Basketball, "a shoe that can unite everyone"
The global basketball market could reach $ 100 billion in 2025. © Herbby Jean-Jacques
Text by: Patricia Lecompte
13 mins
It's not just a sports shoe anymore.
Basketball, a fashion phenomenon, is winning over all audiences and supporting societal changes.
A cultural and economic tidal wave deciphered by Pierre Demoux, author of “
The basketball odyssey.
How sneakers have worked on the world
”(La Tengo).
Maintenance.
Publicity
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Pierre Demoux's book follows in the footsteps of basketball, this shoe born in the middle of the 19th century with the rubber revolution, which made it possible to manufacture car tires. Engineers imagine that with this new material, it is possible to make new shoe soles, more flexible and more resistant. The company is then in full transformation. Recreational sports are developing, such as tennis, cricket, running and finally basketball.
Created for sport, sneakers are now invited to luxury showrooms where they display originality and exuberance. No country escapes this madness. From China and its factories that manufacture it, to Africa and its creative artisans who reinvent it, including European and American consumers who want it to be ethical and ecological. Without forgetting the auction rooms of New York, Paris or Tokyo. Basketball has established itself as the essential accessory on all continents. At the same time unisex, easy to put on, comfortable, suitable for all ages, it goes in any environment and in any circumstance. In the space of a century, it entered our lives. This is what Pierre Demoux tells in his book. Maintenance.
RFI: Before becoming the essential accessory for men's and women's wardrobes, basketball has had a journey of adventure ...
Pierre Demoux:
The history of basketball is marked by entrepreneurs, inventors, athletes who push the limits of their sport, but also brands which push back the technical limits of objects and bring their technology.
There is a whole system that is constantly being created with new models, it is teeming with ideas and new needs.
As time goes by, sneakers are emerging more and more from the stadiums to become a shoe that we use in everyday life until today becoming the shoe that we use every day.
Children, adults, men, women, on all continents.
Has one model more than another marked this rise in basketball
?
There are several but we can say that there are three or four that emerge.
First, the Converse All Star which is the oldest in production even if it has evolved a little from its original design.
She's over 100 years old and she stays pretty close to what she looked like when she was created.
This basketball embodies the mix between the shoe of youth and the sports shoe since at the beginning it was worn for basketball then it is very quickly used by young people as an everyday shoe.
It is the first model to earn its stripes in everyday shoes.
The second that can be cited but further back in time is Nike's Air Jordan in the mid-1980s. It is the meeting place of the world of sport, the world of hip hop and popular culture.
It's starting to be a shoe that you wear to show you're cool, fashionable.
It is the meeting of these different universes that marks a tipping point.
Another shoe marked the history of basketball is the Adidas superstar.
It exploded in 1986 with the American rap group Run-DMC and its title "My Adidas".
He embodies the marriage of basketball with hip hop culture, the culture of the ghettos and the world of music.
The seductive power of basketball grew at this time.
And then more recently the last revolution, it is the sneakers created by rapper Kanye West.
They have very particular shapes that really contrast with the style of sneakers designed for playing sports.
We just keep the architecture of a sports sneaker, but with a new look.
This is the moment when sneakers enter the world of haute couture fashion.
We see more and more at the feet of models during fashion shows.
The creators of the big luxury houses design their own models.
The 2010s mark the turning point when sneakers become the essential accessory for men and women as a luxury item with very high prices.
In France it is called basketball, but it is an exception. Elsewhere it is called sneakers. Why ?
France and other French-speaking countries resist sneaker anglicism. In Quebec, we talk about espadrille. The Belgians and the Swiss also use the word basketball out of reciprocal influence, but in other French-speaking parts of the world, sneakers do not refer to a pair of sports shoes. More and more, the Anglo-Saxon term of sneakers takes precedence. It is the strength of Anglo-Saxon culture and a way of communicating that allows people of different cultures to agree on a term that speaks to everyone. This is what brands call them on their e-commerce sites. Today, even in France, young people are talking more and more about sneakers and less and less about basketball and no longer at all about tennis which refer to another era, inspired by sport.
A shoe associated with great athletes, does that herald the start of marketing
?
Yes, and Chuck Taylor (basketball player who developed the Converse in the 1930s) is truly the epitome of that seesaw. He was not really a great sportsman, but rather a very recognized trainer who converted himself into a salesman by using his name to sell the sneakers he wears. He becomes an expert guarantee for the brand. It is after that the technique of marketing will begin to associate the shoe with the athlete until reaching its climax by giving the shoe the name of Michael Jordan. Nike relies heavily on Michael Jordan and uses the player's reputation to sell the shoes that bear his name. Behind it will be a huge box, others will use the same customization technique and today it is common to associate a sportsman and a pair of shoes.The athlete embodies not only the shoe, but also the values of the brand.
Pierre Demoux is a journalist for the newspaper "Les Echos", a specialist in sports economics © Éditions La Tengo
Then comes the turn of the artists to seize the basketball phenomenon. It is enough that one of them adopts a model for the latter to fly away. Today, influencers play an important role with their thousands of followers. Does basketball owe its success to this ecosystem?
It's hard to say, but I think basketball would still have lived without all these sales techniques.
What makes basketball so successful is the object itself and its practical, comfortable side that seduces even before all the artifices that surround it.
It is certain that with the power of influencers, music stars and great sportsmen, it increases success.
These people embody models, values for all communities of fans ... By buying a sneaker worn by a star, you have the impression of buying a little of your lifestyle.
We identify with each other and that multiplies the seductive potential of basketball.
In your book, you write that many communities have taken over basketball to make it an identity object ...
