Is style stuck in a 2 decade rut?

[Gene]

My Dad has told me when he was growing up (the 50's) that P.F. Flyers and Chuck Taylors were the shoes you WANTED, but more often than not got the generic Sears or Goodyear brand.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't think I ever saw name-brand sneakers on anybody's feet until the very late seventies. All we ever had as kids were "Tuffs," the cheapest of cheap store brands. Sneakers were worn in the summer, and in gym class, and that was it -- anybody who walked to school in the winter in Maine with canvas shoes on would be taken aside and spoken to.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I don't think I ever saw name-brand sneakers on anybody's feet until the very late seventies. All we ever had as kids were "Tuffs," the cheapest of cheap store brands. Sneakers were worn in the summer, and in gym class, and that was it -- anybody who walked to school in the winter in Maine with canvas shoes on would be taken aside and spoken to.

In the '70s and early '80s, prep school had its own sneaker code. There were three 'acceptable' brands for everyday wear: Tretorn, K-Swiss ... and Sperry (for canvas tennis oxfords). That was it. Adidas, Puma and Nike were strictly for (non-tennis) sports. Converse, Keds and Vans were totally out of the picture.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

To add to Lizziemaine’s comments…


Styles take twists and turns. Consider the American saddle shoe: it first appeared around 1900 as a yachting shoe. By 1915, a version of it was also marketed by Brooks Brothers (n the photo below) as a “racquet shoe” for tennis. Around 1920, Princeton students began wearing it on campus (usually with linen knickers) and at summer resorts. By the mid 1920s, the A.G. Spalding Co. was selling saddle golf shoes.

The Crash of 1929 put a temporary end to the saddle shoe’s popularity, at least among the 'upper crust' … then, in the later 1930s, high school students began wearing in earnest an inexpensive version made by Spalding and its competitors. The rest is history…




Around 1935, penny loafers, originally called “Norwegian peasants’ shoes”, became popular in the U.S. when wealthy American men picked up pairs during vacations in Northern Europe. Ironically, they went on to wear these chilly-clime shoes in decidedly warm-weather resorts: Palm Beach and Bermuda. Even back then, penny loafers were often worn sockless (as seen in the 1930s image below).

Shoe importers began shipping penny loafers in from Norway. Then, in 1936, a Maine shoemaker, G.H. Bass & Co., found a way to cut costs: by manufacturing penny loafers locally. Bass (and its imitators) made penny loafers affordable to high school students. (Incidentally, early Bass loafers were made for men only, so girls would buy small men’s sizes to wear.) Again, the rest is history…


.

Thanks, Marc. Very interesting. Maybe it should be added in a vintage sports shoes thread? It's hard to find again here in the observation bar.

 

[nihil]

Actually the logo on the side of the Converse All Stars say 'Chuck Taylor'.
If you really love vintage, then you got to love the all stars Original designed in 1917, redesigned in 1923 and in the 1930s the logo changed to incorporate the 'Chuck Taylor' name in the logo.
And no, I don't own a single pair (and never have).

 

[jamespowers]

Actually the logo on the side of the Converse All Stars say 'Chuck Taylor'.
If you really love vintage, then you got to love the all stars Original designed in 1917, redesigned in 1923 and in the 1930s the logo changed to incorporate the 'Chuck Taylor' name in the logo.
And no, I don't own a single pair (and never have).

Neither have I.

 

[jamespowers]

In the '70s and early '80s, prep school had its own sneaker code. There were three 'acceptable' brands for everyday wear: Tretorn, K-Swiss ... and Sperry (for canvas tennis oxfords). That was it. Adidas, Puma and Nike were strictly for (non-tennis) sports. Converse, Keds and Vans were totally out of the picture.

Kind of an all white or all black choice for tennis shoes eh?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Kind of an all white or all black choice for tennis shoes eh?

Yep. The kind of place where Lisa Birnbach's "The Official Preppy Handbook" was not taken as satire, but as Biblical dogma. Students grabbed at your Norwegian sweater's label to make sure that it came from L.L. Bean. I beat the manure out of one guy who did that to me.


Schools like that one are stuck in a seven-decade rut.

 

[LizzieMaine]

All we ever knew for sneaker colors were black -- worn by the boys -- white, which were compulsory for girls -- and blue, for those Mister Rogers boat sneakers. Decorator colors for sneakers were another late-seventies innovation, and I never actually knew anybody who dared to wear them until well into the '80s.

Around here we laughed at people who thought L. L. Bean was swanky, especially when that was the label on that smelly red-and-black-checkered lumberjack coat hanging in the back of the shed.

 

[jamespowers]

Yep. The kind of place where Lisa Birnbach's "The Official Preppy Handbook" was not taken as satire, but as Biblical dogma. Students grabbed at your Norwegian sweater's label to make sure that it came from L.L. Bean. I beat the manure out of one guy who did that to me.


Schools like that one are stuck in a seven-decade rut.

Seven decade rut works for me.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Around here we laughed at people who thought L. L. Bean was swanky, especially when that was the label on that smelly red-and-black-checkered lumberjack coat hanging in the back of the shed.

Oh, there were special prep school rules regarding L.L. Bean merchandise. Only three items were acceptable from Bean: Norwegian sweaters (and only in navy blue with white slants), lace-up duck boots, and lace-up duck shoes. Anything else from Bean was out. Lord knows why.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's still hilarious. Around here the guy you call when your septic tank overflows is wearing those boots.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

It's still hilarious. Around here the guy you call when your septic tank overflows is wearing those boots.

Agreed. It's a whole lotta hooey.

 

[jamespowers]

Oh, there were special prep school rules regarding L.L. Bean merchandise. Only three items were acceptable from Bean: Norwegian sweaters (and only in navy blue with white slants), lace-up duck boots, and lace-up duck shoes. Anything else from Bean was out. Lord knows why.

The rest was declasse.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The rest was declasse.

It was a lot of b.s., that's for sure.

Nonetheless, the kids with power could wear whatever they wanted: power gave them carte blanche. At the age of 11, I learned this lesson when I was literally beaten up for wearing a purple polo shirt to school. "But," I protested, "David Payne [a popular classmate] wears purple polo shirts all the time. Why aren't you beating him up too?" The guys replied, "Because he's David Payne. You're not."

 

[jamespowers]

It was a lot of b.s., that's for sure. Nonetheless, the kids with power could wear whatever they wanted: power gave them carte blanche. At the age of 11, I learned this lesson when I was literally beaten up for wearing a purple polo shirt to school. "But", I protested, "David Payne [a popular classmate] wears a purple Lacoste shirt all the time. Why aren't you beating him up too?" The guys replied, "Because he's David Payne. You're not."

Ah, you found out a life lesson right there. The old if Payne jumped off a bridge......

 

[kamikat]

Converse, Keds and Vans were totally out of the picture.

In 1985, my older sister's prom date worn checkered Vans where he has painted or colored the white square to match my sister's prom dress.

 

[PoohBang]

In 1985, my older sister's prom date worn checkered Vans where he has painted or colored the white square to match my sister's prom dress.

don't tell james that...

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

 

[jamespowers]

don't tell james that...