Footwear Definitions — shoes, boots and footwear terms from Apparel Search
An athletic shoe is a generic name for a shoe designed for sporting activities. Athletic shoes were sporting apparel first, but they are today worn much more widely as casual footwear, and the same shoe can also be called a sport shoe, running shoe, gym shoe or tennis shoe, and in everyday speech a sneaker in American English or a trainer in British English.
The term athletic shoes is used for shoes for running, basketball and tennis (amongst others) but tends to exclude shoes for sports such as football (soccer) and rugby, which are generally called "boots".
The shoes themselves are made of flexible material, typically featuring a sole made of rubber. While the original design was basic, manufacturers have since tailored athletic shoes for the different purposes that they can be used for. An example is the spike developed for the shoe soles for running.
Athletic shoes have also been tailored for the casual market, and are popular especially with young people. The terms sneakers and trainers tend to be associated more with the casual use of atheltic shoes. The term sneaker was first used in 1916 by the United States Rubber Company for the Keds brand, because rubber soles made the shoes quiet. Trainer is a shortening of the phrase training shoe.
These casual shoes are derivatives of shoes worn, and endorsed, by athletes as well as other celebrities. The market for casual athletic shoes is quite large leading to a lot of competition between companies, and their eagerness to sign up celebrities to endorse their products. Popular brands include Nike, Adidas, PUMA, Reebok, Converse and Fila.
Learn about performance footwear.
In urban areas, a pair of sneakers tied together and hanging on telephone lines have several meanings. The common legal meaning is that the area is a place where drug dealers are selling their drugs, or where a gang is hanging around.
The defining habit of the athletic shoe is specialisation. A basic flexible shoe with a rubber sole is only the starting point: from there, each sport rewrites the design around its own movements. Running shoes are built for repeated forward motion, with cushioning under the heel and forefoot and, in spiked track versions, metal spikes set into the sole for grip at speed. Basketball shoes rise higher around the ankle and brace the foot against the sideways cuts and landings of the court game. Tennis shoes use flatter, hard-wearing soles patterned to slide a little on court surfaces without marking them, and gym shoes strip the formula back to a light all-purpose trainer for indoor exercise. That is also why the boundary of the term sits where it does: the studded footwear of football and rugby does the same job, but tradition calls those boots, and the word athletic shoe is reserved for the rubber-soled family.
The second life of the athletic shoe, as casual footwear, is now larger than its first. The sneaker name dates to 1916, when the United States Rubber Company used it for the Keds brand because rubber soles made the shoes quiet enough to sneak in, and trainer is simply a shortening of training shoe. Once manufacturers began selling versions of the shoes that athletes actually wore, endorsement became the engine of the market: a signature shoe carries the fame of the player attached to it, and the competition to sign athletes and celebrities keeps designs changing season after season. For the buyer, the practical lesson is to shop by intended use. A shoe bought for running should be fitted and chosen as a running shoe, a shoe bought for the gym as a trainer, and a fashion style can be chosen on looks alone — the three may share a silhouette, but the cushioning, support and sole pattern underneath are genuinely different.
The term athletic shoes covers shoes made for running, basketball and tennis, among other sports. It tends to exclude the footwear for football (soccer) and rugby, which are generally called boots even though they serve the same sporting purpose.
Athletic shoes are made of flexible material, typically featuring a sole made of rubber. Manufacturers tailor the design to each sport, for example adding spikes to the soles of running shoes for grip on the track.
Athletic shoes have been tailored for the casual market and are popular especially with young people. Casual styles are derivatives of shoes worn and endorsed by athletes and other celebrities, and brands such as Nike, Adidas, PUMA, Reebok, Converse and Fila compete heavily for that market.