Fitness Shoes

The shoe industry is currently seeing one of the biggest new markets ever – that of the ‘fitness’ or ‘toning’ shoe. Once a limited-appeal product created by a small number of producers, this style of footwear has now become the must-have style of footwear.

One of the first companies to produce this style of shoe was MBT. Created in 1999, the company’s ‘Masai Barefoot Technology’ shoes mimicked walking on uneven, soft ground, with the intention of promoting the body’s ‘natural instability’.

For many years, MBT shoes developed a loyal following, however the product remained a very niche product. Retailers were very carefully selected and all underwent training specifically on this product. Only traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ stores were allowed to become stockists of MBT.

In 2007, Fitflops emerged as a new player in the market. FitFlops were the brainchild of Marcia Kilgore, who initially developed them as a solution to fight cellulite.

In mid 2009, Skechers entered the market, with the launch of their ‘Tone-Ups’ and ‘Shape-Ups’ ranges. Looking similar to FitFlops and MBT, the products were backed up by a huge marketing campaign. Until that time, primarily a fashion shoe retailer, the fitness part of Skechers range has now become a core part of their business.

By being cheaper than the competition and welcoming internet retailers, Skechers managed to take a large portion of the existing market and open up this kind of footwear to the masses. According to a survey published recently, Skechers now have around 54% of the toning shoe market.

Not to be left out, many other retailers have also developed their own styles of toning shoes, including Reebok’s EasyTone, Puma’s Bodytone and the Truebalance range from New Balance.

FitFlops and Skechers have also expanded their ranges dramatically since launch, with the toning shoe platform now used on everything from Flip Flops to Ugg-style boots.

Originally a niche product created by just a handful of manufacturers, over the last few years, the toning shoe has expanded into a huge part of the global footwear business. In 2008 this market was worth $17 million, it increased to $145 million in 2009 and in 2010 was worth an estimated $1.5 billion.