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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44063)	3/18/2007 12:44:17 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69914

March 18, 2007 In a Sneaker, Better to Look Good Than to Play Well By PHYLLIS KORKKI Even before James Dean, athletic shoes were a fashion statement — but never to the degree they are today. Now there is an actual category of athletic shoes called “low performance.” In contrast to what we might call “high performance” shoes, which can help you jump higher, run faster or train harder, this type of shoe will mainly help you look better (although not nearly so painfully as a woman’s stiletto). In 2006, sales of eye-catching “low performance” (also known as “athleisure”) shoes rose 4.4 percent. Meanwhile, more utilitarian categories like running and basketball shoes were declining, according to the NPD Group, a retail data firm. The real star of the athletic shoe category is the skate shoe. Sales are still fairly small (about $1.1 billion), but they rose 45.1 percent from 2005 to 2006. Are skate shoes more about substance or style? Skateboarders like them for heavy-duty traction and sturdy front construction. The average teenager on the street just likes them because they’re cool. nytimes.com [Harry: VANS is gone as a publically traded company, so there is no pure play here. Maybe Quick Silver as a play on skate board fashion.]