What do you have in your closet?



How long ago was it when shoes were just footwear? You threw them on to go play out in the back yard, or down on the playground. Today, however, having a pair of sneakers has taken on a whole new meaning, especially when dealing with sports shoes. What has really made the sneaker culture huge is the sport shoe industry, with Nike and Adidas pulling up the front. These sports icons have been worn and styled by not only top athletes, but by people in the music industry.

They say that it was the Nike Dunk that started it all off. In 1985, Nike brought out the Nike Dunk. Originally these sneakers meant for the college community of basketball players. Instead, this style of sports shoes started the sneaker sub-culture. Although this style of sneaker was designed to be used during high intensity basketball games, the spotlight quickly turned to the fashion of wearing them, what they looked like, and which ones you owned. Twenty years later, Nike has brought the Nike Dunk back on the courts with all its retro style and performance. But why stop with basketball shoes? In 2000, Nike decided to jump into the skateboarding scene with the new Nike Skateboarding product line.

With Nike SB has come the Nike Dunk SB. For years, before skateboarding came out from the underground scene, skateboarders utilized the rugged design of basketball shoes. Nike decided to capitalize on what Vans and DC shoes had been monopolizing for years, and take what was already an amazing sneaker, and fit it into the needs of skateboarders. What the Nike Dunk SB brought in the way of performance was extra-padded tongue and their patented Zoom Air insole. In the way of style, this sneaker has already come out with six series, and names for them like Grip, Forbes, and Vipers.

Another blast from the past would be the Nike Air Force 1. These sneakers first came out in the early 80's. And like the hip hop culture, their popularity grew. However, this band did not reach their full fashion peek until 2002 when Nelly released the song ?Air Force Ones?.

The other major sports shoe brand is the Adicolor Shoes, an Adidas Original. The design became so popular because the plain white canvas was adaptable by painting, drawing, and spraying on your own personal design, and even accessories were sold to help you in your creativity. In 2006 they pushed the envelope further with a new color series using artists and designers from all over the world.

Another huge sneaker that was popular with the hip hop world was the Adidas Superstar. A very raw and controversial Hip Hop group that helped skyrocket the Adidas Superstar to stardom was Run-D.M.C. This cutting edge group was known for wearing their Superstars out on stage, and even wrote a song dedicated to them called ?My Adidas?. Whether its Nike or Adidas, clean out that closet, dust off your old sneakers, and get into the game.