NUTHIN' BUT A SHE THANG!

That doesn’t by any means designate Nike as the sole owner of this fickle market – there’s always room for other brands. Louis Colon, the owner of Laces, the all-female sneaker shop in New York points out that, “other companies such as Puma really know how to give women simple silhouettes and good colors. They also do great collabs with designers such as Alexander McQueen. Another brand is Etnies Plus, which also does a great job by not focusing on branding but more on the design which women are naturally attracted to.”
In fact, smaller companies like Etnies, Creative Recreation, Keep, Skechers and Vans have achieved substantially faster growth in the women’s market, developing into million dollar companies because their shoes are not only considered more trendy but also tailored specifically to female consumers.

Companies also need to keep in mind that women don’t wear sneakers everyday like most guys do. Most women wear heels, flats, flip-flops, boots and everything else in between. With that in mind, do women really want kicks like a Nike Sprint Sister V or the adidas Anjas, or scaled down versions of men’s kicks? Erica from denimandsole.com says that, “companies have to understand that women don’t want girly sneakers with bows and butterflies and shit on them. They want what the guys can get or something completely new and fresh. I still think that they are not getting that.”

Ideally we want the same things that men want, but at the same time, we want to feel that it was made especially for us. Wendy Lam, founder of Nitrolicious.com, one of the most read streetwear blogs for the ladies believes, “If they popped more colorways in men’s shoes and just sized it down, I’m sure it would sell way better than the ones aimed directly to females; at least for kicks aimed at the urban/sneakerhead audience.” Erica was fast to agree, “I think women who buy those kinds of girly shoes aren’t really sneaker-heads. I personally have more respect for women who go for the scaled down versions of men’s kicks. Men sweat you when you’re wearing men’s kicks in exclusive colorways.”