The Tipping Point

By Malcolm Gladwell
Published in 2000

As a child, I have always considered Hush-Puppies to be a good tasting round bread. This book starts by describing a different kind of Hush-Puppies, shoes. Gladwell uses this brand of shoes to describe its "Tipping Point". "The Tipping Point is that magical moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire." This is the description of a theory that Gladwell explains in his book. For example, Hush-Puppies started as a pair of shoes that made their producer, Wolverine, famous. The trend of these shoes steadily decreased and by 1994, the shoes sold only 30,000 pairs a year. Just when the company was thinking about putting these shoes away, sales sky-rocketed. It became so famous that 120,000 pairs were sold in 1995. In later years, that number would only increase as Hush-Puppies became a staple for the male wardrobe. Gladwell analyzes this statistical data to show how in a span of two years, Hush-Puppies underwent a tipping point that caused them to dramatically increased and became a fashoin statement. He explains how just a group of kids wearing these shoes could have sparked a chain reaction thatcauses the change in the shoe's trend. In this introduction of his book, Gladwell explains his theory of "The Tipping Point".