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Interesting Facts About Sneakers

Sneakers is a synonym for “athletic shoes,” and the more common term for them particularly in the northeastern United States and southern Florida. The term describes a type of footwear with a flexible sole made of rubber or synthetic material and an upper part made of leather or canvas. Sneakers were originally a sporting apparel, but today worn much more widely as casual footwear. They can also refer to athletic footwear like basketball shoes, tennis shoes, cross trainers and other shoes worn for specific sports.

Global Differences

The British English equivalent of “sneaker” in its modern meaning is “trainer”, while the traditional “sneaker” (pictured) is closer to the British “plimsoll”. In some urban areas in the United States, the slang for sneakers is kicks. In Hiberno-English, Canadian English and Australian English the term is runners or sneakers. In South African English the term used is tackies.

The name “sneakers” originally referred to how quiet the rubber soles were on the ground, in contrast to noisy standard hard leather soled dress shoes. Someone wearing sneakers could “sneak up” on you while someone wearing standards can only stand on you.

“ It is only the harassed schoolmaster who can fully appreciate the pertinency of the name boys give to tennis shoes — sneakers. ”

The British English term “trainer” is a slang abbreviation of “training shoe”.

Brands

Popular brands include: Air Jordan, Adidas, Asics, Converse, Ethletic, Feiyue, Fila, K-Swiss, Keds, Lescon, New Balance, Nike, PF Flyers, Puma, Reebok, Skechers, Vans.

Types:

  • High-tops cover the ankle.
  • Low-tops do not cover the ankle.
  • Mid-cut are in-between high-tops and low-tops.
  • Sneaker boots extend to the calf.
  • Slip-on like low-tops do not cover the ankle and don’t have laces.

Sneaker boots

Sneaker boots are a type of shoe that mimics the visual appearance of a traditional sneaker, but is equipped with a high heel. The heel makes it impossible to use them as anything but dress shoes.

Examples

  • In 1995 Cyd Jouny made a crossover between a basketball sneaker and a stiletto mule.
  • Nobox, by Reebok an unsuccessful design in the mid-90’s.
  • Converse Chucks

Sneaker culture

Sneakers have become an important part of hip hop (usually Pumas, Adidas, etc.) and rock ‘n roll (Converse, or other canvas sneakers) cultures since the 1970s. Presently, numerous rappers sign million dollar deals with major brands such as Nike, Adidas or Puma to promote their shoes. Sneaker collectors, called “Sneakerheads”, use sneakers as fashionable items. Artistically-modified sneakers can sell for upwards of $500. In 2005 a documentary, Just for Kicks, about the sneaker phenomena and history was released.

Sneakersnstuff was opened on the 26th of March in 1999. It was opened by Erik Fagerlind and Peter Jansson, both of whom had a lengthy working experience within the field of sporting goods as well as being crazed sneaker collectors, as they both felt that there was no alternative to the big retail chains dominating the market in Stockholm.

Similarly sneaker culture has grown over the decade augmenting the reebok sale, Nike Sale, Adidas sale and other brands sales etcetera

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