Running Shoes

Odds are you’ve worn at least one pair of running shoes in your life. Whether it was for physical activity, like hitting up your local gym or maybe even for a school sports team, or just for everyday casual use, running shoes have maintained its role as a staple of athletic and urban fashion. The running shoe certainly is not limited to physical exercise; in fact, some of the most highly sought-after pairs are special colourways or collaborations of running shoes that were once designed for performance.

So where, when, and by whom was the running shoe concept born? If you’re guessing Nike, adidas, or New Balance, you’re incorrect. One would quickly associate the running shoe with sports-apparel powerhouses such as adidas and Nike, but Nike founders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight weren’t even born when the first running shoe was created.

The first ever spiked running shoe was created in 1852, over a century before the iconic Nike Waffle Racer was even an idea. By 1894, the Spalding Company featured three different grades of spiked running shoes, each featuring kangaroo leather uppers, a low cut, and six spikes. Priced at six dollars a pair, these running shoes were reserved for the wealthy, as competitive sports in general were considered a hobby only for the affluent. However, Adolf Dassler is credited as the father of the modern running shoe, when he began making shoes in 1920. By 1948, he founded adidas; the trademark three-stripes logo was actually meant for athletic support, but is now recognized worldwide.

With the advance and implementation of comfort technology, like Nike’s Air Max, Zoom, Shox, and Lunar, adidas’ A3 and Response, and Reebok’s DMX and Hexalite, running shoes have become extremely high-tech, a stark contrast to its predecessors. Nonetheless, running shoes remain a staple of athletic performance outfitting and urban fashion, and will continue to do so in the years to come.