Adidas moves past Jordan brand for 2nd spot in US sneaker market; Nike still on top

What's the story?

Market tracking company NPD Group announced on Monday that Adidas have moved the Jodan brand for the second-most popular sneaker company in the United States.

As per Darren Rovell of ESPN.com, Adidas captured 11.3% of the U.S market share by dollars from January to August in comparison to 6.6% the brand collected in the same period last year. That growth had to come at the expense of some competition but Jordan brand isn't a big victim.

Although overtaken, the Nike-owned Jodan brand remained steady occupying 9.5% of the market as compared to 9.4 last year. Nike is still at the top of the food chain but saw their market share falling to a 37% while having 39% last year.

Adidas has overtaken Jordan as the #2 brand in U.S. sport footwear. This is an achievement I never thought I would see in my lifetime.

— Matt Powell (@NPDMattPowell) September 18, 2017

Cause for Adidas' growth

This is great news for the Adidas sneaker division, which was overtaken by Under Amour for the second position on this same list at the beginning of 2015. That year, Adidas owned only 4% of the market but since then under new management, things have changed. They've been making big moves, all in the right direction.

They acquired Kanye West's Yeezy brand from Nike and signed NBA MVP candidate James Harden to a signature deal. Not to mention the NBA players they already had under contract in Derrick Rose and Damian Lillard.

Time to panic for Nike?

The rise of a brand has to come at the expense of its competitors. Although relatively less, Nike has been the brand that's taken a hit. Although Adidas poses no threat whatsoever yet to, Nike is bound to take notice of their falling stock.

"Nike's U.S. sales started declining around 'Back To School' in 2015, and it has been negative ever since," Powell said. "You have to believe at some point they're going to wake up."

The sneaker giant has NBA giants LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Giannis Antetokounmpo signed to deals. According to Rovell, Nike's shares were down by 3% over the last year, however, the Adidas shares have gone up by 45%.