ART AND SOLE
By Lesley Gillilan, FINANCIAL TIMES

Give or take a couple of go-faster stripes and a brand logo, one pair of trainers looks much like another to me. So, I am faintly bemused by the world of the sport shoe connoisseur (or the hardcore "sneaker freak"), for whom the differences between, say, an Adidas and a Reebok are paramount.

What should surely be a case of choosing a basketball shoe over a tennis one has become all wrapped up in identity and street cred. And, yes, I have seen the shops. I know there are hundreds of different styles to choose from. But what drives someone to buy every pair?

According to Sneakers, a new book written and designed by the team behind London-based creative agency Unorthodox Styles, there are myriad reasons from fashion to hero worship; brand loyalty to team loyalty; and technological innovation. The mass appeal of trainers, it says, has become a "full-blown mainstream phenomenon".

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