While walking to class, you can’t help but notice the same shoe brands over and over again. What makes these shoes so trendy at the moment? While trends constantly come and go, the three most popular shoes this school year have been New Balance, Adidas, and Birkenstocks.
“I saw the Adidas Spezials a lot on Pinterest and TikTok and fell in love with them. When I saw more people started styling these types of shoes, I got them because I thought they would suit my style,” sophomore Perry White said.
White found her dark green Adidas Spezials on StockX, an online thrift site, and paid 90 dollars for them
White is not alone—social media has become a tremendous influence on people’s styles and the products they choose to buy. From TikTok influencers with millions of followers to Snapchat stories posted by a popular individual at school, it all dictates what teens wear, now more than ever.
With the advent of social media, micro-trends have become increasingly prevalent. While trends are usually random and have no certain pattern, micro-trends have even shorter lifespans than the average trend, spanning only a few months with rare permanence.
“I think people pick and choose what to be popular. Just like the bow trend, people are starting to get sick of it because it got so popular so quickly and ended up on everything,” junior Kaylee McKee said.
“I think micro trends are cool and keep things fresh and existing,” sophomore Julia Wood said. Others, seem not too fond of micro-trends.
“I don’t follow micro-trends as much as I used to, I just kind of like what I like and if it’s trending then so be it,” senior Mallorie Nusbaum said. “I don’t buy things just because they are trending in the moment because before you know it the trend will be out”.
McKee owns Adidas Sambas. Sambas have grown significantly in popularity in the past year. Could these be a new micro trend?
“I got sambas because some of my friends got them and I saw them on Pinterest a lot, and I thought they suited my style,” Mckee said. “Sambas are so cute and basic staple shoes that everyone needs in their collection…I honestly don’t think they will ever go out of style like a micro-trend.”
Sambas seem to be trending due to their versatility and basic design, which can correlate with many outfits. The shoe is white with signature black Adidas stripes along the sides, and a gray sole. Adidas gazelles and Spezials also look very similar to Sambas, which explains the increase in popularity of those shoes as well.
“I personally can’t picture sambas going out of style. They’re such timeless shoes and match almost every outfit so I don’t see how they would,” Nusbaum said.
What are new possible trends for the future? Most say older fashion trends are going to resurface within the next weeks, months or years. “Sambas have a more retro type of vibe to them which is why I bought them since I see retro/80s resurfacing in the future,” Nusbaum said.
“I think more low waisted jeans, and overall more put together, old fashion style outfits will come back instead of the athletic outfits that are super trendy right now,” sophomore Sophia Behnke said. “I own New Balance 550s and I even bought them because they looked vintage and different from what everyone else wears,” Behnke said.
Overall, trends come and go but recently people’s expression through shoes seem to stay the same. From 80s fashion to social media favorites, students just can’t imagine shoes going out of style.
