The Background Of Basketball Shoes

Since 1917, when Converse created All-Star, the first basketball shoes, this piece of athletic footwear has become a staple on the American shoe scene. Basketball shoes today come in many colors and designs, and many of them have nothing to do with the sport after which they are named. Instead, basketball shoes are a fashion statement, and most top basketball players have a shoe named after them. The traditional thinking in the market is that basketball shoes match the player after whom they were named. Basketball shoes tend to do better when they stand out and when the player for whom they are named has "street credibility," an intangible and undefined characteristic. Some shoes, like the Nike shoe named for Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, have not fared well in the market, and many researchers believe it is because of Bryant's small following among urban youth, the most prolific consumers of

the basketball shoe. Philadelphia's Allen Iverson has a series of basketball shoes available, The Answer by Reebok, and those shoes are consistently among the top sellers. This trend of using celebrity to sell basketball shoes is a creation of the Nike, the largest maker of basketball shoes in the nation. When they created their air-based technology, which allows the basketball shoe to fill with air and the wearer to "float," Michael Jordan's moves on the court became the signature selling point for basketball shoes. Air Jordans dominated the basketball shoe market for almost a decade before Jordan's first retirement from the game and younger fans sought more variety in basketball shoes.