Sneakermania
It’s no secret that sneakerheads are rabid about their sport of collecting, trading and selling sneakers.
In a recent report by You Gov, a leading consumer research data company, 56 percent of sneakerheads are likely to miss work, school or other daily responsibilities to purchase a pair of sneakers. This is in contrast to 8 percent of the general public. They're also confident in their ability to pick out a fake pair, with over 90 percent reporting that they can tell the difference between genuine and counterfeit products.
Ironically, 33 percent of sneakerheads say they never actually wear the products they buy, with another 22 percent saying they will wear them sometimes, but only indoors, 29 percent saying they wear them frequently and 16 percent saying they wear them all the time.
Overall, 7 percent of American adults categorize themselves as sneakerheads, with the majority falling into the
18- to 34-year-old age range and many belonging to an ethnic minority. Nearly half of these self-professed sneaker hounds say they buy shoes mainly to collect them, while 39 percent buy with an intent to resell.
Overall in 2017, U.S. athletic footwear industry sales rose 2 percent to $19.6 billion, according to the NPD Group. Women's grew the fastest, up 5 percent over 2016, with men's rising 1 percent. Sport leisure was the largest category, rising 17 percent to $9.6 billion in sales. Performance shoe sales actually declined 10 percent to $7.4 billion.
Adidas was the fastest-growing brand overall with sales jumping a whopping 50 percent over the year before. Other popular brands include Nike's Brand Jordan, Under Armour and New Balance.
“I often get asked whether the bubble around leisure will burst anytime soon, and the answer is no,” said Matt Powell, senior industry adviser for sports at NPD. “There is not a single performance shoe in the top 10 list for
2017, which illustrates the sportswear fashion cycle we are in. Ath-leisure rules the runway, and the line between what is an athletic shoe and a casual shoe continues to blur. Brands and retailers must continue to feed this trend.”