Sneaker brands

Sneaker brands ranked

Nike is the most popular sneaker brand in the United States, followed by Adidas and New Balance. To no one’s surprise Nike is the leading sneaker brand in all our measured brand KPIs. It is rivaled only by Adidas in brand awareness, while New Balance and Skechers jointly rank third in brand ownership share.

Have you ever found yourself camping in front of a store for a pair of shoes? Fans do that for sneakers depending on the exclusivity and therefore value to collectors. Let’s have a look at the sneaker game of the average U.S. consumer. We gathered information on the most important brand KPIs for the most relevant sneaker brands.

Insights

94 % of U.S. consumers know Adidas at least by name
Nike is the most popular sneaker brand
With 53 %, Nike has the highest usage share

Brand awareness

Nike and Adidas are in a neck-and-neck race

The top spots in the awareness ranking are dominated by the tried-and-true brands of Nike, Adidas and, slightly behind them, Puma, Reebok, and Jordan. These sneaker brands, we have to be fair, certainly benefit from having been around for much longer and from being established during most of our respondents' growing up years, as opposed to brands like Autry or Veja.

Brand popularity

Nike stepping ahead

Nike is the most popular sneaker brand among U.S. consumers, with 64 percent of respondents who know the brand actually liking it. Adidas also enjoys a significant preference but lags behind Nike. New Balance, Converse, and Skechers follow some way behind. Lower tier brands including Jordan, Vans, and Reebok have a slightly lower preference rating. Brands such as Champion, Asics, allbirds, Fila, and Autry still need to make their popularity mark, while VEJA trails at the bottom.

Brand ownership

Nike dunking on every other sneaker brand

Nike Dunks have been hyped by many celebrities during the last months. And when seemingly everybody wants to get their hands on a brand, we naturally must look at which sneaker brands U.S. consumers already own. Nike and Adidas are, unsurprisingly, in the lead, followed by New Balance, Sketchers, and Converse. Meanwhile, sneakers from VEJA, Mizuno, or Salomon are not (yet?) found quite as often on consumers' feet in the United States.

Published December 18, 2023

Brand KPI deep dive