Currently, the free most powerful brands are Adidas (since 1924), Nike (1964) and Puma (1948). They all started from shoes and ended up on accessories like water bottles. *Fun fact: The founder of Puma is Adidas's ones brother.*
Adidas and Nike were definitely more successful in the aspect of money and popularity until now. At the moment surprisingly Puma's shares price is almost 2 times bigger than Adidas's and 5x bigger than Nike's! They owe it to Rihanna, who is the new creative director, but also supermodels Cara Delevingne, Gigi Hadid, and famous for her sister's name Kylie Jenner.
The crucial reason why Puma became desirable is the way they showcase products.
Have a look at Cara Delevingne:
And here regular high fashion photoshoots:
Isn't it too much? I believe active wear is supposed to comfortable, breathable, and light weight, basically made for workouts while it looks like we can wear it as a normal piece of everyday outfit.
What I mean is that it's promoted not like a sport product but as a fashion item.
What's more, brands are running in a race by adding more shine, colours, and making logo appear bigger. They no longer improve quality (when they do, it's a pair of shoes once in 6 months, made for better running experience) and that's it.
Appearance is getting advantage over utility. I'm not blaming these brands. That's our sad, materialistic reality.. companies make money on foolish people and what should be changed is our mind-set, and deep in my heart I wish it will.
sources :
Have you read "NO LOGO" by Naomi Klein? She makes an excellent point (and many many more) about how we are manipulated by multinational companies into getting attached to their brands.
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