Over the years, trainers and running equipment has evolved and now become stylish as well as practical. In the past, running shoes were required to serve a purpose and no real thought was given to their appearance. The problem was that just because they were practical it didn’t mean that they were comfortable. Sports brands such as Adidas quickly realised that to get optimum performance from athletes they needed to provide top-quality products. Little did they know at the time they were actually creating something that was practical, comfortable and fashionable.
Adidas is not the only company to recognise this. Scott Bailey, the co-founder of One Distribution Company, owner of various skate wear brands found that even shorts weren’t suitable for running longer distances. When he was doing ultra-runs he would suffer from chaffing or the shorts soaking up too much water. As a result, he decided to create his own brand and begin creating his own range.
He conducted his research speaking to runners of different distances and of different abilities. His goal was to find out what they wanted to wear on their feet. This when combined with Scott’s knowledge of fabrics, materials and apparel meant that he could create shoes that not only felt great and improved performance but also looked stylish too. They were starting to create a product that appealed to the mass market and the major sporting brands sat up and took note.
Sportwear companies whose primary objective is to create a product that improves an athletes performance started to the see the benefits in redesigning their shoes and this is why they are looking increasingly like streetwear. They found that the comfort factor of streetwear clothing leant itself perfectly to achieving greater performance. The two seemed to run hand in hand together.
Of course, sports companies want to become major players in the streetwear market, it is a wide market and therefore big business. The companies fully appreciate the benefit of satisfying both groups. Athletes performances were improving whilst the manufacturers’ sales were going through the roof, largely due to the number of people who had no interest in sport who were buying their products. If one major manufacturer started something, the others had to follow and this is how the trend really got started.
Although in the past streetwear has more commonly been associated with the hip-hop music scene, sports personalities such as David Beckham are also becoming fashion icons. The link between sport and fashion is becoming more evident with sports labels keen to get stars signed up, not for their sporting prowess but for their link to the fashion industry.
It seems obvious that sportsmen and women are becoming increasingly linked with fashion and as a result, sports brands need to make running shoes that look like streetwear. This way they reach out to the wider market without losing any of their influence in the sporting arena.
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