Nike's Still On Top Of The Sneaker World

Contrary to what their name might suggest, basketball, tennis and running shoes are in no way confined to courts and tracks these days. Athletic footwear, less formally known as sneakers, can be found anywhere from boardrooms to fashion runways and companies such as Nike and Adidas are making billions feeding the sneaker frenzy. 

With annual footwear sales of $21.1 billion, Nike is still number 1 in the global sneaker market, even if Adidas has recently gained some ground on the U.S. sportswear giant. Having risen from an enterprise licensing Japanese running shoes for the American market, Nike quickly developed a name of its own in the 1970s when some of the company’s most iconic silhouettes were introduced. 

Interestingly some of the models released in the 1970s are still among Nike’s most popular shoes today. The sneaker market is probably unique in the way that it is constantly moving between innovation and nostalgia with shoes designed in the 1970s and 1980s still selling equally well or, in many cases better than shoes featuring state of the art technology.