PORTLAND, Ore. — Matt Nybo, a 13-year-old with spiked blond hair, came to the downtown Lloyd Center Mall looking for a sports shoe--but not the latest Nike Shox or Reebok Answer V.
"I like the original shoes, the way things used to be," he said, turning up his nose at a rack of shiny new basketball shoes at a Foot Locker store. The newer shoes were too gimmicky, he said.
"The new things coming out, there's a zipper over the laces. I like the simpler shoes," he said.
Teenagers across the country more and more are rejecting ultramodern-looking 2002 athletic shoes in favor of what are called "old school" sneakers in the styles of the 1970s and '80s.
In an industry-shaking development that began with trend-setting collectors in Japan, the throwback niche now accounts for about 25% of the $5-billion global sports shoe market.
Nybo settled on an old school pair of white Nike Air Force Ones that cost $74.
Companies have brought back dozens of sneaker styles that first appeared years ago to capitalize on the demand.
Shoes such as the Nike Cortez, the Converse Weapon, Adidas' Copenhagen or Reebok's Aztec II hark back to sports stars of the 1970s and '80s and are bought for style over performance.
Some fashion watchers say the trend is a rebellion against technology or a desire to return to a seemingly simpler era in sports and culture. Price also is a factor--most of the retro shoes are priced under $100, compared with $160 for top-of-the-line shoes.
"It's a very important trend right now," said Eric Oberman, spokesman for the basketball shoe division at Nike Inc. The world's largest athletic footwear maker, Nike is based in the Portland suburb of Beaverton.
Major U.S. distributor Foot Locker Inc. expanded its classic shoe rack from about one-sixth to one-half of the total display for men's athletic shoes three months ago.
Nike rival Reebok International Ltd., based in Canton, Mass., believes that up to 30% of the U.S. athletic shoe market is in retro styles, said Steve Gardner, who directs Reebok's classics division.
And old school is the newest thing on a much bigger scale in some markets.
Retro sales comprise 40% to 45% of the athletic shoe business in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and some countries such as Britain and Japan, Gardner said.
Industry watchers say the trend got traction in Europe and Japan. Trendsetters bought used athletic shoes over the Internet; used shoes still trade briskly on EBay.
