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In the late 18th century, people wore rubber soled shoes called plimsolls, but they were pretty crude—for one thing, there was no right foot or left foot
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Around 1892, the U.S. Rubber Company came up with more comfortable rubber sneakers with canvas tops, called Keds.
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Keds began to be mass produced. (They got the nickname because they were so quiet, a person wearing them could sneak up on someone)
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Marquis Converse produced the first shoe made just for basketball, called Converse All-Stars.Indiana hoops star named Chuck Taylor endorsed the shoes, and they became known as Chuck Taylor All-Stars. These are the best-selling basketball shoes of all time.
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That’s when a German man named Adi Dassler created a sneaker that he named after himself: Adidas.
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Track star Jessie Owens wore Adidas when he won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics.
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Michael Jordan signed a contract to wear a Nike shoe called Air Jordans—the most famous sneaker ever made.
