Nike dominates Brooks

False. Nike supports amateur athletes better than Brooks does. Brooks used to have their ID program which you got a uniform and some shoes and then a discount. If I heard correctly they did away with that program or at least toned it down because it was becoming over-saturated with mediocre runners. If you can get a hold of a Nike Rep and are a legitimate amateur, not just running "14:30 at a downhill road race once" you can get a GREAT discount on a lot of gear.

Does any of this matter? I like the Brooks shoes better than the Nike shoes hands down. I suspect half of the injury trouble Nike athletes have is due to their infinitely crappy shoe selection. Put Ritz in some T6s for the love of all that is holy.

You rarely ever see college athletes running in Nike trainers...I'm not sure if Brooks sponsors more teams or what but at least on my Brooks supported team I don't think there's more than one or two runners that wear a Nike trainer. Most run in Brooks or Asics, around 10 in Mizunos and another few in Saucony and New Balance.

Even when you go into most specialty running shops there seems to be way more trainers from each other brand than Nike. Nike seems to be way more about hype and marketing than the actual quality of the shoe. I see way more non-runners in Nike trainers than I ever see serious or competitive runners in them. Nike does make very good racing shoes but the trainers are crap. They also seem to offer very few shoes in non-standard width whereas Brooks, Asics, and Mizuno all seem to offer quite a few more besides being much, much smaller companies.

M Runner wrote:

Clearly this varies year to year. In 2006, you couldn't go anywhere in Boston without seeing/hearing/reading about the Hansons/Brooks partnership. They led the marathon coverage in the Globe, and it was as if no other company were even competing.

Maybe Brooks and Hansons feel that this card was played and there is no reason to do it again. I think they are wrong. Davila is the next American star and they should be forcing her down the throats of everyone. I would be doing a Dan vs. Dave type of thing pitting her against KG for Boston.

Agreed. The only Nike trainer that is legit is the Pegasus, the others all suck. Adidas makes great shoes, particularly in their adizero line (lightweight/performance shoes), but I feel like you don't see many people wearing them because most running stores don't carry performance shoes aside from the DS Trainer.

The fact that Brooks is even in this conversation shows how far the company has come in the last several years. What I do find strange is that Davilla was down in Florida racing when she could have been in AZ running Brooks premier event head to head against Kara.

I saw that too but the report I read said Brooks only had 18% of the market in November. I thought both Asics and Brooks were well over 20% of the RSG market?

Graeme McDowell wrote:

What I do find strange is that Davilla was down in Florida racing when she could have been in AZ running Brooks premier event head to head against Kara.

1. Better competition in Florida

2. Discouraged to show up in AZ by race management.

Brooks has between 0.9 and 1.5% of the total running shoe catagory market. Nike has 55%, and ASICS is #2 around 15%, passing NB in the Fall of 2008. Note that this is for all footweaer sold, regardless of where. Think Kohl's, Wal Mart, Dick's, and your running store.

The numbers you may have seen are for the Speciality Run chain channel - ASICS is in the 25-28% range, and Brooks in the 22-24% range, depending on the month. Think only stores that specialize in running.

Nike is in the low double digits in these stores.

If you are a geek runner, you know what you wear, and these numbers do not surprise you. If you are part of the masses, one out of two of you wear the swoosh.

Example: When the $165 Nike shoe hit the market in 2008, 83% said they bought the shoes because it looked great with jeans. Say whay you may, the swoosh is a marketing machine that fires on all cyclinders.

ASICS has grown from 9% in 2006, to now pass NB. The three-stripes has lost so much market share, that they are below 5%.