| When you were a kid you had at least two pair of | | | | subcategory in sports apparel; the shoemaking industry |
| shoes. One pair was your "good" one your mother | | | | that is now worth billions. The sneakers' demand |
| referred to as your "dress shoes," while the other pair | | | | emerged as athletes drew spectators to games and |
| was your "everyday" shoes, most probably of athletic | | | | scientists invented new ways to accelerate human |
| nature. These shoes, specially designed for sporting | | | | limits and improve athletes' scores. |
| activities, were given the generic name "athletic shoes," | | | | The dictionary defines the athletic shoe or sneaker as |
| which is still considered a category that consists of | | | | "a sports shoe usually made of canvas and having |
| running, basketball and tennis footwear. | | | | soft rubber soles; also called tennis shoe." As today, |
| Originally introduced as part of the sporting apparel, | | | | uppers can be of leather, nylon, canvas, plastic, or |
| athletic shoes are now worn as part of a casual look. | | | | combinations of these, and the shoe bottom surface |
| Going for a walk, running across the shore, or playing | | | | has come to include any type of natural or synthetic |
| outdoor games, are examples of the instances that | | | | rubber soles, tennis shoes are not equivalent to any |
| people of all ages select to wear them. But how did all | | | | other type of athletic shoe types. Sure, the term |
| begin and why do more and more different types of | | | | "tennis shoes" has become a generic term for athletic |
| athletic shoes being produced? | | | | shoes, but this should not give the wrong impression to |
| It is much more than the supply and demand curve, but | | | | people that all sports shoes are the same or that one |
| it all comes down to that. Modern sneakers have | | | | should wear them interchangeably regardless of the |
| beginnings in various sports shoes. One ancestor is the | | | | game/sport played. |
| expensive British upper-class footwear of the late | | | | Running shoes on a tennis court, for example, are a |
| 1800s, used for lawn tennis, cricket, croquet, and at the | | | | sprained or broken ankle waiting to happen. Running |
| beach. While at the turn of the twentieth century, | | | | shoes are built with a thick, soft heel to maximize |
| football and baseball players wore essentially the | | | | cushioning for straight-forward, heel-to-toe foot |
| same shoe type as before, the leather high-topped | | | | impacts. Playing tennis is all about sudden starts and |
| lace-ups with leather soles and cleats, the need to | | | | stops, as well as moving quickly from side to side. The |
| have footwear that provided a good grip onto the | | | | trouble is that, during extreme stopping, cornering, and |
| ground was the reason why a variety of lightweight | | | | pivoting, if the sneaker's outsole is too rigid, the tennis |
| shoes were introduced. | | | | player loses contact with the playing surface, which |
| Special shoes that would allow runners to move and | | | | results in a loss of footing. |
| lead to positive results, like increasing their speed and | | | | In addition, since runners do not usually move sharply |
| thus, their competitiveness, were ordered. Thus, as the | | | | sideways, while "on the run," the running shoe sole is |
| need for greater speed increased, so did the athletic | | | | totally unsuitable for the sideways movements a tennis |
| shoes' number and styles. By refining and improving | | | | player makes. |
| the shoes' traction, sportswear companies created a | | | | |