History of the sneaker part 1.
The sneaker,
Trainer Kicks etc. has existed since the late 1800’s mainly used as sports or
beach shoes. In 1916 Keds a plimsoll brand was introduced to the United States
and became known as sneakers because of their quiet rubber soles. Only one year later came the Converse All
Star shoe in 1917, followed by Adidas, Puma and Nike later in the 1900’s.
American teenagers began wearing sneakers as casualwear off the sports field
during the 50ties inspired by movie stars like James Dean. In 1968 Tommie Smith was wearing Puma
trainers when he won the 200 m at the Olympics in Mexico. Receiving his gold
medal he raised his fist in the Black Power salute, this made the shoe become a
cult item on the streets. By the 1980s the Trainer market had become huge and
leading brands teamed up with high fashion designers, in order to get their
slice of the cake. Yohji Yamamoto collaborated with Adidas and created the
sleek black and white three stripes cult trainer Y-3 range. Stella McCartney
also designed for Adidas but aiming for outdoor sports hip, with tennis and
running shoes. Paul smith designed for Reebok and Mihara Yasuhiro for puma
focusing on stripes and metallic.
Sometimes the early hip-hop culture would help bring attention to
certain sneakers and thereby promoting them via songs and movies such as
Run-DMC with the single “My Adidas” , 1986.
