Pierre Demoux│The basketball odyssey

Trainers, sneakers, sneakers, or even pumps... Whatever name we give them, these shoes have colonized our closets in the space of a few decades. Rich and poor, men and women, young and old, the community of converts grew in sight and freed itself from all social barriers. Originally designed for practicing a sporting activity, they are now worn in almost all circumstances. Every day, new models of sneakers arrive in stores, offered by brands that have become powerful multinationals fighting for their share of a global cake valued at more than 80 billion euros. How did a simple sports shoe become both an indispensable everyday object and a global fashion accessory? From Chinese factories to Paris Fashion Week shows, from trendy New York boutiques to West African second-hand markets, from the research laboratories of major brands to cargo ships in the port of Dubai, Pierre Demoux has followed in the footsteps of the around the world to tell the story of this shoe born on the parks and playgrounds of the second half of the 19th century. Along this path, the adventures of pioneers, family rivalries, unexpected successes, bitter failures, marketing wars, industrial epics, the destinies of stars and anonymous people, and sometimes even entire cities, will intersect. to this seemingly innocuous object. At first glance only. Because behind the cool and playful side, the history of basketball is also that of economic globalization and cultural globalization.