New shoe styles 'sneak' up on area stores

One possibility for the popularity of jeans with cuffs the size of Beaver Stadium could be to hide the embarrassment caused by recent sneaker styles.

In a decade where outrageousness has been the norm, the sneaker industry has been quick to conform.

At a time where there are no Reebok pumps to talk about, and with people tired of talking about the new Air Jordans, sneakers have generally been a forgotten part of fashion, especially in this season where one's nose runs faster than one's feet do and the only things worth buying are tis-shoes.

But constantly changing sneaker trends still exist, according to many local sneaker salespeople.

From Velcro to laces on the sides of sneakers (see Dennis Rodman), from leather to mesh to patent leather, from conservative to loud to blaring, sneaker trends have been on a long journey away from simplicity. However, recent trends seem to be reversing directions a bit to a more normal norm, said Robert Chun, a sales associate at Athlete's Foot, 236 E. Calder Way.

"The colors are toning down and the designs are getting simpler again," Chun (senior-political science) said. "People are concerned with comfort just as much as fashion today."

Matt Cameron (senior-architecture), a sales associate from American Outfitters Inc., agreed that simple is the current growing trend.

"Everyone's getting used to the same styles and getting sick of the flashiness," he said. "One of the coolest things now is that more companies are coming out with different color combinations, stuff that's a little bit wild, but not completely crazy."

Because of these steps towards sanity, the two said, the sneaker wars have taken unexpected but understandable turns, as well.

Currently the hot national trend, as well as here in State College, is Adidas. Walking around campus surrounded by a swarm of three-stripe footed people and non-swoosh footed people, leads one to believe that Adidas can and Nike can't "just do it" as well anymore.

"Adidas is on a tremendous rise, an extremely hot company," said Terry Losch, owner of Rapid Transit Sports, 115 S. Allen St. "The trend seems to be anti-Nike."

A sudden turnaround in Nike's popularity forces one to think about how this happened, Losch said.

Losch had several reasons for this. Nike had been on top for so long that it forgot how it got there in the first place, he said. Now the company is stuck on an image.

"It's been five years since I've seen an ad that shows a Nike shoe on the ad," he said. "They're selling image. That image is no longer there."

Cameron also feels that Nike has lost some of its shine because of their ads, he said.

"Nike is everywhere in advertising, all in your face, all the time and people seem to be turned off by that," Cameron said.

But Nike still remains on top in many areas, Chun said.

"Nike is still up there. They will always be there. It's just unfamiliar that they are facing hard competition," he said.

As Reebok remains on their own planet, and Fila continues to change the game, currently the battle belongs to Adidas and Nike, as to which one 'can' better.