Women care about the shoes their boyfriends and husbands wear. Nearly 65% will admit that they have asked them to change their shoes before going out. At least half of all women surveyed say they think a man’s shoes reflect his personality and sense of style. So men want their shoes to be comfortable and women want their shoes to look good. How can both be made happy? Hybrid shoes like mens suede slip on sneakers and designer sneakers can fit that bill.

Sneakers were pretty much worn just for athletic endeavors and for casual outings until Gucci got a hold of them. In the 1980s, everyone seemed to want to wear sneakers and they wanted to wear them everywhere. This trend was actually started by Nike in the early 1970s. They began designing sneakers to be fashionable and for people who wanted to make a statement on and off the running track.

By 1984, the luxury brand, Gucci, wanted in all of the sneaker action They could see how many people wanted to wear the comfortable shoes everywhere, not just to play sports. In that year, they released a designer sneaker or tennis shoe with the signature Gucci green and red stripes. The tongue of the tennis shoe had “Gucci” printed on it. This may also have been one of the first hybrid shoes and it was clearly meant to be worn in a number of different settings.

The next advancement in designer sneakers came thanks to Prada. In 1996, they debuted a shoe that was designed to be a yachting shoe. Miuccia Prada designed some hybrid shoes for the Luna Rossa sailing team. They were going to wear them as they competed in the esteemed sailing competition, the America’s cup. The Prada PS0906 was all about look and only a little bit about sports. This really jump started the designer sneaker and made go a little more mainstream. These shoes were meant more for the runway than for running.

In 2002, Adidas joined forced with the designers, Jeremy Scott and Yohji Yamamoto. Addias asked the two designers to look over their older designs and develop their own interpretation. This married high fashion and the sneaker culture and the result was the creation of hybrid shoes like none that had been seen before. The designers aesthetics shone through while retaining the comfort of the sneaker.

That first decade of the new century saw a lot of changes in the world of fashion. The start up culture that emerged as a result of the tech boom brought with it a new sense of style that merged dress and casual attire. Business executives and entrepreneurs began wearing business jackets with jeans and sneakers. Fashion houses began to upgrade the sneaker design to incorporate more stylist elements from the world of dress shoes and the world of hybrid shoes was really born. These new shoes have the comfort that is associated with sneakers but elegance and style that is normally reserved for dress shoes.

In 2009, Louis Vuitton jumped into the field with a collaboration shoe he worked on with Kanye West. They pair worked on three shoe designs and it all sold out almost immediately. The price tag for these shoes was around $1,000 per pair. West played a big part, not just in the marketing but in the design of all three different shoe designs.

Christian Louboutin took designer sneakers a step further in 2011 when he created red soled high heel sneakers for men. He also created the Roller Boat sneaker, truly hybrid shoes if ever there were any. They were also an immediate and huge hit.

The most popular sneaker of all time was the Chuck Taylor sneaker that is the ubiquitous footwear of hipsters and hipster wannabes the world over. Since that shoe was developed so long ago, the sneaker has gone through a lot of large changes. From being worn only for playing sports and for casual events, to hitting the runway, these shoes have shown a staying power and ability to adapt to the changing world of fashion and business in a way few other products have.

Now that designer sneaker have arrived, people do not have to choose between comfort and style.

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