Top Sneaker Retailers Predict Storytelling Will Thrive + Consumers Will Demand More Innovation in 2025

It’s impossible to tell the future, but sneaker storeowners have a good idea of what consumers can expect.

With the year winding down, owners of several leading sneaker boutiques throughout the U.S. (Packer Shoes, Extra Butter, Premium Goods, Sneaker Politics, Clicks, Unheardof) and Canada (Makeway) offered FN their predictions of what will happen in the marketplace in 2025.

Here’s what they had to say.

Abby Albino
Co-owner, Makeway

“Rich community-led storytelling will lead the collab market. While athletes and celeb collabs will remain, we’ll see a larger focus on telling the stories of community groups through collaborations and projects. And my other prediction for 2025 is that brands will continue to lean in and celebrate the female athlete. We saw it with the WNBA being named the 2024 fastest growing brand of the year and we will likely start to see that play out in a big way in the sneaker industry. While signature shoes are not new to the women’s market, I predict brands will go really heavy on giving the market a ton of options for each signature shoe. Where we may have seen one or two colorways a year, now we’ll see like six-to-seven.”

Mike Packer
Owner, Packer Shoes

“Coming off of a relatively strong Q4, I think that 2025 will be a transitional year for the industry in general. I think now more than ever, brands are realizing that the golden era that has got us to this point is an era to be obviously celebrated, but not relied on. What has always propelled the industry and my love for it has been innovation and creativity fused with sport. In my mind, some of the strongest projects throughout this past year have been the revival of some golden nuggets that have been left relatively untouched by brands and brought to life by brand partners and retailers alike. I think that will continue, but my hope is that throughout the year the newness and innovation that brands have been planning and seeing the need for will come to market in the right way and usher in a wave of new design that the industry and customers alike have been waiting for.”

Ankur Amin
CEO, Extra Butter and TGS Holdings

“2025 will surely be an interesting year. The sneaker industry has been in a bit of a reset for the past 18 months and it’ll look to come out of it by the second half of 2025. From a consumer perspective, There’s a lot to like for the sneakerhead in 2025. Great product is more accessible than the past five years, resell is not as much of a disruptor and brands are bringing a lot of heat to reignite the market’s interest. From Extra Butter and Renarts standpoint, we’re excited about 2025. For independent retailers like ourselves, 2025 will be an opportunity to play to our strengths. There are a lot more choices and brands in play these days and retailers that have the ability to curate and storytell well will have an advantage. Personally, I’m excited about Rooted, our brand in Nashville. They are set to open their new door in January and the space looks great.”

Jennifer Ford
Owner, Premium Goods

“Comfort and versatility continue to reign supreme for consumers. Brands like Hoka, On, Asics and New Balance are poised to sustain consistent growth in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, Nike is returning to its roots, making an impact through powerful emotional storytelling. Elliott Hill helps Nike build momentum at the end of Q4 and gains consumer trust. As retailers, the challenge remains similar to what we faced in 2024: mastering inventory management, strategic allocation, and most importantly, remembering that service is always king. Quality over quantity is the new standard. The days of buying every sneaker drop are over. If a release doesn’t resonate with the community, it will simply sit on the shelf.”

Derek Curry
Owner, Sneaker Politics

“New innovation, a brand needs to break out with something new. Customers are board with the current market and looking for what’s next, much like what Boost did for Adi. Give classic models a rest. That’s clearly needed now. This is the most uncertain I have been about the industry in 20 years. I predict that the brand that breaks through with that will be king for a while. But as of now, brands are still showing us very boring products and we are already booking fall.”

Eric “Shake” James
Owner, Clicks and Sneex

“There will be a continued resurgence of the classics and more people will continue to search for lesser known brands as they continue to search for that connection to the sneakers. Community has been abandoned to a degree, so I feel that will be huge in 2025 as brands look to reconnect with what made them global brands to begin with. Popular doesn’t mean community. And storytelling, by the end of 2025, I pray that authentic storytelling is in full swing. We have gotten away from that to a degree. Storytelling will define sneakers because that’s what made us love sneakers in the first place.”

Philip Lipschutz
Owner, Unheardof

“I believe in 2025 that people are going to be more into sneakers that have meaning to them and have impactful storytelling. People want a conversation and to collect and wear shoes that have meaning to them so when somebody stops them and say, ‘Hey, what are those?” it strikes up a conversation about the meaning in the story behind the sneaker instead of saying, ‘Oh, it’s a collaboration between this brand and the color is this name.’ People really want to have conversations again and wear wearable art that they can share and talk about. I also believe 2025 is going to be the year of the sneakers for her. Women are going to lead with the trends — what styles of sneakers and the meaning behind sneakers. In 2025, not only will the women have the best styles of shoes, but they will wear them better than any man and I believe they’re just going to lead the field of what the future is like. Small is the new big as well. Smaller brands and collaborations and storytellers are going to continue to eat up more space in the industry and mass retro styles are going to continue to fall. There are going to be retros that come to life for the first time or in a new way that no one has seen before, but there will be much better execution and storytelling than just a million pairs of a black-and-red retro.”

About the Author

Peter Verry is the Senior News and Features Editor for Athletic and Outdoor at Footwear News. He oversees coverage of the two fast-paced and ultracompetitive markets, which includes conducting in-depth interviews with industry leaders and writing stories on sneakers and outdoor shoes. He is a lifelong sneaker addict (and shares his newest purchases via @peterverry on Instagram) and spends most of his free time on a trail. He holds an M.A. in journalism from Hofstra University and can be reached at peter.verry@footwearnews.com.