The best trainer brands in the world right now

Adidas NMD

There was a time not so very long ago when attending a special event in a pair of sneakers was a surefire way to flag yourself to your shiny-shoed peers as a sartorial pariah. However, attitudes have shifted in unforeseen ways and what was once the scruffy outlier is now the footwear gold standard.

The transition from running track to runway has been a slow and gradual one, but in recent years it has reached a crescendo. A crescendo that looks set to blare on indefinitely.

This is thanks in no small part to a number of key designers and sneaker brands who have been pushing the footwear to its limits in every conceivable direction.

Some have created white leather kicks that look right at home with tailoring. Others are inventing technology that might as well have come straight out of a lab at Area 51 (or just Back to the Future). Meanwhile, there are those who have elevated the sneaker from its utilitarian roots to the absolute pinnacle of high fashion it is today.

Here we take a look at the most influential sneaker brands in the world right now and what they’re doing to help make the world’s favourite footwear.

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