The market at a glance

• Highest market presence: Nike holds the top position across all primary metrics, leading the industry in aided awareness (89%), consideration (72%), and preferred brand status (31%).
• Conversion standouts: Skechers and Jordan demonstrate exceptional efficiency in moving consumers through the funnel, achieving strong preferred brand scores (12% and 11%) relative to the awareness (63% and 66%) footprint. Hoka stands out further with the highest conversion rate from purchase to preferred brand (71%) in the entire market.
• Trust and perception leaders: Allbirds and Converse share the highest brand trust scores in the sector (both at 95%). On brand diagnostics, Nike leads on versatility (95%) while Ralph Lauren tops the market on comfort (93%) and versatility (94%).

Sydney, April 14, 2026 — Conjointly Brand Tracker has expanded its coverage to include the US sneaker industry, shedding light on brand performance across this competitive sector.

Initial Findings from the US Sneaker Market

Nike commands a dominant presence in the US sneaker landscape, leading across all tracking metrics: 89% aided awareness, 72% consideration, and 31% preferred brand. It is followed by New Balance, Adidas, and Reebok, all demonstrating awareness scores above 70%, with 6 other brands above 60% overall, reflecting a highly competitive and well-established market. New Balance and Adidas perform as strong seconds on awareness (73% each) and consideration (46% each). Among non-Nike brands, Adidas also leads on P6M purchase (25%), while New Balance performs well on preferred brand (9%), both alongside Skechers and Jordan.

Some of the most compelling stories emerge in conversion efficiency from awareness into genuine preference. Skechers converts 55% of aware consumers through to consideration, 61% of consideration to purchase, and 54% of purchase to preferred brand, achieving a 12% preferred brand rate, the highest apart from Nike. Jordan similarly impresses, converting 63% of aware consumers to consideration and achieving an 11% preferred brand rate, signalling strong brand resonance among those who know it. Hoka’s funnel story is perhaps the most striking: with just 40% aided awareness, it achieves a 71% conversion rate from past-6-month purchase to preferred brand, the highest in the market.

Consumer perception data reveals further differentiation across the market. Nike scores highest on versatility (95%) among the mass-market giants, reinforcing its broad lifestyle appeal. Ralph Lauren leads on comfort (93%) and versatility (94%), while Jordan dominates on uniqueness (89%) and innovation (90%), suggesting a strong association with exclusivity and cutting-edge design among its aware audience. New Balance impresses with the top price value score (89%), a notable achievement for a brand at its awareness level, while Skechers earns strong marks across comfort (84%) and innovation (87%), lending credibility to its positioning as a performance-value brand. Brand trust tells a nuanced story at the top of the market. Allbirds leads the category at 95%, ahead of Converse (95%) and Timberland (92%), all outpacing Nike (89%) on this measure despite Nike’s unmatched scale.

Beyond the established giants, the data tells a compelling story of emerging brands. Among younger brands, Hoka, On Running, and Allbirds are punching above their awareness weight. Apart from Hoka’s standout conversion performance, On Running converts 24% of its purchasers into preferred brand advocates, and Allbirds leads the entire market on brand trust (95%) despite modest awareness of just 12%. Meanwhile, heritage but trending brands Salomon, Lululemon, and Fila tell a more cautionary tale. Despite holding respectable awareness scores (58% for Fila, 32% for Lululemon, and 14% for Salomon), all three struggle to convert that recognition into consideration (29%, 31%, and 26% conversion rate respectively) or purchase into lasting preference (9%, 16%, and 0% respectively), suggesting low brand relevance in the sneaker category specifically.

“What stands out most in this first wave of data is how differently brands earn equity in the sneaker market,” says Nik Samoylov, Founder of Conjointly. “Nike dominates on both scale and funnel efficiency, Adidas and New Balance on high recognition and consideration, while Skechers, Jordan, and Hoka’s conversion numbers suggest a deeply loyal customer base that punches well above their awareness weight.”

Media consumption data shows that sneaker category users are notably more digitally engaged than the general adult population. Music streaming (62% vs 47%), video streaming (74% vs 61%) and podcasts (32% vs 22%) are the top over-indexed channels, suggesting that digital and context platforms are the most effective avenues for reaching sneaker consumers.

The findings are based on a syndicated study of 1,427 US adult consumers, with 393 qualifying respondents confirming that they had purchased sneakers in the past 6 months from at least one major sneaker brand. Participants were recruited via Conjointly’s panel network and compensated for their time, with the sample weighted to national demographics to ensure findings are market-representative.

Explore the US sneaker data at https://brandtracker.conjoint.ly/united-states/sneakers/.

About Brand Tracker by Conjointly

Brand Tracker delivers automated brand performance reporting with rigorous, market-representative insights. Businesses across industries can now access statistically weighted brand funnel data, including awareness, consideration, purchase intent and preference.

“We built Brand Tracker because we want to make insights about brand tracking to be accessible to everyone: big and small businesses alike,” said Nik Samoylov, Founder of Conjointly. “Brand Tracker has easy-to-use and easy-to-digest analytics about brand positioning, brand awareness and more, without requiring a six-figure commitment.”

Brand Tracker currently offers US businesses free access to detailed public brand data across five industries. For monitoring of your own brand with advanced analytics and real-time dashboards, Priority Access starts from the industry-breaking price of $4,000 per year, a fraction of traditional agency costs. Custom tracking solutions are also available for businesses with specific needs.

About Conjointly

Conjointly started as a simple online tool for conjoint analysis in 2016 and has since evolved into an industry-leading market research platform. Conjointly holds ISO 20252:2019 (Sampling), ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701:2019, and SOC 2 Type II certifications, and is a member of the Insights Association and the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association.

Conjointly’s tools address the most common pricing and product research problems and are supplemented with expert support and guidance from experienced researchers. With thousands of projects performed on the platform, Conjointly is the go-to research place for hundreds of clients.