The basketball shoe industry is being crushed from wisepowder's blog

Michael Jordan changed the way basketball shoes were perceived when he signed his iconic Nike NKE, -0.02% deal in 1984 and debuted the Air Jordan 1. Basketball shoes became so popular that they soon outgrew the court and were being worn as everyday shoes.To get more news about cheap jordans, you can visit nkspaces official website. nkspaces2010 ！ For years, basketball shoes adorned with names like LeBron James and Kevin Durant sold well. But lately, the performance basketball shoe market has struggled. Basketball shoe sales now represent less than 4% of the athletic shoe market, a massive drop from their 13% market share in 2014, according to data from research firm NPD. In addition, basketball performance shoe sales are also down roughly 13% compared to the same period a year ago, the fourth consecutive year that aggregate basketball shoe sales have declined. A lot of people are still choosing to wear athletic shoes, but not high performance basketball shoes. What happened?“This is the culmination of the athleisure trend, where we are wearing athletic inspired footwear and apparel but we don’t intend to use them for sport,” Matt Powell, Senior Industry Advisor at NPD, told MarketWatch. According to research firm NPD, the athleisure industry grew 7% over a 12-month period in 2019, and shows no signs of slowing down. That’s one of the reasons having a star like LeBron James’s name on a performance shoe doesn’t guarantee it will sell, which has forced brands to pivot. “The consumer is really in charge of fashion trends,” Powell said. “They’re dictating to the brands what they want.” The slumping sales numbers indicate consumers no longer want big and bulky basketball shoes, they want versatile shoes they can wear for any occasion. Basketball shoes have been replaced by styles like Stan Smiths, low-top training shoes and athleisure brands like Allbirds (recently valued at over $1.4 billion).