Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Not too long ago, wearing sneakers to a fashion runway or capital society event meant flagging yourself as the outlier of the party – and we don’t mean it in a good way. The white, shiny pairs were condemned to the sweaty lockers or the indoor courts of a pro-athletic basketball team, or to the scruffy mud pies of a neighborhood park during a morning jog.
Each footwear brand is now pushing its limits to create a conceivable – and at times, just the right kind of ‘hideous’ – a design that hits the stores and pours into your wardrobe like the dozen. The footwear market of women’s sneakers online is practically climbing new heights every day, with an estimated CAGR increase of 2% by 2022, amounting to a generation of $40 billion USD globally! To discuss the popular sneaker brands that have swept our feet away – quite literally – we have mentioned 6 top leading companies that we believe are too cool to miss!
1) Nike
The Undisputable Trendsetter – Just Do It!
Imagine having to create a list of the most popular sneaker brands in the world and forgetting to mention Nike, the champions and chaperons of the undisputable trendsetters in footwear in the entire world!
Nike owes its success to its barometer of trends, due to which it has always been able to keep an eye for the latest fads and design culturally and timely appropriate footwear. Nevertheless, Nike has always been able to score the winning touchdown with its fast-paced, uber-technological or retro sneakers that seem to rule over the curtailing hype of classic performance in the world.
Retaining its classic kicks, Nike incorporated its sneakers with technological innovation and launched its Fly knit Uppers that weigh hardly 34 grams and are practical as light as a feather and seamless in performance. If the Cortez and the Blazer weren’t enough for taking you back in time with their retro classic designs, Nike allowed its customers to design their own kicks through its custom co-creation feature!
2) Adidas
The Maestros of Incorporating Science into Flying Kicks!
The decade was a hallmark in technological innovation – Adidas stood closely in the battle of leading technological advances in sneakers with Nike – and it was not a huge surprise! Adidas revealed its sole-bending technology and featherweight fabric that made zooming past those sales on sneakers remarkably easier.
Nevertheless, Adidas has not only managed to challenge innovations in technology but also beat its competition with its groundbreaking and highly maneuvering 3D printed webbed soles. From the Yeezy collab to the Superstar and Gazelle, the German sneakers’ giant retained its classic three-striped design in the game-changer Ultra Boost, making them one of the most popular kicks for athletes on track!
3) Converse
Old is gold
Converse’s iconic high-top or the Chuck Taylor All Star of 1917 has managed to shoot more hoops than all of the women’s sneakers online, making this the most classic yet vintage attempt to keep the century alive.
The Chuck Taylors never feel old or out of fashion, because what had once been the triumphs of the basketball courts back in the 20s’ is now a casual resident of soles today. The Chuck Taylors have focused on the old saying, ‘old is gold’, and have managed to retain (and maintain) the classic design from the 20s’ for the global eccentrics of today.
4) Common Projects
Giving Achilles another reason to rescue his heels!
Luxurious and shaped minimally like an Oxford shoe, Common Projects has practically nothing going for its shoes other than for its shot at heritage. Crafted executively in Northampton shire, Common Projects’ Achilles Low was barely comfortable, innovative, or technologically upgraded. But, the luxury sneakers’ brand knew exactly what it needs to lure its adoring public! A smidgeon of minimalism and a pinch of meticulously crafted detail to make anyone fall in love with the Oxford sneaker hybrids!
Streamlined with care and attention, the exquisitely shaped Achilles low became a style icon that beamed of timeless durability, high-end wearability, and perfect companionship! The Achilles Low can go perfectly with either a suit or a pair of Bermuda shorts but are somehow, facing competition by the dominated and undefended Balenciaga beetle-crushers.
There’s nothing about the brand that makes them as common as their name – Common Projects is thriving because of its minimalist trainers, and they’re here to stay and conquer!
5) Balenciaga
Turning Heads (or Feet) with Maximalist!
Giving you a reason to gallop around in minimal trainers, Balenciaga is a brand that under the supervision and guidance of Demna Gvasalia of Georgia, is changing the fashion industry with its innovatively clad silhouettes. Balenciaga also gave another meaning to designer footwear by launching both sleek and chunky sneakers that unremarkably, exploded in their given times!
The sleek Speed Sock helped take Balenciaga up a notch, but the Triple S really shaped the brand’s landscape and current standard. The Triple S was ‘big and chunky’, and conquered colors that despite, in contrast, molded perfectly together. The scruffy sneakers cast a silhouette too bold to follow, but all in all was daring, inescapably stealthy and single-handedly intense!
The Spanish house of sneakers experimented with both minimalism and maximalist, but gave way to the latter in the battle of ‘contemporary new waves’ – and this implied to sneakers as well!
6) Puma
Roxy is like a Puma
We will definitely give you a salute if you can get this reference!
Puma is a quiet brand that believes in perfecting its original line of sneakers and making noise with its contemporary classics instead of embarking on a journey unknown. Puma enjoys staying in the background, mainly because it can slave away and work on perfecting its ‘chunky sneakers’ for anyone who doesn’t have the bank account to back up Balenciaga’s costly kicks.
Puma is accessible, inexpensive and still making waves in the market where minimalism in sneakers is sweeping the shoe shelves away. Puma’s Thunder Electric is a fusion of pop and massive bulkiness while the Tsugi Shinsei line redefines comfort and durability with its thick cushioned midsole amidst an unconventional design.
While it is necessary for any brand to follow the latest fads in order to stay ahead of the contemporary challenges, Puma and Converse are two popular sneaker brands that allow their consumers to reminisce about the golden past. Nike and Adidas, however, are pioneers of the footwear industry as they are akin to technological experimentation and innovation, and pleasing their customers with new, contemporary kicks!
Conclusion
So, what was considered as the gold-standard icons of footwear for athletes a decade ago is now taking over the fashion industry with its provocative edginess or profound subtlety, and tailored specialty of design? Ranging from the likes of Nike, Puma, and Adidas, key designers are now using exemplary yet comfortable fabric or high-tech to produce footwear that embarks on the current uprising trends.
Photo by Mstudio from Pexels