4.6 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Performance basketball shoes have long been embedded in fashion culture, from the iconic Air Jordans of the 1990s to the stylised sneakers worn in NBA tunnel walks. But over the last decade, interest in basketball shoes waned as sneakerheads turned to minimalist silhouettes, running shoes and fashion collabs.
Now, a new wave of signature athletes, innovative design from emerging and legacy brands and growing energy around the WNBA are bringing basketball sneakers back into the fashion spotlight.
In this episode of The Debrief, BoF correspondents Lei Takanashi and Mike Sykes join hosts Sheena Butler-Young and Brian Baskin to unpack what's changed, what's still missing and what the future might hold.
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0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the debrief from the business of fashion, |
0:10.6 | where each week we delve into our most popular B-O-F professional stories with the correspondents who created them. |
0:16.6 | I'm senior correspondent, Sheena Butler Young. |
0:19.1 | And I'm executive editor Brian Baskin. |
0:21.7 | In the late 80s and 90s, performance basketball sneakers led by Nike's Air Jordan line became fashion icons in their own right. |
0:29.3 | These weren't just shoes you wore on the court. |
0:31.3 | They were cultural signifiers, status symbols, coveted collectibles. |
0:36.0 | But over the past decade, something changed. |
0:38.4 | While retro Jordans continue to dominate the resale market, actual performance basketball |
0:43.4 | sneakers, the kind worn by current NBA stars, lost momentum with mainstream consumers. |
0:49.4 | Now that might be starting to shift. |
0:51.4 | With a new generation of talent stepping onto the court and into the |
0:55.0 | fashion spotlight, brands are giving basketball sneakers a facelift. Today we're joined by B-O-F correspondent |
1:01.1 | Le Takanashi, who reported on this revival. And I'd also like to introduce to the debrief and to B-O-F, |
1:08.4 | Mike Sykes. Mike recently started at Business of Fashion |
1:12.2 | covering the intersection of sports and fashion. He's also the author of the Kicks You Wear |
1:17.5 | Newsletter, which if you follow sneakers, you probably already know. I've been a fan for years. |
1:23.1 | I consider it the authority on all things, sneakers, and sports and fashion generally. |
1:27.4 | We're actually bringing the newsletter in-house at B-O-F. If you'd like to subscribe, you can find out how to do so in the show notes. So hello, Lay and hello, Mike. Welcome to the debrief podcast. Thank you, Brian and Shin. It's a pleasure to be here. It's a pleasure to be here with you guys. Before we get into basketball sneakers, Mike, why don't you introduce yourself? |
1:44.9 | Tell us a bit about who you are and the kicks you wear. So I'm Mike Sykes. I'm the author of The Kicks You Wear. I am a sneakerhead. That is my passion. It's always been the thing that I cling to. I love sports. I am a sports journalist typically by trade, but I'm very excited to dive into |
2:03.6 | fashion with B-O-F. Amazing. And I guess the question, actually, this is probably a good question |
2:08.2 | for everyone here is how many pairs of sneakers does everyone own? I want to start with Mike, |
... |
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