Some trends become great suddenly and die quickly. Take the micro backpack wallet, for example. It came, it saw, it conquered, it went fast, and because of that it will be etched in our memories forever. We look back on mini backpacks with a lot of nostalgia and a tinge of shame—but it's the trends and brands with long half-lives that really embarrass us. Not to be insensitive, but why are you still here?
Take Skechers, for example: they've been around for 22 years, and they've been pretty cool about half of that time. Despite a few rather clumsy falls from grace, the brand continues to pump out sneakers and celebrity reps like it's their job. When will the madness end?
Skechers sneakers were born in 1992, and it didn't take long for Skechers to become the must-have sneakers of the 90s. In fact, a platform shoe with wavy colors on the side quickly becomes the ultimate paradox: a sexy sneaker. The brand did it with the help of the hottest pop stars of the decade.
Sneakers were made for the gym and losers, and until Christina Aguilera paired them with an open schoolgirl shirt for an attitude , sneakers were for hotties with a heart for drama. . If you're a Britney Spears fan, her Skecher ad tells you that sneakers like these can be paired with any outfit, from questionable sheer bell-bottoms to ridiculous denim maxi skirts . Having Britney and Christina advertise something as unsexy as Skechers was one of the biggest corporate power plays of the era. Skechers are more than just a pair of shoes to get you from one place to another. Skechers are a shoe that will cause you trouble... but in a good way.
But Skechers' sexy glow didn't last long, and like other '90s/'00s trends, it was gradually forgotten - or rather, it should have been. You see, once you get a taste of fame, it's hard to survive without it. No one was using Skechers as a fashion statement anymore, so Skechers decided to corner the market on sexy fitness gear.
The premise is ridiculous, and the silhouette is legitimately ugly, but Skechers has big plans for Shape-Ups, promising to "promote weight loss, tone muscles, improve posters, and reduce stress on knees and ankles." What has worked for Skechers in the past? Of course having big stars on the court with their shoes.
Unfortunately, having Kim Kardashian debut weirdly shaped sneakers isn't the same as having Britney Spears pair her Skechers with white bell-bottoms. The sneaker's cool factor showed up somewhere in the '90s, but it never came back. To make matters worse, Skechers allegedly lied about the shoe's merits. In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission alleged that Skechers had falsified clinical studies that claimed Shape-Ups could give you a stunning figure, and Kardashian quit her marketing job, panicked, and returned to wearing heels.
Shape-Ups weren't the only public embarrassment Skechers faced. In 2010, the brand launched BOBS, which, long story short, is the equivalent of TOMS. Skechers' BOBS not only looks exactly like TOMS and has a similar name, but it also gives back to charity. According to my internet sources, BOBS was removed from the Skechers website in 2010, possibly due to high levels of embarrassment from internal management, but they're back and more TOMS-esque than ever.
Thankfully for us star-struck fans, Skechers has just appointed a new celebrity spokesperson to represent their fading brand. Demi Lovato recently announced that she would be taking over the Skechers show, just like Ashlee Simpson and Carrie Underwood before her . Her face on the product will certainly boost sales, but Skechers are unlikely to achieve the fame they achieved at the turn of the century, when Britney Spears wore them on the cover of Forbes and all was well with the world.
Photo credit: BobsfromSkechers/Facebook
