was uploaded to the website of Skateboarding Australia, the government-funded organisation that ran the event.