Sneakers are footwear of flexible material, typically featuring a sole made of rubber. Sneakers were originally sporting apparel, but are today worn much more widely as casual footwear. They are now very popular, especially with young people. The British English equivalent of "sneaker" is "trainer" in its modern meaning; however, the traditional "sneaker" is closer to the British "plimsoll". In some urban areas in the United States, the slang for sneakers are kicks. In Hiberno-English the term is runners.

The first "sneaker" was invented in 1893. It was made of canvas and was invented so boaters would not have to wear dress shoes when they were on deck- compare boating shoes.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).