1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy, I love shoes. 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: I know you do. You love them so much. You 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: have more shoes than anyone I know. Really, yeah, I 6 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: mean as far as I know, I probably have more 7 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: shoes than anyone else. I know too. I have a 8 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: lot of shoes, and I keep forgetting where I have shoes. 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna confess a thing. Okay. I converted our 10 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,319 Speaker 1: entire guest room into what we call shoe Palace. Uh huh. 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: It's where all the shoes live. Brian put up a 12 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: very nice shelving system in there. I can go visit 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: my shoes. I go sit in there my shoes. But 14 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: then I forget that there are other places I have 15 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:54,959 Speaker 1: stash shoes, and not I fine them. I go, oh, 16 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,279 Speaker 1: I forgot about this closet full of shoes. It's an 17 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: exciting time anyway. So normally I tell people if they 18 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: stay in our guest room, they have to sign a 19 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: friend ea where they won't disclose how many shoes they've 20 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: seen and what a message is and they're always very 21 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: lovely about it. But I just I love shoes and 22 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: I really love sneakers. I can talk on Friday about 23 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: sneaker head culture, which I do not count myself part of, 24 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: and I'll explain why on Friday. But we're going to 25 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: talk about sneakers today. And everybody knew this was coming 26 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: because I mentioned it in the Charles Goodyear episode and 27 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: how that was originally going to be a teeny piece 28 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: of this and then it became its own episode. And 29 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: here's the thing. In prepping for this, which I've been 30 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: doing for a while and kind of dragged my tail 31 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: a little bit because I kept thinking there must be 32 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: a book after book after book on this subject. I've 33 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: seen a bunch. I have a bunch of books about 34 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: sneaker history, but really they're all about sort of the 35 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: modern era of sneaker history. They kind of pick up 36 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: from the point where sneakers have already become established as 37 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: a street wear and a style thing, rather than like 38 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,279 Speaker 1: their utility purposes that led to their invention. And those 39 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: books often talk about things like scarcity and identity and 40 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: desirability that are all very important and part of sneaker culture. 41 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: It's cool and interesting, but that's not what I was after. 42 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk more about, as I said, the 43 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: origin and how we got from most people wearing leather 44 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: sold shoes to running around in sneakers almost all the time. 45 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: And the thing is that because there isn't a comprehensive 46 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: book about the history, there are some that talk about 47 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: the history, but all of them, and this show will 48 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: as well, kind of have to leave some stuff out 49 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: because there was a lot of stuff going on in 50 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: different places. The thing that I ran into over and 51 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: over is because that's also piecemeal, there is some confusion 52 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: and contradictory information and things that are flat out wrong 53 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,639 Speaker 1: that have been repeated over the years, even by very 54 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,920 Speaker 1: well as established news outlets. So we get to do 55 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: a little bit of myth busting in this episode in 56 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: a couple of instances, as well as talk about some 57 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: mysteries which really have to do with poor or lost documentation. 58 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: I also want to mention out of the gate, there 59 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: are obviously issues in the sneaker industry today regarding labor, 60 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: horrible factory conditions, low pay, forced labor. Those have all 61 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: been documented in the shoe industry and in some cases 62 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: these are factories that aren't run directly by a shoe brand, 63 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: but they supply the brands. Still, I would say it 64 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: is on any shoe company to know where their product 65 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: comes from. And in recent years, there has been a 66 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: push throughout the industry, particularly for big players in the 67 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: shoe industry, to really do better, and a lot of 68 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: them have created initiatives to improve and to address some 69 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: of these problems. But there are still a lot of 70 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: opaque points in the supply chain, and a lot of 71 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: watchdogs are like, yeah, but what's going on right here? 72 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: Do you know? And so that disclosure is not always forthcoming. Listen, 73 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: we're not going to get into any of that part 74 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: here today, but I wanted to just acknowledge it. It 75 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: is a huge, massive subject. It could be its own 76 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: whole thing that I would say is not a history 77 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: podcast so much as like a consumer report podcast. So 78 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: it's outside of our our sphere, but it's worth knowing, 79 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:32,280 Speaker 1: and I just want people to think about where their 80 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: stuff comes from. Also, if you want to go all 81 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: the way back to the history of athletic foot where 82 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: you could in some cases find people referencing things as 83 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: far back as the eighth century, BCE. That was when 84 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: Greek Olympians first, to the best of our knowledge, went 85 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: from running barefoot to wearing very simple leather coverings like 86 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: sandals that offered a little bit of protection for their souls. 