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Shoes

The sneaker market is evolving, and Nike is running to keep up

by Kristin Schwab
Oct 4, 2023
While the industry used to be all about the look — think Air Jordans — now it’s about the technology.
World-record breaker Tigist Assefa, right, poses with the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, a shoe that weighs less than a third of a pound, costs $500 and is designed to be worn once.
Luciano Lima/Getty Images
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An economic indicator suited to the pandemic: dress shoes

by Marielle Segarra
May 21, 2021
Dress shoe could give us a sense of how the economy is recovering.
The thing about dress shoes: You don’t really wear them around the house. They’re meant to be seen by other people.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
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Back to Business

The shoe economy, almost a year into the pandemic

by Marielle Segarra
Jan 26, 2021
With so many people staying home in their slippers, shoe sales have fallen dramatically. You can see that play out in neighborhoods.
The pandemic has emptied stores in Brooklyn, New York, that once did healthy in-person business.
Angela Weiss/Getty Images
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How does Adidas make shoes in days?

by Kai Ryssdal and Josie Fan
Mar 6, 2018
Making a pair of sneakers is a labor-intensive process, and it could take months. But Adidas is trying to change that. In its newly built Speedfactory in Germany, Adidas is making most parts of the shoes with machines. Marc Bain is a fashion reporter at Quartz and one of the first group of people who […]
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Can you tell if these are fake Yeezys?

by Kai Ryssdal and Shaheen Ainpour
Dec 4, 2017
The boom in the high-end sneaker market makes counterfeit kicks a real problem.
One of the shoes Eddy Lu brought by our studio. Can you tell if it's real?
Shaheen Ainpour/Marketplace
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Inside the mind of Manolo Blahnik, the king of shoes

by Kai Ryssdal and Bridget Bodnar
Sep 14, 2017
The life of the designer and the creation of his eponymous luxury shoe brand is the subject of a new documentary, "Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards."
“The only time I ever really see Manolo truly, truly happy and contented is when he's in the factory sculpting the last of a new shoe or playing with the shape of a new heel,” says Michael Roberts. Above, a picture of Manolo Blahnik.
Courtesy of Music Box Films
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We all want the vintage Apple sneakers, but none of us can afford them

by Jana Kasperkevic
Jun 8, 2017
The opening bid is $15,000, but they're the 'holy grail' for size 9 1/2 fans.
Want to look like an Apple employee from the early 1990s? Then you need these sneakers, which the company made exclusively for its staff.
Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
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A multi million dollar company that sells one thing

by Kai Ryssdal
Nov 3, 2016
Brooks Running doesn't have the name recognition of Nike or other big shoe-makers, and that's by design.
Jim Weber, CEO of Brooks Running.
Brooks Running
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Nike's future concerns analysts

by Dan Gorenstein
Sep 27, 2016
The shoe company may need to pivot away from basketball wear.
One analyst says that Nike's problem is its focus on basketball shoes.
Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
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Brought to You By

The surprising story behind the rise of flip-flops

by Reema Khrais
Aug 5, 2016
The humblest shoes of summer got their start thousands of years ago
The classic, inexpensive summer shoe got its start centuries ago.
Glenn Brown/Flickr via Creative Commons
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