The market of basketball shoes is as you can probably imagine, dominated by the usual multinational forces in the shoe market, namely Nike, Reebok (in the US particularly) and Adidas. Basketball shoes differ slightly from the usual brand of pop-culture trainer. It is important for basketball shoes to be non-marking on the indoor surfaces particularly, so special rubber on the soles needs to be used. Also, protection of the toes is fairly important and certainly an advantage so that the basketball player can step into a mass of players with confidence.

These two key features were the reason that the Adidas Superstar, introduced way back in 1969, became such a hit with players. Indeed, when the shoe was first introduced it was the first shoe to have such features and within a few years the Adidas Superstar was worn by over 75% of all NBA players. Within a few more years it would become popular with the general public as well, such was the impact of the shoe and its revolutionary technology. The rap group Run DMC were very notable for wearing street clothes on stage and wore Adidas Superstars without any laces and pushing the tongues out – these gave even more attention to the product and basketball shoes in general.

Today vast arrays of basketball shoes are available, and the new ones are extremely expensive. The main differences between a basketball shoe and a normal trainer are the extra support around the ankles and the large amount of padding and air in the soles to provide that extra bit of height and spring into the player's jump.

More basketball clothing: Basketball Shorts