A shoe brand no one wanted became the year's biggest trend

By 1994, Hush Puppies — the crepe-soled suede shoes that had peaked in the 1950s — were nearly dead. Wolverine, the parent company, had considered discontinuing them. Annual sales had fallen to around 30,000 pairs nationwide.

Then a fashion designer at a New York party noticed a handful of downtown teenagers wearing them — not ironically, just wearing them. He bought some for his next collection. Another designer saw his collection and did the same. By the end of 1995, sales had risen to 430,000 pairs. By 1996, Wolverine was manufacturing 1.7 million pairs a year and winning fashion awards.

Gladwell used this as his opening case for The Tipping Point: the moment when a trend goes exponential is not random. It usually passes through a small number of people with unusual social connectivity — individuals who know a disproportionate number of people across very different social worlds. They are the bridges. They carry ideas from one cluster to another.

The shoe itself didn't change. The product wasn't new. What changed was which hands it passed through. A handful of teenagers in downtown Manhattan, connected to the right designers, triggered a cascade that had nothing to do with advertising.

Spreading an idea matters less than spreading it to the right people first.