Why the running shoe’s days of setting fashion’s pace could be numbered .

Sneakers, should we be in any doubt, are big business. There are sneakers you can wear to the office. Sneakers you can wear with a suit. Sneakers you can make bold statements with. Sneakers you can trade like stocks and shares on resale platforms like StockX. And last but not least, there are even sneakers that you can, actually, you know, do sport in.

And yet, while there seems to be a worldwide obsession with sneakers, the astute fashion observer’s sensibilities might suggest otherwise. Some of the first rumblings of discontent have come from influential womenswear commentators such as Ms Vanessa Friedman in The New York Times, who wrote recently, “Sneakers increasingly seem like the Dutch tulips of today. Which means the bubble may be about to burst.” It could be said that the current spate of luxury high-fashion trainers flooding the market are simply cashing in on a trend, and as a result, a “market correction” is in the offing. Also, as anyone who knows anything about fashion will know, people simply get bored and move on.

However, it’s not as simple as that. “I don’t think men shop by trend, they shop by tribe, and this means things move a lot slower than they do in womenswear,” says Mr Charlie Casely-Hayford, a designer and tailor who is regularly featured on magazine best dressed lists, and who also cuts suits designed to be worn with Reebok Classics and Nike Air Force 1s. “10 years ago, you only ever saw creative industry guys walk into the shop with trainers on, but now even bankers come in wearing them.”

“A year or two ago I may have agreed with her (Ms Friedman),” says Mr Dan Bisson, editor of footwear and accessories for trend forecasters WGSN. “The chunky, high-fashion sneaker maybe about to reach its peak, but the footwear industry as a whole has been totally transformed by these sneakers.”

Mr Bisson believes the innovation arms race taking place amongst big brands such as Nike, Reebok, New Balance and adidas will continue to fuel hype. The adidas Speedfactory, for instance, manufactures shoes using a completely automated digital process, and aims to have made a million pairs of shoes this way by 2020.

“Performance sneakers are being influenced by the colours, materials and detailing of luxury fashion brands and vice versa,” says Mr Bisson. Even classic shoes are starting to incorporate the technology and innovation of the sneaker design. There’s a very lively dialogue going on right across the industry, which means it’s an exciting time for not only the sneaker market but the whole of the footwear industry.”

But as casualisation sweeps the world, some men worry about what will be lost. At a recent symposium in New York titled, “Dressing Up In A Dress Down World” hosted by blogger Mr Simon Crompton of Permanent Style, one of the panel, the classic menswear expert Mr G Bruce Boyer asked, “What happens to a society when it loses all sense of occasion?” Has the rise of sportswear really been at the expense of the well-tailored suit? A cursory glance at the history of men’s fashion shows that it has a tendency to ebb and flow – trends do not just stop and start. And the current evolution of men’s dress is no different. Just as trainers have become more finessed, the suit has also grown to be more laid-back. Brands such as Berluti, Brunello Cucinelli and Ermenegildo Zegna, for example, have incorporated sportswear details into their softly tailored clothes, which are no less elegant for it.

While some may see the current obsession with casual shoes as a “sneaker bubble” that could burst at any moment, a quick glance at the fashionable man’s shoe collection will reveal both Gucci loafers and Stan Smiths sitting happily side by side next to some black Oxfords. And long may that continue.

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