"Converse's issue is that it is iconic and it has not been able to shift and morph the consumer's impression of the brand enough to allow for SKU expansion," said Yates Jarvis, founder and principal of the e-commerce agency 2 Visions.
Brazil have joined forces with the Jordan brand to create what will be one of the coolest kits on show at the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer. The Seleção's latest jersey has been designed in collaboration with the Nike offshoot label, who have forged a similar relationship with Paris Saint-Germain in 2018 that has spawned a cavalcade of fashion-conscious kits for the reigning UEFA Champions League holders.
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."
Tuning frictional behavior on the fly has been a long-standing engineering dream. This new insight into how surface geometry governs slip pulses paves the way for tunable frictional metamaterials that can transition from low-friction to high-grip states on demand.
The system, tested in prototype form by NPR at the company's headquarters, consists of fairly standard-looking sneakers with a carbon fiber plate running through the soles. These sneakers are attached at the back to close-fitting, 3D-printed titanium leg shells that cinch to the calves. The battery-powered contraptions, containing complex motors, sensors and circuitry, weigh a couple of pounds and look like something out of Terminator or RoboCop.
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.
Crocs unveiled its first new global brand platform in nearly a decade to better appeal to a younger generation of consumers, according to a press release. "Wonderfully Unordinary" centers on self-expression and real-world experiences in a culture "saturated in imitation and algorithmic sameness," Crocs said. The titular anthem spot depicts a pair of featureless store mannequins as they come alive and grow increasingly human after being outfitted in Crocs' signature porous clogs.
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.
Now, returning in 2.0 trim, it's been treated to a New York-inspired update thanks to the folks at HSDT. Proportions and comfort have been elevated, while the sneakers' visual language has taken shape through features inspired by NYC's everyday structures. This continues the brand's "The Architecture of Everyday Life" ideology, focusing on scaffolding and steel beams, stairwells and sidewalks, mesh fences, utility grates and metals.
Squeaking occurs across various contexts including shoes, bike brakes, rubber tires, and biomedical implants when soft and hard surfaces contact each other. Researchers used high-speed photography to study a rubber block sliding across hard acrylic to identify the source of these sounds. The investigation revealed that pulses similar to earthquake dynamics drive the squeaking phenomenon.
There are certain suitcase staples worth having in your travel wardrobe. An effortless pair of wrinkle-free travel pants is one of them. A comfy pair of shoes is the other. While clogs and flats make a stylish choice, sneakers are our top travel shoe pick, especially when they're known to endure 13-hours on your feet or 15,000 steps without blisters, like two of our editors' favorite Adidas styles.
I had to blink the first time I landed on the product page for the Nike ACG Ultrafly Trail. I'd seen lots of promotional assets ahead of the release (see here and here), where the trainer is caked with mud. But in the end, it's hi-vis orange - and like any other brand-new shoe, being sold without a stain or scratch.
Specifically, the company is focusing on the production of its newest, weirdest shoe-a giant soled laceless running shoe with a single-piece toe box made of "hyper-foam" plastics sprayed on by robot arms. The plastics are 40 percent biofoam, and the shoe is made of just eight pieces; On says its minimalist approach saves on the shoe's carbon footprint.
Hoka is one of those brands that rarely hosts a big flashy sale, but if you know when and where to look (and we do), you can find some surprising deals. Holiday weekends or the change of the seasons are both solid times to shop, and Presidents' Day happens to be both. So, we dug up all the editor-loved Hoka shoes on discount, up to 35 percent off.
There is every chance that 2026 will be the year you see your first pair of Gardana gardening clogs in the wild. In fact, if you spend much time on TikTok, or live in Brooklyn, you've probably already been seeing them for months, if not years. I saw my first pair a few weeks ago. I watched a dad dropping his kids off at school in head-to-toe Carhartt, a pair of Gardanas peeping out from below his trousers like a shy frog.