As of 2024, the shoe industry has significantly changed compared to years like 2020, when the bigger brands had complete domination over the sneaker game. Nowadays, people tend to buy something that they think looks good rather than a shoe with a big popular logo on it, like Off-White or Supreme, for example. In this article, I will discuss what I believe are the three most popular shoe brands of the year among the younger generation. I am basing my opinion on what I observe on a day-to-day basis and a survey I conducted with close to 100 people between the ages of 16 and 25.
Nike
I think we all knew this was coming. With Nike being one of, if not the biggest, clothing brands in the world, it’s impossible to leave it out of the top three. Whenever we walk down the street or in our local area, we are definitely going to see a lot of Nike pairs, even if we don’t immediately recognize them as Nike. This is because Nike collaborates extensively with sports players and artists, allowing them to design shoes or clothing, always with the Nike name behind them. Some notable collaborations include the Jordan Brand and the Travis Scott Brand. Some shoe models designed by these figures don’t even have the Nike swoosh on them, but they are still owned by Nike and very popular, like the Jordan 4, for example. People continue to wear Nike today to look good and maintain their style, as many new shoe models are still very fashionable and part of significant trends.
Adidas\Yeezy
As we all know, Adidas has always been a very casual brand that people wear every day, and it looks quite normal. A couple of years ago, Adidas really started to enter the streetwear market, which definitely boosted its popularity among younger people. We now have the opportunity to see big collaborations with other brands like Bape, Dime, Gucci, Fear Of God, and Moncler. Just like Nike, Adidas has also collaborated with rappers and sports players, with the most notable collaboration by far being with Kanye West to create Yeezy. Even today, many people still wear Yeezys, and almost every time I go out, I see people wearing them. People still really like them, and they catch the eye’s attention every time.
New Balance
For the third spot, a debate can easily arise, but overall, I truly believe that New Balance deserves its place, especially given their strong comeback over the past few years. They have consistently introduced new colorways for their most popular models and tend to restock them frequently. People love to wear New Balance shoes because they are very easy to style and look great. You might not get as many compliments wearing a pair of New Balance compared to a pair of Jordans, but people will still recognize that you have a good sense of taste.
In the next article I will go more in depth on explaining the concept of shoes and clothes distribution around all the retailers worldwide.I’ll also discuss why certain retailers receive specific pairs of shoes while others do not.”
