A majority of people on the Earth wear some type of footwear every day. There is a tremendous of variety to choose from. The history of footwear has seen a great many changes in styles and types that are worn. Change has particularly been the case for sports shoes. There are so many that they can be find is stores that only sell them.
For most of human history the footwear for athletic endeavors was not much different than that for everyday use. Footwear was often specialized for different work situations and climates. Firefighters would need different footwear than the local businessman. There was not as much focus on athletics and certainly not making footwear to enhance performance. Needs for workers fueled the making of shoes at this point as an opposed to athletic endeavors. This has drastically changed over that past decades.
The increase in leisure time in the early twentieth century coincided with manufacturing processes that would allow for an increasing variety of footwear. The following decades led to an increase in the quality of and specialization of the shoe for sporting endeavors. A person of a hundred years ago would probably be overwhelmed by what is available today in the marketplace.