87 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: For this their feet as they were running on things 88 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: like rocks and very hot surfaces. But we're not going 89 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: that far back, so we are starting this one in 90 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century when people started to apply India rubber 91 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 1: two shoes to create a sole that had a little 92 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: bit of grip and a little bit of protection from water. 93 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:21,799 Speaker 1: Right out of the gate. This one has a little 94 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: bit of mystery. On May twenty first, eighteen thirty two, 95 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: a patent titled for a method of attaching leather soles 96 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: to boots and shoes of India Rubber was issued to 97 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: Wait Webster of New York City. But this original patent 98 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: has been lost. It is what is known as an 99 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: ex patent, and that is because in eighteen thirty six 100 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: the US Patent Office had a massive and devastating fire 101 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: that destroyed the existing patents that were filed from seventeen 102 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: ninety all the way to the year of the fire. 103 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: The X does not represent that loss. It designates that 104 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: those patents don't use the numbering system that we see 105 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: in patents today. Patents prior to this fire had as 106 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: their designation the inventor's name and the date of the issue. 107 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: There's ongoing work to try to recover those patents from 108 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: copies and the records of patent holders, and a retroactive 109 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: numbering system is attached to those patents which use an 110 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: X in their number, so it's clear that they predate 111 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 1: this new numbering system that's used today. Yeah, it's also like, 112 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: on the off chance there was a weird instance where 113 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: the modern starting after the fire numbering system accidentally duplicated 114 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: the number of another patent, the X would show you No, 115 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: they're not the same thing. And as Trazy just said, 116 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,039 Speaker 1: the weight Webster patent was an X patent, so we 117 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: might not know much about it, and mentions of Webster's 118 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: patent indicate that it was actually never put into production. 119 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: But there is actually a little bit more to the 120 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: story than that. The Journal of the Franklin Institute from 121 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: December of eighteen thirty two mentions weight Webster's patent with 122 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: an abbreviated description of it, and that reads, quote, an 123 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: insol of leather is to be put within the shoe 124 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: or boot, and a corresponding out sole and heel are 125 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: placed on the outside when the hole is to be 126 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: attached together by nailing, pegging, or sewing in the ordinary 127 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: modes of performing these processes, and there is some evidence 128 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: that the patent was used to make shoes for consumer purchase. 129 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: The Monmouth Democrat of Freehold, New Jersey, ran an announcement 130 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: on March fifth, eighteen thirty five about them, titled Patent 131 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: India Rubber or gum Elastic Shoes. It opened with quote, 132 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: the subscribers, having purchased of the patent, mister weight Webster 133 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: his exclusive patent right for the State of New Jersey 134 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: Essex County accepted for attaching soul leather to gum elastics 135 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: or India rubber boots and shoes. Hereby warn all persons 136 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: that any infringement on their rights will be prosecuted. They 137 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: offer for sale the above right for counties on terms 138 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: as may best suit purchasers. So this write up goes 139 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: on to say they have them ready for people to 140 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: come and try on. And from there there's an endorsement 141 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: quote to whom it may concern we, the undersigned having 142 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: worn mister W. Webster's patent India Rubber Shoes are happy 143 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 1: to state that they find them perfect in keeping dry feet, 144 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: are easy to the wearer, and answer fully our expectations 145 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: and mister W's recommendations, we most cheerfully recommend them to 146 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 1: the public as a valuable improvement. We think they decidedly 147 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: supersede all inventions for keeping dry feet and of course 148 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: a great preservation of health. That endorsement is signed by 149 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: eight men of the community. There's also a second endorsement 150 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: from two other men that reads, in part quote, the 151 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: invention of fixing bottoms to the India Rubber no doubt 152 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: deserves and will command a universal patronage. As far as 153 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: our experience and observation has gone, we can most cheerfully 154 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: recommend the shoes to all who prize dry feet, good health, 155 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: and long life. It's not clear what happened to this 156 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: retail efforts, but this was several years before Charles Goodyear 157 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 1: figured out the process to vulcanized rubber, so it's pretty 158 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: likely that these shoes just melted in the heat and 159 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:36,959 Speaker 1: cracked in the cold, and eventually people abandoned them. Yeah, 160 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: it's also unclear to me if those models that they're 161 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 1: telling people to come and try on are ones they 162 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: could take home, or if those are like prototypes, because 163 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like there was ever a mass production, 164 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: so I don't We still don't know what exactly went 165 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: on with websters, but now it's time for our first mythbust. 