These Shoes Were Made for Walking?

Fiend at Court Unplugged

Last weekend one of my league matches was relocated to an indoor facility after our match was unexpectedly disrupted by rain. As we converged on the pro-shop, one of the players snapped up a pair of shoes in her size from the very depleted inventory. She wasn’t wild on the color, but these are desperate times. Recently I have been wondering if the shoe shortage will result in significant migrations in brand preference once the supply chain issues are resolved.

I have tried a lot of different brands of shoes during the pandemic. I simply could not find shoes in my size on the brand I had previously been wearing. Serious tennis players tend stick with the shoes that work well for them. Nobody wants to head out to a match that matters with shoes that might cause blisters or other mechanical issues.

I fell in love with the first alternate model that I was forced to try out of necessity when my previous preferred shoe became unavailable in my size. Naturally, that shoe is now out of stock and that particular manufacturer has indicated that their supply chain issues will not end before this fall. I liked the next shoe I tried about as well as the second. That shoe is also now also out of stock in my size. I have a fourth make and model currently in transit and am on pins and needles.

I have never experimented with so many different shoes in such a short timeframe at any point in my life. The only clarity at the moment is that I will certainly be wearing a different shoe in the future than what I was wearing when the pandemic started.

I seriously wonder if there will be a discernable difference in broad consumer brand preferences that emerges once the supply chain stabilizes.