Date of Submission
Spring 2019
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Economics
Project Advisor 1
Aniruddha Mitra
Abstract/Artist's Statement
In its short history, which barely spans 100 years, sneakers have quickly become a polarizing and captivating commodity, gaining the attention of consumers, fashion houses and major retailers everywhere. Unfortunately, the sneaker industry also has a history of implicit, unconscious bias towards women. A thorough examination of the history of sneakers has discovered three major social movements that can be identified as the key contributors to the growth of the sneaker industry: (1) physical activity, (2) professional sports, and (3) Hip-Hop—the culture not the music genre. Upon further examination, it became evident that each of these social factors have their own biases towards women. Thus, arriving at the conclusion that bias and discrimination in the United States sneaker industry is the result of bias in the proprietary social factors that are responsible for the growth of the sneaker industry.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Rodney M. Jr, "If the Shoe Fits: A Historical Exploration of Gender Bias in the U.S. Sneaker Industry" (2019). Senior Projects Spring 2019. 80.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2019/80
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
Included in
Behavioral Economics Commons, Economic History Commons, Fashion Business Commons, Finance Commons, Other Economics Commons, Sales and Merchandising Commons