The Renaissance Man's Sneakers Weeb Site
	"My Adidas!":

In the 1984 smash hit single "My Adidas", Run DMC embodies the sneaker boom of the eighties by claiming that they "like to flaunt 'em, that's why I bought 'em . . . We make a mean team my adidas and me"(Run DMC). Feeding off of the increased popularity of pro athletes and the new-found health craze, Vans, the Air Jordan, the Reebok Pump, the Converse Weapon, Kangaroos, L.A.Gear, and countless other name brand athletic shoes roared on to the fad scene during the eighties. They not only had a profound effect on the fashion trends and booming economy of the decade, but were also underlying catalysts to different crimes and a new, creative advertising.

Before the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials, American citizens wore shoes. Sure, there was the occasional sandal, boot, or penny loafer. But if one asked the average Joe (or Jane) what he was wearing on his feet, he more than likely would reply, "shoes". Track stars wore "track shoes". All basketball players wore "Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars". Football players wore "cleats". The common man had his "working shoes" and his "old working shoes". Kids wore the same pair of shoes until either their soles wore off or their toes busted out and then they got a new pair. In fashion, people cared about their shirts, dresses, hats, skirts, and jewelry. In the world of sports, Wilt Chamberlain cared about his jump shot; Roger Maris wanted to beat the Cardinals in the World Series; and Joe Namath wanted to prove to the world that his New York Jets could win the Super Bowl.

But after the 1972 United States Olympic Trials, "shoes" became Nikes, Adidas, Reeboks, and Asics. Four of seven U.S. winners wore these new-fangled blue and yellow Nike Waffle Trainers with their patent rubber sole (Becklund, 12). Professional basketball players began wearing Converse One Stars and Adidas Superstars. John McEnroe donned Nike tennis shoes in 1978. Track stars began wearing brand name shoes under contract. By the time Nike Inc. went public in 1980, the entire United States was engulfed in a new health food, jogging, shoe-conscious craze that seemed to have no bounds. The "sneaker", "tennis shoe", "cleat", and "boot" is now the "Reebok", the "Nike", the "Adidas", and the "Converse". The seed had been planted, and the sneaker craze had begun.

Led by then non-existent, now powerhouses Nike and Reebok, athletic shoes became elements of virtually all major fads during the eighties. As an unwritten rule, breakdancers wore unlaced, high-top basketball shoes. Inner city gangs killed eachother for Air Jordans. Below their Jams and Vision Streetwear, skateboarders wore Vans or Chuck Taylors. If they weren't wearing steel-tipped boots, punk rockers wore Reeboks and Adidas. In Madonna's "material world" of the mid-eighties, athletic shoes became teenage symbols of social status. Poverty-stricken families spent up to one hundred dollars a pop so their kids would look cool in their new Nike Airs. Kids wanted to "Be Like Mike" (Becklund, 127). Millions of teenage girls raced to the stores when they heard that "Reebok International has confirmed it has signed singer-choreographer Paula Abdul for its new youth-oriented Club Reebok footwear" (Sloan). Most Americans actually believed that the right aerobics shoe could help you lose weight when the health craze set in around 1981. In the eighties, the shoe transformed from a clothing necessity into an intricate accessory of an outfit, inner city identification, or a symbol of social status.

In the forefront of the sneaker boom of the eighties was the Swoosh, Nike's beloved symbol, which might be the most recognized business logo in the world today. But before 1980, it was hardly that. The story of how Nike Inc. grew out its founder's trunk is quite simple: a former middle distance runner from the famed University of Oregon track team, Phil Knight, goes to Stanford Business School and writes a paper on how track shoes made in Asia could undersell the competition made in the U.S. After Stanford, he hires a bunch of beer-chugging ex-runners and post-prime jocks to travel the track meet circuit, selling shoes from their cars. In no time, the company is growing like a wildfire; they've created a marketing phenomenon called Air Jordan; and they're all rich (Becklund).

The growth of Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory, is the epitome of the American dream. Founded in 1964 with five hundred dollars, Nike went up against track powerhouses Adidas and Puma and won. Sale of $3.2 million in 1973 to mainly professional and college athletes rose to nearly $870 million in 1983 (Becklund , 162) and clocked out at $4 billion at the close of the 1994 fiscal year (O'Neal 87). The expansion of Nike into an apparel industry has almost doubled its income in the nineties.

