By Nick Forbes, Managing Editor of Design
Within every culture of a society, there is inevitably a plethora of subcultures that act as support to the culture itself. The world of sports is one of the cultures that sits atop a sturdy support of cultfollowed subcultures. Basketball is an overlap of the worlds of sports, hip-hop music, and of course – sneakers.
“Sneakerheads,” as they’re affectionately known, are pretty much what the name implies: People with an almost-obsessive devotion to all things sneakers.
The game of basketball and sneakers go hand-in-hand ever since the game’s conception in the late 1800s. However, the sneaker game has come a long way since the U.S. Rubber Company introduced the first basketball shoe in 1992.
Nowadays, most superstars in the National Basketball Association have multi-million dollar contracts with major shoe companies to produce their own signature line of sneaker. For the shoe companies, this is an invaluable form of marketing. The success of the athlete directly translates to the success of the signature shoe, and in-turn, the company. In other words, if Kyrie Irving balls, so does Nike.
Any basketball sneaker head will tell you, there is a holy trinity of sneaker companies in this vast subculture: Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. I know you’re thinking, “well what about Jordan?” Well Jordan is owned by Nike, so what about it?
But that’s it! That’s the three. Any other shoe in the basketball world is simply scoffed at. Sure, All-star shooting guard Klay Thompson rocks Anta kicks, and future hall-of-famer Dwayne Wade has had his own line of Li-Ning sneakers since 2012, but tell me honestly when you saw any old average person wearing these brands. Chances are this article is the first time you’ve heard of them.
It wasn’t until this past summer that the sneaker world was turned on it’s head when Puma brand signed three of the toprated NBA draft prospects prior to the draft itself. Puma – once a staple in the basketball world decades ago – returned to the court with a vengeance, signing the number-one pick in the NBA draft, DeAndre Ayton. What prompted Ayton, who was highly sought after by Nike and Adidas to sign with an unestablished brand?
“Nike is Nike. Adidas is Adidas. I’ve played in their circuits and stuff like that, but now it’s a business. You don’t want just product. You’re not a kid anymore. You’re really trying to get bank,” Ayton said in an interview with Bleacher Report. Money – that’s what drives this whole thing.
That explains why Toronto Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard made the switch from Jordan brand to New Balance – a company known for making “dad shoes.” Not a great look.
As far as I’m concerned, more diversity in the basketball-shoe industry is a welcome change.
Not that Nike or Adidas ever get stale, but what’s the harm in seeing what these other companies can do?
Sneakers are art, and a form of expression for so many, so why limit the options? I, for one, will eagerly be awaiting Leonard’s first New Balance model, “dad shoes” be damned.