Because of the region’s four seasons, New Englanders participate in a wide variety of sporting activities. The performance footwear in this section provides a snapshot of shoes worn by both professionals and amateurs, during activities including basketball, ice skating, ballet, horseback riding, cycling, snowshoeing, hockey, and baseball.
New England is the birthplace of basketball, invented in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the world’s oldest annual marathon, the Boston Marathon, initiated in 1897. Local sneaker companies were key innovators in athletic shoes designed for these sports. New Balance, which started as an arch support company for runners, is still the sneaker of choice for many professional runners. Converse introduced the basketball shoe in 1917 and by the 1960s, 90 percent of all basketball players wore Converse All-Stars.
The region also boasts deep connections to the Olympics, with nine of the fourteen Americans who participated in the first modern Olympics in 1896 coming from the greater Boston area. Bostonian James B. Connolly, part of that first Team USA contingent, even took home the first-ever modern Olympic medal by winning the triple jump. Today, New Englanders still participate as representatives of the United States in high numbers, with thirty-two athletes participating in the 2024 Summer Games held in Paris, France, and thirty athletes in the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, Italy. Local companies like Rancourt & Co. from Lewiston, Maine, support the team by providing apparel and performance gear for the nation’s athletes.
