This book offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary exploration of the evolution, economics, design, and healthcare implications of Sports footwear, providing valuable insights for researchers, designers, healthcare professionals, and athletes. This book begins with a global history of athletic footwear, tracing its development across cultures and sporting disciplines, highlighting key technological and material advancements that have shaped modern performance footwear. Next, it examines the worldwide economics of the industry, analyzing past and present market trends, production challenges, and the future landscape driven by sustainability and digitalization. As athletic footwear becomes increasingly specialized, it explores trends in sport-specific design, revealing how innovations in materials, structure, and biomechanics cater to different sport’s unique demands. This book extends into the healthcare parameters associated with athletic footwear, emphasizing injury prevention, ergonomic support, and rehabilitation. To assess these aspects, this book delves into athletic footwear testing technologies, detailing cutting-edge methods used to evaluate durability, traction, shock absorption, and biomechanical efficiency. A key focus is the role of insole technology, investigating its impact on performance, energy return, and athlete well-being. This book also analyzes the healthcare and performance implications of specific footwear designs, covering running, soccer, basketball, and tennis shoes, each with distinct biomechanical requirements that influence both athletic efficiency and injury risk. Finally, this book explores the latest revolutionary advancements such as smart footwear, AI-powered customization, sustainable manufacturing, and biofeedback systems.

By bridging historical insights, economic analysis, biomechanical research, and emerging technologies, this book serves as an essential reference for understanding the intricate balance between performance, health, and innovation in athletic footwear.

Prof. Arnab Chanda is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, and a joint faculty at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, AIIMS, Delhi. He is also the founder of a start-up company BIOFIT Technologies LLC, USA. He received his PhD from the University of Alabama, USA and has also been a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. Dr. Chanda specializes in the area of Biomechanics and Biomaterials, especially in Tissue Mimicking (Artificial Tissues) and Characterization, finite element modeling (FEM), robotics and wearable device development, and entrepreneurship. He has received Young Researcher Award and Early Career Award from ASME, MHRD, and AO Spine International-Singapore, and also holds Top-Cited Paper Awards. He holds and has filed 10+ US and Indian Patents, authored several Books and 100+ articles in various international journals. He currently serves as the Associate Editor for the Journal of Appl. Biomaterials & Func. Materials, Associate Editor for the Frontiers in Medical Engineering, Editorial board member for Nature Scientific Reports, and as the guest editor for several journals such as Engineering Research Express.

Dr. Shubham Gupta is a postdoctoral researcher at Queen Mary University of London, with academic training from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. His research focuses on tribology, biomechanics, and contact mechanics, with particular emphasis on friction and wear in human–surface interactions. His scholarly work includes several peer-reviewed publications in international journals, contributing to a growing body of research on material behavior, surface interactions, and applied biomechanics. He is also the author of the book “Footwear Traction”, where he explored the fundamental principles governing grip, slip resistance, and safety in footwear systems. Building on this foundation, his research contributes to the understanding of frictional performance, durability, and comfort in footwear applications. Dr. Gupta’s research integrates experimental and analytical approaches to study complex contact phenomena under realistic loading and environmental conditions.

Pramod Yadav is currently a Ph.D. research scholar at the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. His research centers on mechanical engineering, covering areas spanning tribology, fluid mechanics, and transport phenomena in complex systems. His work focuses on understanding material behavior, surface interactions, and flow-related effects under varying physical and environmental conditions. In the context of friction and wear in footwear, his work focuses the role of surface characteristics, interfacial conditions, and environmental factors on frictional performance and wear behavior. He has made contributions to peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conferences.

Komal Chhikara is a Ph.D. researcher at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, with a background in Prosthetics and Orthotics and prior research experience at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC). Her work focuses on the integration of advanced digital technologies, particularly 3D surface and volumetric scanning, for the design and optimization of foot orthoses. At IIT Delhi, she was involved in interdisciplinary research spanning biomechanics, assistive technologies, and healthcare innovation, contributing to the development of patient-specific solutions for conditions such as diabetic foot disease. Her current research aims to standardize data acquisition and improve the accuracy and efficiency of orthotic design workflows in footwear.