Nike has cornered the market on creative advertising. Their first ad campaign using celebrity athletes such as Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, and teenage heartthrob Andre Agassi was a great success leading to more innovative advertisements such as college team contracts. Much of the company's success is due to their marketing ploys.

With more of a fashion-based product line, Reebok ruled the athletic shoe business by from 1985 to 1987 and then steadily collapsed on its shaky foundation. Reebok sneakers were "rapidly becoming standard equipment for trendy young consumers. Often in short supply . . .{Reeboks were} . . . giving market leader Nike Inc. a run for its money in the US with spectacular sales growth" (Borrus 89). Founded by entrepreneur Paul Fireman in the late seventies, Reebok International was able to increase revenues from $1.5 million in 1981 to a colossal $919 million in 1986 (Rowland 87). Throughout this growth, Reebok relied more on advertising and marketing their fashionable shoes than on increasing the performance of their product. This market-based attitude eventually led to a defeat at the hands of performance-based Nike and Converse. Fireman saw the shoe business as a "show business" (Graham 90) by hiring stars such as Paula Abdul and Bruce Springstein to market his product rather than athletes such as Nike's Bo Jackson, Andre Agassi, and Michael Jordan.

After Reebok's roller coaster ride through the mid eighties, the company finally steadied during the late eighties as a second place finisher to Nike. The innovative Reebok Pump system is credited with keeping Reebok afloat. Reebok: U.B.U.

Living in the shadow of the two giants (Reebok and Nike), Converse, Vans, Adidas, L.A.. Gear, Kangaroos, Pony, and Avia all had their share of success during the sneaker boom. While Converse and Adidas strived on quality, the others relied on ploys to begin new fads and enjoyed brief success.

Converse and Adidas are probably the most consistent of all the brands. They have been around the longest and have maintained their success through quality and performance rather than advertising and fad. The Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, popular ever since its prime in the 1950's, is the most popular athletic shoe of all time. Throughout the eighties, Converse maintained a strong base in basketball shoes. West German Adidas has been the leading athletic shoe in Europe for thirty years. But in the U.S., Adidas has had popularity in soccer cleats and jogging shoes. Run DMC's "My Adidas" brought brief fame to unlaced hightops, but this fad soon gave way to Nikes and Reeboks.

On the other hand, L.A.Gear, Avia, Kangaroos, and Pony enjoyed brief success in the eighties with lame attempts to start new fads. The most memorable of these attempts are L.A. Gear's soles that lit up every step and Kangaroo's pocket in the tongue of the shoe to keep your trinkets. All four brands enjoyed a boom in business when the velcro fad occurred in the mid-eighties.

Vans were unique to the early eighties. Their "brightly patterned canvas slip-on" (Magiera 52) style made popular by Jeff Spicoli (black and white checkerboard) from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" struck home with skaters, surfers, BMXer's, and California wanna-be's. But Van Doren Rubber Co. almost went bankrupt after going out of style in 1983.

While enhancing some aspects of society in the eighties, the sneaker's popularity brought a steady increase in value and eventually a source of crime among inner-city youth in the late eighties. Gangs began wearing certain sneakers as symbols and many kids were killed for them. Although many of these kids were killed because the shoes represented rival gang affiliation, most were killed or mugged for no other reasons but their sneakers. Sports Illustrated ran an article in the late eighties titled "Your Sneakers or Your Life" which documented the muggings and murders of kids for their high profile sneakers. Valuable lifes were actually lost for those shoes considered more valuable. The craze had become absurd.

The market for athletic shoes has steadily declined. Nike believes that "the heart of the problem is that many of the teenagers and twenty-somethings who have driven the . . . growth over the past years have turned away from sneakers in droves" (O'Neal 86). Jaded by shoe ads featuring overmarketed athletes, younger people are looking for something less commercial--mainly hiking boots. But the eighties sneaker boom still lives today. From the Adidas Superstar to the Air Jordan, the 1974 Nike Waffle Trainer to the 1994 Saucony Grid, the Tretorn to the Air Agassi, shoes have come a long way thanks to the eighties' sneaker craze.

		© Ragnar Torfason 2006 April 7