The Sneaker Uprising

by H1 Premium

With a more detailed look at basketball sneakers

Back in the day that classed as fashionable wear included your apparel, your accessories, the way in which you wore your hair, and your shoes – but this did not include sneakers. Sneakers were left for casual weekend wear and were known only as the shoes that athletes wore to protect their feet during their sporting events. They are worn by tennis players, track and field athletes, basketball players etc. but it’s the basketball sneakers that really brought along the uprising of the popularity of the sneaker for day to day life.

What were companies doing to market their sneakers?

Chuck Taylor

The first company to realize that naming a sneaker after a celebrity and having somewhere on that shoe a piece of memorabilia to represent that celeb was Converse rubber Shoe Company. They released their first hi-top all stars in 1917 and 4 years later branded it as the Chuck Taylor. Chuck Taylor was a semi-pro athlete who played for their all-star team, and lent his name and signature to the shoe. So, this was the first case of using a celebrities name to brand and increase the sale of a shoe.

The thing is with how far we have come, and what it is that we expect as normal – as a society we are used to the notion that adding a celebrity’s name, or getting someone famous to endorse a product is going to not only increase its value but also increase its desirability. These days we have perfumes, clothing lines, perfumes, shoes, and watches etc. that have all been endorsed by celebrities and that before you even get to their own lines that style have created. Having said that. It does not take away from the fact that as a public we still feed into to the notion that everything celebrity is better, and so this marketing stunt is still as effective as ever.

Chuck Taylor

The marriage between brand and celebrity

The coupling of sneaker brands and celebrities increased sales immensely. The two formed a bond almost comparable to some of the top fashion houses of the time, and current time. From when they came out to this day it is probably safe to say that the top couple and most successful coupling of celebrity and brand is Nike and Air Jordan’s. Created in a time when Jordan was averaging 28.2 points per game, and wearing his shoes the showman – with Nikes backing created a shoe that for decades to come would still be as popular as the first day they were created. The best thing about the brand the Michael Jordan created for himself is its one that cares, for example did you know Air Jordan’s are only released on Saturdays so that kids don’t skip school to cue up to buy them?

Sneaker culture is something that is very much alive and it’s due to the sneaker revolution that Converse created back in 1921 when they added Chuck Taylor’s name to their shoe. If it wasn’t for them who knows what sneakers may be to us today.

H1 Premium