Patel's bespoke shoes were black, white, and yellow, and featured a number 9 on the side to signify that he is the bureau's ninth director. A "K$H" logo on the tongue is Patel's personal logo (FBI directors have personal logos now), and a skull from the Marvel character Punisher appeared across the back of the shoe, along with the FBI's slogan "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity."
We were not expecting to find so much richness and depth from a physics point of view underneath the sole of a shoe, says Adel Djellouli, a scientist at Harvard University and co-lead of the study. In a new study, scientists explore the physics that give rise to the familiar squeak of basketball shoes sliding on a hard surface.
Nike has been on a downward trajectory; its share price tanked under the previous CEO, John Donahoe, who was ousted last September in favour of Elliott Hill, a 32-year veteran at the company who was brought out of retirement to lead it back to growth. At the heart of its problems was Donahoe's hyper-focus on growing direct-to-consumer sales. Before Nike, he was a leader in the tech space (eBay, PayPal and ServiceNow) and came in with a vision to have more shoppers buy directly from Nike.com.
New Balance has turned its "dad shoe" image into a driver of growth. According to a recent CNBC report, New Balance sales were up 19% to $9.2 billion in 2025. The sneaker giant grabbed market share from rivals like Nike, per the report. New Balance told CNBC that it could reach its target of $10 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2026.