This is kind of surprising news, in my opinion. Adidas has surpassed Michael Jordan’s brand of shoe when it comes to being the most popular. The reason I think this is surprising, is that for a long time Adidas shoes seemed to all kind of be the same. There just wasn’t that diversity among the shoes. They also felt like only certain types of athletes would wear them. But over the last few years, I’ve noticed a change in this area. An analyst with NPD Group made the comment that he’s “never seen a brand in the sneaker industry grow this fast”. From January through August of this year, Adidas has grown from having 6.6% of the market share at this time last year, to 11.3%.
In case you’re wondering, though, Jordan brand essentially stayed steady, going from 9.4% to 9.5%. The leader in the marketplace, Nike, dropped from 39% of the market share to 37% of the market share during the first eight months of 2017. Which is all kind of weird, isn’t it? I personally have never worn Adidas, but for things like spots shoes, I can kind of be a snob. And if I’m a snob, I imagine other people are too? Or at least I hope they are? (I’m laughing at myself right now) But I’m sure that I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Not to mention, I’m just talking about my athletic shoes. A lot of people wear sneakers casually. And I feel like people would be more selective from that perspective as well.
You’re probably wonder what has brought about these changes? It’s hard to say, but Adidas got rid of their CEO of 14 years, back in 2015. And since then they have been growing steadily. They mostly credit this increase to strong products, rather than celebrity endorsements. Kanye West brought his Yeezy brand over from Nike. But that’s only makes up for a small part of their success, and Adidas wants you to know that.
That being said, though, basketball shoe sales have slowed down across the board. Even though Nike has strength when it comes to people like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving as endorsers. Adidas has James Harden, but maybe no one likes him as much as me? Although, that wouldn’t necessarily make me want to buy his shoes. But that is what Nike is banking on, at least. You liking the super star who is endorsing the product, and therefore want to buy the shoes. I mean, who doesn’t want to be a super human athlete like LeBron James?
When it comes to sneakers, what brand do you buy? For me it depends what I’m doing. Like I said, I tend to wear sneakers for working out. Therefore, I will buy a pair of shoes that lend to what kinds of exercises I’m doing. I tend toward Nike cross-trainer type shoes as they seem to work the best for me, from a general perspective. But I could be persuaded to buy more specific shoes for specific occasions. In general, I tend to like the way Nike sneakers look more than Adidas, but I’m not so brand loyal that I can’t have both.