Cost of Living: Trainer sales go down after Covid pandemic spike

Rapper Jack Harlow has a collab with New Balance

Trainers have grown in popularity over the years - thanks to collaborations from big names like Travis Scott, Kanye West and Jack Harlow.

The industry experienced massive growth over the pandemic, with 2021 sales up £16.6bn compared to the previous year.

But that number rapidly dropped to £9.2bn last year, according to a business fashion report.

Sukhvir Singh Sohal thinks the Covid lockdown "put us 10 years forward".

He started reselling sneakers - or trainers to most of us - six years ago online while working at a call centre.

"I remember getting this pair of shoes and I think I made £300 in the space of four hours," he tells BBC Asian Network.

"Eventually I got to the point where I was doing this full time and I just quit."

Sukhvir Singh Sohal started reselling trainers six years ago online

Sukhvir opened a sneaker shop in Glasgow last summer after seeing a huge spike in demand during lockdown.

"Every single day during Covid we were out doing deliveries because all of the shops were closed but people still wanted presents," he says.

Even though trainer sales appear to be slowing down, Sukhvir still believes it's a lucrative business.

"Even though the trajectory is coming down, it's just going to even out. But I still think there's a lot of money to be made in the game."

So why are sneaker sales going down?

According to a report by Euromonitor, the industry experienced hypergrowth in 2021 which was an unusually successful year.

Shoe expert Susannah Davda says it was time where more people were prioritising comfort.

"Fashion had gone very much to the casual side of things over the lockdown period and people were still thinking about really wanting to be quite relaxed but they also really felt the urge to spend," she says.

But she says as the world slowly started returning back to pre-Covid times, that priority has changed.

"There's now a bit less of a reliance on sneakers and open mindedness to other looks."

Kamran Ali Shah says now is the best time to buy new trainers

Sneaker fans on the high street also say they're slowing down their buying habits because of the cost of living crisis.

Arabel told Asian Network she spent a lot of money on shoes during lockdown because she had nothing else to do.

The 19-year-old says she now has to be "wise by how much [she's] spending and because of the cost of living [she] can't spend recklessly".

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Kamran Ali Shah, 18, says he's noticed sneaker sales "have slowly dropped because [his] friends are buying less".

However, he's making the most of this downturn in sales.

"The more people who buy it, the higher the price is. But when it goes down that's the best time to buy it."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Asian Network on BBC Sounds.

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