The WNBA season is only a couple of weeks old, and already several compelling storylines have begun to emerge—from heated rivalries among rookies to bewildering tweets about lamb chop etiquette. What’s arguably most exciting, though, is that people are talking about women’s basketball more frequently and passionately than ever. Is it the famed Caitlin Clark effect? Or just overdue attention for a league that’s long deserved more shine?
Whatever the reason, the WNBA’s surge in popularity this year has already had a seismic effect on a related industry: women’s basketball sneakers. Since the season began earlier this month, the entire category of women’s performance footwear has seen a huge uptick in interest, with retail sales and aftermarket trades both skyrocketing in unprecedented ways. StockX, the sneaker resale platform, is reporting “massive gains in popularity for female athletes’ performance sneakers.” New York Liberty star Sabrina Ioncescu’s Nike Sabrina 1 alone has seen a more than 200% increase in sales in 2024 over last year.
“With the recent boom in WNBA popularity, we’re seeing a correlating gain across performance basketball sneakers, especially in WNBA athlete signature models and collaborations,” says Drew Haines, merchandising director at StockX. “Specifically, we’ve seen a massive spike in trades for Sabrina Ionescu’s signature sneaker, and we’re expecting to see even more gains as the season ramps up. We hope that her success and the growing popularity of the entire league inspires more brands to partner with and design sneakers alongside other WNBA players.”
Since launching last September, the Sabrina 1 has been ubiquitous on players across the WNBA and the NBA. It’s even popped up on Hollywood red carpets, showing its versatility as a lifestyle shoe. And with the hotly-anticipated Sabrina 2 set to drop later this month, the hype for the sleek line should only continue to rise.
But Ioncescu’s not alone. Her teammate Breanna Stewart recently launched her third signature sneaker with Puma, the Stewie 3, which has also seen a spike in popularity on the resale market. Ionescu and Stewart’s kicks land among the top 15 most traded signature basketball shoes on StockX, ranked alongside sneakers from the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Ja Morant, and Kobe Bryant.
Back in 1995, when Nike launched Sheryl Swoopes’s signature Air Swoopes—the first-ever basketball shoe designed specifically for women—it was a groundbreaking moment. But for many years after that, major shoe deals for female athletes remained shockingly few and far between. Now, finally, the barriers are starting to come down, and massive hits like the Puma Stewie and Nike Sabrina lines have helped pave the way for more shoes to come. Las Vegas Aces star A’Ja Wilson recently signed a deal with Nike that will bring us the A’One, already a hugely anticipated drop. And of course, Caitlin Clark has her own signature sneaker line with Nike on the way, which seems all but guaranteed to send the trend into overdrive.
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