Plenty of people are saying that Nike had a bad year, new balance 247 but for the swoosh, a bad year is still better than most, if not all other brands. For what it's worth, I still bought more Nike shoes this year than Jordan (yes, I can differentiate between the two), adidas, PUMA, New Balance, Under Armour and every other brand combined.

With Nike Basketball signature sneakers and Jordan retros continuing to go up in price and their quality not keeping up, there's beginning new balance mens shoes to be a shift to what sneakerheads prefer to wear/buy these days. Runners are the new craze and rightfully so.

When you think about it brands like Asics, New new balance shoes for men Balance, Saucony, Diadora, PUMA and others are producing some amazing shoes these days with premium materials AND comfort in mind. This is not to discredit Nike or Jordan Brand, but the truth is that you get more bang for your buck when you buy a shoe from one of these "runner" brands. I personally new balance X90 picked up very few Jordan retros and Nike Basketball sneakers this year and I picked up more runners from Asics, Saucony and PUMA in 2015.

Serving as this year's Black Friday was release was this collaboration between Ronnie Fieg and the New Balance 998. The sneaker is a representation of Fieg's upbringing in New York City, and the general mentality associated with living in the "concrete new balance 860 jungle." Like they say, if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.

Maybe the reasoning behind their disappointing 25th anniversary releases is the fact that Nike feels that they don't have to try as hard anymore. I mean they know that we're gonna buy any colorway that they release anyway, so why give us something to get truly excited for that will go head to head against the growing competition of runners from other brands? Brands like New Balance, Asics, and Saucony are constantly releasing impressive collaborations which is part of the reason that runners are growing in popularity.