五年前，运动鞋学家注意到千禧一代的踢球突然发生了变化。
二十多岁的人（从运动休闲的脚趾）都在抛弃他们的高性能运动鞋，用于1980年代和90年代的标志性运动鞋轮廓。当然，有些运动鞋一直喜欢老式运动鞋，但是一夜之间，这种对老式鞋子的痴迷是主流的。为什么千禧一代在父母的壁橱中最深的角落里翻阅旧鞋子？
卡洛斯·埃斯科巴（Carlos Escobar），设计师锐步，看到这种怀旧在世界各地展开，从纽约的地铁到巴黎的臀部社区再到柏林的购物街。他说：“年轻人似乎对过去有一种渴望。”“它在他们的运动鞋上弹奏。”
A “Sudden Surge” In Classic Sneakers
Escobar没有想象它。回到Reebok的波士顿总部，该公司在2014年的经典业务中连续两位数增长，该公司从过去重现了过去的标志性运动鞋。根据该公司的数据，千禧一代和Z世代的消费者正在推动这一趋势，抢购了老式的高架和皮革踢。难怪年轻人在任何地方都闲逛 - 从大学校园到Hip New York或L.A.Cafés-老式的Reebok Styles不断出现。
如今，Classics占Reebok总销售额的40％，超过了其性能鞋部门，该部门的重点是使用技术为体育和健身创造鞋子。凯利·希伯勒（Kelly Hibler）在耐克（Nike）工作了28年后，在2017年成为Reebok Classics的总经理。他说：“这对行业中的每个人来说都是很明显的。”“这些经典风格的销售突然激增。”
有经典的皮革，该皮革于1983年首次亮相，以其白色皮革外观和对比鲜明的胶鞋底而闻名，其中包含该品牌最早的徽标，上面有英国国旗。有自由式高昂的高处，于1982年首次推出，以补充女性霓虹色的有氧运动服装。有C俱乐部C，1985年首次推出了一款苗条的白色网球鞋，捕捉了Preppy Country Club美学。还有Instapump Fury，1994年的感觉，舌头上有一个实际的泵。
Hibler说，很难预测鞋子何时会达到这种公众意识。这是一种创造一种看起来独特并融入某种文化趋势的鞋子的炼金术，但也有一个运气的元素。他说：“作为一个品牌，我们并没有真正决定哪种鞋子成为特许经营权。”“消费者确定这些样式是什么，我们所能做的就是回应它们。”
锐步has been struggling financially for decades and did not fare better after Adidas bought the company in 2005 for$3.8 billion。2018年，锐步的收入下降了3%，就在去年，阿迪达斯正在考虑剥离自己品牌。经典业务显然可能是扭转局面的关键。希伯勒说：“锐步已经意识到，管理我们的特许经营可能是我们要做的最重要的事情。”“只有少数鞋子在世界各地都知道，并且已经生存了数十年。”
To keep the Classics business growing, Reebok has been scouring its archive to recreate some of its iconic designs from the past. But Hibler and his team believe they can do more. Give the customer the same old shoes again and again, and they’ll get bored. So Reebok’s designers have been working to gently tweak and update these silhouettes to keep customers interested and coming back for more.
但这是一个微妙的平衡。埃斯科巴尔说：“改变经典太多，鞋子失去了所有意义。”“但是没有提供新颖性，客户失去了兴趣。”
对过去的怀旧
Reebok的高管仍在挠头，试图确切地弄清楚为什么千禧一代（现在是Gen-Zers）如此着迷这些经典运动鞋。
它的一部分可能与我们发现自己的奇怪时代有关。皮尤研究已经发现，美国千禧一代和Z世代对当前的政治状况不满意，大约有70％的人表示他们不赞成特朗普总统职位，并且有一个类似的数字说，他们认为政府应该做更多的事情来解决问题。“对于年轻人来说，这是一个混乱的时期，”希伯勒说。“关于标志性鞋子的事情是，它们通常是您叔叔，父亲或哥哥穿的东西。这通常会感到安慰，因为它感觉很熟悉。”
但是，当设计师探索这种怀旧之时，他们意识到今天的青少年和二十多岁的人实际上并不知道每种运动鞋在历史上都在哪里。当他们与焦点小组的消费者交谈时，他们开始看到设计的确切起源并不重要。实际上，管理经典系列沟通的弗兰克·里维拉（Frank Rivera）说，年轻人经常将各种复古风格融合在一起。
他说：“起初，我们以非常僵化的方式考虑了经典，考虑了每鞋及其代表时代。”“我们尊重每种样式，以至于我们将它们分割为分割。但是我们发现我们的客户不会那样思考。”
他指出，当一个二十多岁的人偶然发现父母壁橱里的不同运动鞋时，他们并不是在考虑自己是80年代还是90年代。里维拉（Rivera）的理论是，对这些年轻消费者来说重要的是，这双鞋使他们想起了他们的青春或旧家庭图片。他们被经典吸引了，因为他们想起了父亲的网球鞋或妈妈的有氧鞋。
For Reebok’s designers, the awareness that the classic shoes are connected to a general feeling of nostalgia and continuity with the past was hugely liberating, because it means they’re not limited to accurately recreating looks from the past. “We can blur the lines between decades and eras,” says Rivera. “We can put a new spin on a Classic shoe to give it new energy and excitement, but the customer still feels like it reminds them of another era. We wanted to give customers new reasons to be interested in us.”
