Walk into any running shoe store nowadays, and the products will practically jump off the wall. Subtlety of design has not been emphasized in the marketing of running shoes. The more bumps, ridges, racing stripes, vents, stitches, and colors that gym shoes have, the better. Although not all running shoes have horrible, garish designs, generally the more expensive ones do. If you want to buy the top rated Nike shoes to look like the coolest kid in school, you have to be willing to shell out a good bit of dough. However, the quality of athletic shoes is not determined by their flash or their price. If you are willing to look a little bit deeper, you will find the shoes that are perfect for you.

Running shoes themselves are a pretty recent development. When I was growing up, gym shoes were gym shoes. There was not all that much variety, and the different brands all went through the same trends together. When one shoe company started to add more padding to help people avoid injuries, the other ones all followed suit. The shoes everyone wore back then were probably the ancestors of what people call