Puma, Nike and Adidas Are Looking To Score With Signature Shoes For WNBA Athletes And Beyond

Forbes

Women’s basketball players have traditionally played the sport in men’s sneakers. Now brands like Puma, Nike and Adidas are looking to score with signature shoes for WNBA superstars such as Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Candace Parker.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2024/01/09/womens-basketball-sneaker-boom-breanna-stewart-sabrina-ionescu-candace-parker/?sh=5024e9232924  Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Friday, January 12th.

00:05 Today on Forbes, a whole new shoe game for women.

00:11 Reigning WNBA MVP, Brianna Stewart, can splash threes like Kevin Durant, attack the rim like

00:17 LeBron James, and hit turnaround jumpers with Michael Jordan-esque grace.

00:23 So it's fitting that, growing up in Syracuse, New York, she wanted to wear their signature

00:27 shoes, but she really didn't have much choice.

00:30 Stewart, the 29-year-old forward for the New York Liberty, says, "I don't think women's

00:36 basketball sneakers were available to me.

00:38 The ones that were available were just the basic team shoes.

00:41 There was nothing special to it, nothing that would catch the attention of a kid's eye."

00:47 It's a common story for female ballers of a certain age.

00:50 Stewart's 26-year-old Liberty teammate, Sabrina Ionescu, says it wasn't until her college days

00:56 at Oregon that she, quote, "started to realize that there isn't any in the market at all,

01:00 especially for young girls."

01:03 Chicago Sky guard, Kahlia Copper, who's 29 years old, remembers, quote, "going straight

01:09 to the men's section and making it work."

01:12 But now, big brands are capitalizing on the surging popularity of women's basketball,

01:17 and the landscape has changed.

01:19 Stewart has her own signature shoe with Puma.

01:22 Ionescu and Washington Mystics forward Elena Della Dunn each have sneakers with Nike.

01:28 And Las Vegas Aces forward Candace Parker, a two-time MVP, has a longtime shoe deal with

01:34 Adidas.

01:36 Last year, the U.S. basketball sneaker market was valued at roughly $1.38 billion, according

01:42 to a report from Cognitive Market Research.

01:46 While the men's side dominated with a 71 percent market share, the women's game is, quote,

01:51 "expected to grow rapidly in the coming years."

01:54 Some analysts and industry insiders believe those marks could eventually reach a 50/50

01:59 split.

02:00 Max Stager, Puma's global head of basketball, says, quote, "We're kind of in a moment here

02:06 where, for whatever reason, more and more eyes are on women's basketball.

02:10 That's directly translating to the interest in products that are associated with everything

02:14 that comes with that, which is great to see."

02:18 Research on the women's side has punctuated Puma's re-entry to the basketball business.

02:22 The brand returned to hoops in 2018 after shuttering the division in the early 2000s.

02:27 The strategy, Stager notes, was to capture the attention of as many basketball fans as

02:32 possible, regardless of gender.

02:35 Three years later, Puma landed Stewart in sneaker-free agency with a big promise — a

02:40 signature shoe.

02:42 The multi-year agreement, which Forbes estimates earned Stewart a guarantee of around $500,000

02:47 annually, was a milestone for the former University of Connecticut superstar.

02:51 A signature shoe has long been a status symbol, identifying the most prominent basketball

02:56 players and a bellwether for the types of consumers that brands are trying to reach.

03:00 In each NBA season, dozens of stars — including Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and

03:07 Russell Westbrook — all sport shoes bearing their names, and the paydays can be enormous.

03:13 LeBron James and Kevin Durant each collect an estimated $30 million or so annually from

03:17 their Nike deals, and Curry's lifetime packed with Under Armour could reportedly cross $1

03:23 billion at full value.

03:25 Those deals are considerably smaller and far less common in the WNBA, where only 12 players

03:31 in the league's 27-year history have received namesake sneakers.

03:36 Stewart says, "It's a bittersweet feeling because there's not that many, but also exciting

03:41 because companies are getting on board and wanting to make sure that there's a space

03:45 for us in the market."

03:46 For full coverage, check out Justin Birnbaum's piece on Forbes.com.

03:53 This is Ciarán Meadows from Forbes.

03:55 Thanks for tuning in.

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