Hibler believes that young consumers like seeing multiple reference points from the past in a single sneaker because this mimics how they process history. They’re not necessarily thinking history in terms of a linear narrative, but see artifacts from different eras–like the spandex aerobics outfits of the ’80s and the chunky basketball sneakers of the ’90s–as representing the fashion trends of their parents’ generation. This is partly a product of the internet. When someone does a Google search for, say, “vintage sneakers,” they see images of different shoes and different aesthetics appear next to one another. And all of this creates a composite of what an era or style means to them. “Customers are digesting a lot of information very quickly,” he says. “This has opened up the lens of what Classics can be.”
Hacking History
锐步一直倾向于这种想法，即对标志性风格不太珍贵。Earlier this year, Rivera led an ambitious new project called “Alter The Icons,” where the company revived 10 silhouettes from the past, including the Classic Leather and the DMX, but put bold new twists on them by incorporating colors and textures that weren’t in the original.
该系列中的黑色经典皮革运动鞋隐含着让人想起您父亲在1980年代穿的那个运动鞋，但是当您仔细观察时，您会发现它的鞋底更小，部分是由黑色牛仔布制成的。在鞋底的一部分上，该品牌在2000年代中期逐步淘汰了一个锐步的矢量徽标，再次呼唤过去的图像。里维拉说：“通常，徽标和该产品不会共存。”“但是我们喜欢侵犯我们的遗产，融合遗产和历史的不同部分的想法。”
该公司还正在探索其档案的其他角落，普通客户可能不太熟悉。Right now, the company is working to revive the Aztrek, Reebok’s all-terrain hiking shoe that was first released in 1993. Escobar believes this is the right time to bring it back because it is playing into a broader fashion trend he was seeing in the market.
“Trail shoes are going to be big this year,” he says. “We thought we could play into this trend in our own unique way, drawing from our own history. Fashion goes in cycles, so there’s always an opportunity to bring back something from the archives.”
锐步is releasing several updated versions of the Aztrek Double, with a particularly chunky sole that almost looks like a platform. Most people remember the version of the shoe that came in blue and green. The brand collaborated with Gigi Hadid to create a version of the shoe in similarly bold, contrasting colors: orange and yellow, and black and blue. “Gigi was drawn to the shoe because it first came to market around the time she was born,” says Escobar. “It was a nod to the sensibilities of that decade, with both the color scheme and the silhouette.”
那么，当经典恢复时尚时会发生什么？
锐步was quick to spot the fascination in these ’80s and ’90s styles, and has been exploiting this trend by bringing a slew of vintage-inspired sneakers to market. But what happens when the trends shift yet again, and consumers suddenly lose their taste for classics? Hibler, who has been in the sneaker business for three decades now, wouldn’t be surprised if this happens. In his experience, trends can be fickle. “We know that customers are interested in classics now, and we’re trying to give them new, exciting options to choose from,” he says. “But it’s possible that one day they won’t be as driven by nostalgia.”
对他来说，过去四年来的课程是倾听客户的倾听，并足够灵活地满足他们的需求。他说，锐步已经向经典品牌投入了大量资源，使设计师和营销人员团队专注于趋势。但是，如果客户对老式鞋子失去了兴趣，他说该公司将需要重新组合并专注于业务的性能鞋类。
但是可以肯定的是：即使复古运动鞋不再是主流文化中的臀部，锐步对保持其最具标志性的轮廓保持活力而保持其遗产至关重要。毕竟，您永远都不知道何时怀旧何时会发生。他说：“这些鞋已成为文化和历史的一部分。”“我们有责任作为保护这些特许经营并记住我们的遗产的责任。”