SHOE

Athletic shoe
An athletic shoe is a generic name for footwear designed for sporting and physical activities.

Athletic shoes, depending on the location and the actual type of footwear, may also be referred to as trainers (British English), sandshoes, gym boots or joggers (Australian English) running shoes, runners or gutties (Canadian English, Australian English, Hiberno-English), sneakers, tennis shoes (North American English, Australian English), gym shoes, tennies, sport shoes, sneaks, or takkies (South African English) and rubber shoes (Philippine English) canvers (Nigerian English).

Use in sports

The term athletic shoes is typically used for running in a marathon or half marathon, basketball, and tennis (amongst others) but tends to exclude shoes for sports played on grass such as football (futbol) and rugby, which are generally known as "boots", or in North America as cleats.

Attributes of an athletic shoe include a flexible sole, appropriate tread for the function intended and ability to absorb impact. As the industry and design have expanded, the term "athletic shoes" is based more on the design of the bottom of the shoe than the aesthetics of the top of the shoe. Today's designs even include sandal, mary jane and even elevated styles suitable for running, dancing and jumping.

The shoes themselves are made of flexible compounds, typically featuring a sole made of dense rubber. While the original design was basic, manufacturers have since tailored athletic shoes for the different purposes that they can be used for. A specific example of this is the spiked shoe developed for track running. Many of these shoes are made up to a very large size because of athletes with large feet.

High-end marathon running shoes will often come in different shapes suited to different foot types, gait etc. Generally, these shoes are divided into neutral, overpronation and underpronation (supination) running shoes to fit the respective foot strike of the runners.[5]

There are a variety of specialized shoes designed for specific uses:

* Racing flats
* Track shoe
* Skate shoes
* Climbing shoe
* Approach shoe
* Wrestling shoes
* Cleats
* Football boot
* Dance Shoe

Brands

Large brands include:

* Adidas
* ASICS
* Converse
* DC Shoes
* Fila
* Gola
* Heelys
* K-Swiss
* Keds
* Keen
* Lacoste
* Lonsdale
* Mizuno
* New Balance
* Nike
* Pony
* Puma
* Reebok
* Starbury
* Vans