Author: Jonathon Hardcastle

Article:
When you were a kid you had at least two pair of shoes. One pair was your "good" one your mother referred to as your "dress shoes," while the other pair was your "everyday" shoes, most probably of athletic nature. These shoes, specially designed for sporting activities, were given the generic name "athletic shoes," which is still considered a category that consists of running, basketball and tennis footwear. Originally introduced as part of the sporting apparel, athletic shoes are now worn as part of a casual look. Going for a walk, running across the shore, or playing outdoor games, are examples of the instances that people of all ages select to wear them. But how did all begin and why do more and more different types of athletic shoes being produced?

It is much more than the supply and demand curve, but it all
comes down to that. Modern sneakers have beginnings in various
sports shoes. One ancestor is the expensive British upper-class
footwear of the late 1800s, used for lawn tennis, cricket,
croquet, and at the beach. While at the turn of the twentieth
century, football and baseball players wore essentially the same
shoe type as before, the leather high-topped lace-ups with
leather soles and cleats, the need to have footwear that
provided a good grip onto the ground was the reason why a
variety of lightweight shoes were introduced. Special shoes that
would allow runners to move and lead to positive results, like
increasing their speed and thus, their competitiveness, were
ordered. Thus, as the need for greater speed increased, so did
the athletic shoes' number and styles. By refining and improving
the shoes' traction, sportswear companies created a subcategory
in sports apparel; the shoemaking industry that is now worth
billions. The sneakers' demand emerged as athletes drew
spectators to games and scientists invented new ways to
accelerate human limits and improve athletes' scores.

The dictionary defines the athletic shoe or sneaker as "a sports
shoe usually made of canvas and having soft rubber soles; also
called tennis shoe." As today, uppers can be of leather, nylon,
canvas, plastic, or combinations of these, and the shoe bottom
surface has come to include any type of natural or synthetic
rubber soles, tennis shoes are not equivalent to any other type
of athletic shoe types. Sure, the term "tennis shoes" has become
a generic term for athletic shoes, but this should not give the
wrong impression to people that all sports shoes are the same or
that one should wear them interchangeably regardless of the
game/sport played. Running shoes on a tennis court, for example,
are a sprained or broken ankle waiting to happen. Running shoes
are built with a thick, soft heel to maximize cushioning for
straight-forward, heel-to-toe foot impacts. Playing tennis is
all about sudden starts and stops, as well as moving quickly
from side to side. The trouble is that, during extreme stopping,
cornering, and pivoting, if the sneaker's outsole is too rigid,
the tennis player loses contact with the playing surface, which
results in a loss of footing. In addition, since runners do not
usually move sharply sideways, while "on the run," the running
shoe sole is totally unsuitable for the sideways movements a
tennis player makes.

>From Keds, which were the first tennis shoes in 1917, to today's
extraordinary designs and expensive advertising budgets,
shoemakers continue to design shoes with an eye towards
accommodating various types and shapes of feet. When one adds to
this equation, the trendy variety of styles, the outcome speaks
for itself. There is always an option available for our feet
will feel comfortable while playing a friendly match of tennis.

About the author:
Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Tennis, Recreation, and Games

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