The Many Eras Of Retro Basketball Shoes
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Over the years, sneakers and sports shoes have had a major impact over the basketball sport. From the yesteryear legends to the current sensations, all basketball players are very choosy and fussy about the shoes they don during their games, and sometimes, they may choose to personalize their shoes too. This is for good reason indeed. Basketball is a sport where a player has to keep running over the court for hours together, sometimes needing to sprint, hop and jump. Based on all these reasons, the shoes worn by the player have a major influence on his game play. The choice of shoes can even make the difference between a winning game and a losing one. The acceleration, style and comfort given by the shoes are the key aspects depending on which shoes are rated. Over the years, good brands of shoes have always found patronage among the basketball greats. Let us now examine the evolution of basketball shoes over the years.
Widely, the basketball period can be divided into four eras.
They are the Classic Era, Jordan Era, Golden Era and Throwback Era. These four eras mark significant changes in the choice of shoes and the brand of shoes that have dominated the basketball arena during that period.
Classic Era:
This era is the period when basketball was at its germinal stages. It started with the 'Chucks' grabbing the center stage and ended with the Air Force 1 replacing its competitors as the main brand. The first basketball shoes were called the 'Chuck Taylor' shoes. They were canvas sneakers with rubber soles. They are the bestselling shoes, even till date, with 500 million pairs of Chuck Taylors being sold, as of today. They had dominated the scene from 1920-1960. In 1972, the Oregon based Nike Company, which was a midget then, introduced its first model, Blazer. It was an instant success, bringing out Nike as a major competitor. In the 1970s the Puma, Magic, Bird and Converse Weapons came on to the scenario, replacing the Blazer. Nike replied with the Air Force 1, the first basketball shoe with an air sole. This marked the end of the Classic Era. Jordan Era: This era is named after the legendary Michael Jordan, who made the basketball sport a major force among the sports sector. It started with a rookie showing up at an all-star match donned a custom-made pair of sneakers which cost him a percentage of his match fee every match he played. Following this, the Adidas-Ewing rivalry attained its peak with the two mammoths battling it out for supremacy. In 1988, when rumors spread about MJ changing his shoes from Nike to some other company, Nike brought out its Air Jordan III, convincing him to stay on. To this day, Air Jordan III has this reputation of being the greatest Air Jordan ever. Throughout this period, the Air Jordans dominated the market. Golden Era: With Jordan announcing his first retirement, Nike was forced to resort to other players for canvassing their brand. Consequently, the Golden era turned out to be a period where no one company reigned. Instead, it was marked by the advent of new technologies that revolutionized the shoe industry. Throwback Era: Jordan announced his second retirement, but, by this time, Nike was into the establishment of the Jordan Company. Also, in this era, throwback and retro shoes and jerseys became more popular than new models. This marked a significant change in this era compared to other eras.
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