Throughout history, shoes have been developed by people to fit certain lifestyles and this is clearly illustrated in the tennis shoes history. However, the actual design of the athletic shoes is what has occasioned the trends that have embedded sports into popular culture making it an active pastime. There are plenty of names used to describe tennis shoes and some include sneakers, sandshoes, gym shoes takkies or joggers. Whatever name is used to describe them, one thing for sure is that they have made sporting activity much safer and comfortable for users.
In the year 1907 a company started the process of stitching leather strips around the upper part of shoes in order to assist in cutting back stretching. This happened to be the initial stages of several dashes, which now make up the standard design of the contemporary sports shoes. As indicated by Steele, the earliest popular sports shoe was launched in America in the year 1917 with the brand name keds. The ‘K’ was considered to denote the term ‘kids’ while rest of name was a derivative that was meant to rhyme with ped, which is the Latin word for foot. In essence this brand was the pioneer in tennis shoes history.
According to the tennis shoes history by 1917, a higher boot variety was used for basketball. This variety was initiated under the brand name Converse All stars. This name was emblazoned on an ankle patch on the shoe. Henceforth, people referred to the shoes as chucks. As tennis became more and more popular in the 1920’s, this meant that adults wore these canvas shoes during their leisure time.
Although these tennis shoes were hardly considered as popular initially, the style became a fury following the 1st World War. As a way of showing patriotism and will power, the United States started to promote the development of sport. Famous sportspeople such as Jim Thorpe as well as Chuck Taylor endorsed these tennis shoes, which made them well known with the masses. Steadily, by around the 1950’s, tennis shoes developed into greatly renowned items which were not only worn for sporting activities but also for daily use. The shoes even become part of the school attire.
The development of the sports tennis shoe
Sporting shoes have gone through a lot of development in the tennis shoes history over the past one hundred years or so. They initially began as simple tennis shoes which have a flat sole, low top and a system of lace. As years went buy the height of the tennis shoe’ top’ has been altered and undergone numerous experiments. In the 80’s for instance the tennis shoe with a high top became very well known, more so with basketball players. These athletes enjoyed the benefits of additional support which helped to support the ankles. Currently, athletic shoes have a number of versions which include fashion sports shoes, high tops, low tops mid tops as well as specialty sporting shoes.
Sports shoe manufacturers
The great reputation of tennis shoes made them very profitable. Consequently certain manufacturers of shoes have come up with various brands of athletic shoes. The most famous sports shoes include the likes of Mizuno, Asics, Converse, DC shoes, Lacoste, New Balance Adidas, Servis-Cheetah, Quicksilver Fred Perry K-Swiss, Puma AG Reebok and Nike. Each shoe manufacturer offers their exclusive version of sports shoes and they normally have specific lines exclusively made for different activities such as extreme sports, soccer, basketball, walking and running. This is a clear testimony of how much the tennis shoes history has evolved.
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