In the 1970s, sneakers led their own way as jogging quickly became popular and so did the necessity to have a pair of athletic shoes for the occasion. Until this time, factories had been concerned with high production, but now the companies started to market their athletic shoes as a lifestyle purpose. Soon there were shoes for football, jogging, basketball, running - every sport had its own shoe.
By the 1980s, sneakers were everywhere; Woody Allen wore them to the ballet, Led Zeppelin wore them in their 1976 documentary, and Dustin Hoffman wore them while playing reporter Carl Bernstein in the movie All the President's Men. The athletic shoes originally developed for sports became the mainstay for most people. Nike and Reebok were among the market leaders. Newer brands went in and out of fashion, and athletic shoes companies started shelling out major endorsements to players. One of, if not the largest, endorsements was to Chicago player Michael Jordan, for a contract with Nike to make his own signature line of athletic shoes and apparel.
During the 1990s, shoe companies perfected their fashion and marketing skills. Sports endorsements grew larger and marketing budgets went through the roof. athletic shoes.became a fashion statement, and definition of identity and personality rather than humble athletic aids.
 

The idea of a "sneaker" did not come along until an American inventor, Charles Goodyear, patented the process for the vulcanization of rubber.While many believe that the first athletic shoes was the famous Converse All Stars (developed in 1917), this is mistaken. This belief is easily attained simply because it was one of the highest selling athletic shoes of the early sneaker generation. The Spalding company produced athletic shoes specifically for the game of basketball as early as 1907,citation needed and an estate sale led athletic shoes experts to believe that some of the earliest shoes were produced by Colchester Rubber Company of Colchester,Connecticut, which went out of athletic shoes in 1893. Although there is no hard evidence suggesting this, the athletic shoes were found only a few miles away from the birthplace of basketball,and two years after the game was invented.
 

The term athletic shoes is typically used for running in a marathon or half marathon, basketball, and tennis (amongst others) but tends to exclude shoes for sports played on grass such as football (futbol) and rugby, which are generally known as "boots", or in North America as cleats.

Attributes of an athletic shoe include a flexible sole, appropriate tread for the function intended and ability to absorb impact. As the industry and design have expanded, the term "athletic shoes" is based more on the design of the bottom of the shoe than the aesthetics of the top of the shoe. Today's designs even include sandal, mary jane and even elevated styles suitable for running, dancing and jumping.

The shoes themselves are made of flexible compounds, typically featuring a sole made of dense rubber. While the original design was basic, manufacturers have since tailored athletic shoes for the different purposes that they can be used for. A specific example of this is the spiked shoe developed for track running. Many of these shoes are made up to a very large size because of athletes with large feet.

High-end marathon running shoes will often come in different shapes suited to different foot types, gait etc. Generally, these shoes are divided into neutral, overpronation and underpronation (supination) running shoes to fit the respective foot strike of the runners.