Runners/Trainers/Sneakers/Footbuckets - call them what you will but there's no denying that one of the most ubiquitous items of clothing worldwide have become even more fashionable in recent years.
These days people are even wearing runners with suits, for God's sake! Well when it comes to the business end of it, Nike are undoubtedly the kings of the industry but their popularity is actually staggering when you convert it into cold, hard cash-money.
According to Matt Powell, of The NPD Group, Nike's sales translates to the sale of 25 pairs of runners per second.
Now, as Esquire rightly point out, his calculations are not entirely definitive. First off, he's basing it on the average price of $40 per pair but even still, it's pretty impressive.
But not as impressive as an industry which rarely gets any coverage; the secondhand runner market. I shit you not, people make more money off reselling Nike runners than any other runner manufacturer makes in the firsthand market.
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In 2014, America's second biggest trainer company, Sketchers, announced a net income of $209m. In the same year, ordinary Joe Soaps made a collective net income of $380m from reselling Nike runners.
Watch this brilliant Josh Luber Ted Talk where he explores the phenomenon in-depth.
