This year's list of best-selling sneakers underscores consumers' current desire for casual, "athleisure" styles. Not one of the shoes on the list is designed for performance.
Matt Powell, sports industry analyst for NPD Group, this week released the list of the top 10 selling sneakers for 2017.
Nike still holds the top slot, but Adidas continues to come for Brand Jordan with two shoes in the top 10 this year. The German footwear company overtook Brand Jordan in September as the No. 2 brand in terms of footwear sales. And Powell said on Twitter that this is the first time in memory that Adidas has had two shoes, the Superstar and the Tubular Shadow, on the list.
Powell's end-of-year data also suggests how fierce the competition for space in the sports footwear market has gotten: The top 10 styles only accounted for 10 percent of sales this year, compared to 15 percent last year.
Brands that aren't typically known for their contributions to the sportswear market have started to tap into consumer demand for casual athletic shoes, creating additional competition for the industry stalwarts. Steve Madden, for example, more than doubled its sport footwear sales in 2017.
The challenge was evident in their sales: Nike brand sales were down in the low single digits for 2017 and Brand Jordan sales were flat. Adidas' footwear sales, however, grew by more than half from the previous year.
Click through the gallery to check out which shoes made the top 10 list.
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