Sports Footwear

No matter how sophisticated sports footwear may appear, they are not designed for performance enhancement and are at best provide a comfort zone. Contrary to what sales copy may say it is people who win Olympic medals and not their shoes. In just over a century, manufacturers which produce sport shoes have become multi-national industries with marketing budgets in excess of many developing countries GDP. Critised because of their flagrant dismissal of human rights many shoe companies continue to target sales at low socio-economic groups and all in the name of sport. In the interests of intellectual exchange the author attempts to explore some of the stranger facts and fiction concerning sport shoes.