Athletic shoes are specifically designed
to be worn for participating in various sports. Since friction between
the foot and the ground is an important force in most sports, modern athletic
shoes are designed to maximize this force, and materials, such as rubber, are
used. Although, for some activities such as dancing or bowling,
sliding is desirable, so shoes designed for these activities often have lower
coefficients of friction. The earliest athletic shoes date back to the
mid 19th century were track spikes — leather shoes
with metal cleats on the soles to provide increased
friction during running. They were developed by J.W. Foster & Sons, which
later become known as Reebok. By the end of the century, Spalding also manufactured these
shoes as well. Adidas started
selling shoes with track spikes in them for running and soccer in 1925. Spikes were
eventually added to shoes for baseball and American footballl in the 20th century. Golfers also use
shoes with small metal spikes on their soles to prevent slipping during their
swing.
The United States Rubber Company was
founded the same year and produced rubber-soled and heeled shoes under a
variety of brand names, which were later consolidated in 1916 under the
name, Keds. These shoes became known as,
"sneakers", because the rubber sole allowed the wearer to sneak up on
another person. In 1964, the founding of Nike by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman of
the University of Oregon introduced many
new improvements common in modern running shoes, such as rubber waffle soles,
breathable nylon uppers,
and cushioning in the mid-sole and heel. During the 1970s, the expertise
of podiatrist also
became important in athletic shoe design, to implement new design features
based on how feet reacted to specific actions, such as running, jumping, or
side-to-side movement. Athletic shoes for women were also designed for their
specific physiological differences.
A pair of Converse All-Stars
Shoes specific to the sport of basketball were
developed by Chuck Taylor, and are popularly known
as Chuck taylor All - Stars . These shoes, first
sold in 1917, are double-layer canvas shoes
with rubber soles and toe caps, and a high heel for added support. In 1969,
Taylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in recognition of this development, and in the 1970s,
other shoe manufacturers, such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and others began
imitating this style of athletic shoe. In
April 1985, Nike introduced its own brand of basketball shoe which would become
popular in its own right, the Air Jordan,
named after the then-rookie Chicago Bulls basketball
player, Michael Jordan.