Communities have appropriated a brand, even a model to identify themselves and create phenomena of gangs or communities. This is perhaps less the case today because it has become a mainstream shoe. It is still a way of expressing one's identity, but more one's individual identity than one's group identity. Through the multiplication of all the models that come out today and dozens of them come out every day, everyone can pick the one that will allow them to express their own personality, their style. And even if it draws a mainstream model, each large model offers dozens of variations, like the Stan Smith. This does not prevent that there are always people who claim to be a brand as a chapel. But it's a way to connect with a group,since it is the most worn shoe today.
From a common object, the basketball has become a luxury object which today can reach exorbitant prices. Has it become a social marker like a luxury watch?
In a way, yes, since the big luxury brands have understood that basketball is attractive and that it is a way to find new consumers among young people. They offer branded sneakers with a very recognizable logo, which allows them to attract new customers to their physical or online stores. So wealthy customers can show that they can afford luxury sneakers. Paradoxically, it is also perhaps the most egalitarian shoe. From the powerful President of the United States to the most modest, everyone can wear the same model. For example, at one time, Barack Obama wore Stan Smiths, Nike shoes, the same ones that can be found at the feet of homeless people or people who have very little means.So there is an egalitarian aspect of basketball which is very interesting in historical terms. However, there are price differences between entry-level shoes sold in supermarkets around 20 euros and those produced by luxury houses which are sold for up to 1000 euros or more. There is the quality, but we also pay the mark.
And some sneakers eventually became collector's items to be traded at prices worthy of the art market. How to justify this surge?
Today, we are seeing a rise in speculation around basketball, with a supply phenomenon.
This means that brands have understood that to create an event, you have to release limited series, so models that are collaborations with designers, stars.
Only a few hundred pairs will be produced and sold in limited series, so there is a huge demand that will not be met.
People who buy these rare models know that they will be able to resell them in new condition easily three times the price.
And then again on top there are unique models with a very strong history that trade for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions, at big auction houses. This is the case of a model worn by Michael Jordan during a match or a model worn by Kanye West only once on stage before he launched his own line of shoes. They are truly historical models, which become a collector's item and which are traded like paintings or works of art at prices which are reaching new heights. This market attracts speculators, just as investors are ready to invest fortunes in grands crus that they will never drink but which expand their collection of great wines. For the record, the pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers, worn by Kanye West,was sold last April for $ 1.8 million.
* The basketball odyssey. How sneakers walked the world
.
From Pierre Demoux to La Tengo editions.
From August 2 to 13, RFI offers a series of reports on the worldwide craze for sneakers, sports shoes that have become a fashion phenomenon. With our correspondents around the world
, RFI gives a voice to the players in this market which should reach 100 billion dollars in 2025.
On the program
:
Monday August 2: In China, the cult of basketball from here and elsewhere
RFI correspondent Stéphane Lagarde went to meet teenagers from Beijing playing basketball and fond of the latest shoes, sometimes very expensive. Patriotic basketball made in China or cult of the stars of the American NBA, the debate is launched.
By Stéphane Lagarde, RFI correspondent in Beijing.
Tuesday August 3: In the United States, the emergence of a large market: second-hand basketball
In April, a pair of shoes worn by rapper Kanye West was auctioned for the equivalent of 1.5 million euros. Beyond this extraordinary transaction, a system of buying and selling sneakers via a direct market has developed at high speed.
By Loïc Pialat, RFI correspondent in Los Angeles
.
Wednesday August 4: In the Parisian suburbs, collector's sneakers, a golden market
Herbby Jean-Jacques, 32, piles up sneakers. Unlike addict sneakers who don't hesitate to spend huge sums of money to get the latest news, this avid collector prefers when there's a story behind every pair.
By Solène Leroux, journalist in the economy department.
Thursday August 5: In London, brands conquer the women's market
The time when basketball was only a sports shoe or synonymous with casual clothing, even neglected, is a long time ago. Sneakers, ever more imaginative and colorful, have become fashion items that attract the world of design.
By Marie Boëda, RFI correspondent in the United Kingdom.
Friday August 6: Creative basketball
Customizing sneakers is what Smile Custom offers, a company based in Toulon in the south of France.
His boss came from street art practices graffiti, attracting anonymous as the stars of urban music.
By Alexis Bédu, journalist in the economy department
.
Monday, August 9: In Senegal, sneakers inspired by Africa
Charlotte Idrac, RFI correspondent in Dakar, visited the workshops of Nilaja, a brand of sneakers made by Senegalese artisans and which wants to promote style and values of the continent. An approach that makes the pride of this company to conquer new outlets.
By Charlotte Idrac, permanent special correspondent of RFI in Dakar.
Tuesday August 10: In Barcelona, sneakers to take migrants out of the street vendor
Top Manta, whose team is largely from West Africa, is a brand created in Barcelona by the Popular Union of street vendors. Among its objectives: to enable migrants to find a legal activity.
By Pauline Gleize, journalist in the economy department
.
Wednesday August 11: In Romans-sur-Isère, recyclable sneakers with blue-white-red fiber
Bouncing on the interest in environmentally friendly products produced in the consumer's country, Ector manufactures short circuit sneakers and relying on local know-how.
By Altin Lazaj, journalist in the economy department.
Thursday August 12: To make the passion last, renovate its beloved sneakers
Because
sneakers
, when worn, are a product that wears out naturally, why not give it another life? Aware of the market available to them, companies clean, restore and personalize the shoes of those who want to prolong the pleasure.
By Léa Pernelle, journalist in the economy department.
Friday August 13: The Converse, historic basketball in the USA, is renewed
It all started with it: the Converse, created at the beginning of the 20th century in Massachusetts, became the most popular shoe thanks to celebrities like James Dean , Elvis Presley or Mick Jagger.
Its unique design has never stopped evolving.
Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing it back to light.
By Alexis Bédu, journalist in the economy department
.
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