166 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: So most sources, even very reputable ones, as I mentioned 167 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: at the top of the show, state that John Boyd 168 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: Dunlop founded the Liverpool Rubber Company and started producing rubber 169 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: sold shoes in the eighteen thirties. But this appears to 170 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,319 Speaker 1: be a jumble of facts that get compressed on the timeline. 171 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: John Boyd Dunlop wasn't even born until the eighteen forties, 172 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: and while he did innovate with rubber that was more 173 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: tire based. He's another one that might be on my list. 174 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:27,319 Speaker 1: We'll see what happens. We're going to come back to 175 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,199 Speaker 1: him though in a moment. But the Liverpool Rubber Company, 176 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: founded by somebody else, did make rubber sold shoes starting 177 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: in the eighteen thirties, and those were sand shoes, and 178 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: they were named that because they were intended to make 179 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: walking on sand easier and as such, Their target market 180 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,680 Speaker 1: was people who were headed to the seaside. Apparently people 181 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: loved these shoes and how comfortable they were compared to 182 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: leather solt shoes, so much so over the course of 183 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: decades that a complaint was lodged in the Brooklyn Eagle 184 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: on July twenty, eighteen ninety five, in a column for 185 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,319 Speaker 1: the Girls that was a regular column that featured things 186 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 1: that editors thought quote home lovers and pleasure seekers should know. 187 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: It reads, quote sand shoes are for wearing on the sand. 188 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: They are as bad for the feet as any other 189 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: kind of rubbers. You would think it is a great hardship. 190 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: Perhaps you would say it was cruel to be compelled 191 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: to wear over shoes all day. Then why put on 192 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,079 Speaker 1: your sand shoes to wear about the streets. This appeal 193 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: is made to girls because parents are not to blame. 194 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,680 Speaker 1: It is the children who think it fine to wear 195 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: these relics of days at the seashore. Just in case 196 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: you thought criticizing girls for their clothing choices was something 197 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: new in the world we're living in, it is not. Also, 198 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 1: by this point, as you're about to see, companies were 199 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,960 Speaker 1: making rubber soled shoes for street wear not just for 200 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,840 Speaker 1: the sand, So the writer of this particular comment may 201 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: have it's just been a grabby stick in the mud, 202 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: similarly to many people who continued just criticizing the clothing 203 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: of young people, especially girls and young women. Yeah, coming up, 204 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the rapid growth of the 205 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: shoe industry in the later half of the nineteenth century, 206 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: and we will do that after we take a quick 207 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: sponsor break. As we recently discussed in our Charles Goodyear episode, 208 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 1: vulcanization was patented in both the US and Britain in 209 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine by two different people, and that development 210 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: led to more reliable rubber options for soling shoes, as 211 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: vulcanized rubber stands up to heat and cold much better 212 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,680 Speaker 1: than natural or India rubber, India just being an alternate 213 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,679 Speaker 1: name for natural rubber, and that moved everything that used 214 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: rubber forward, and that of course included shoes. So by 215 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies rubber soled shoes with canvas uppers had 216 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: become more common. These transitioned from sand shoes into a 217 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: similar shoe, but one that was meant for wearing in 218 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: daily life instead of just at the beach. These came 219 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: to be known as plimsoles, and they got their name 220 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,199 Speaker 1: from something that is not at all connected to shoes, 221 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: but from maritime practice. Samuel Plimsol developed a system in 222 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: the mid nineteenth century for marking the hulls of ships 223 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 1: with horizontal lines to mark the depth that they could 224 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: be submerged to safely. This was used to determine what 225 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: the safe load was for their cargo. Samuel Plimsol is 226 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: on Holly shortlist because he did a lot of interesting things. 227 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: I can say with confidence we'll have that episode not 228 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: too long from now, probably not next week, but not 229 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: far off. The line where the rubber sole met the 230 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: canvas upper on these early shoes reminded people of the 231 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 1: Plumsall line on ships. It indicated that the canvas area 232 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: above that line should not be submerged, so they just 233 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: started calling them that. It's not clear when shoes started 234 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,559 Speaker 1: being called plemsalls, but the Plumsall line wasn't adopted until 235 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy six, so it would have been sometime after that. Yeah, 236 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: that's another one where people will say quite definitively, this 237 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: started in this decade, and it's like, no, I found 238 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: one earlier, or I found one later. By the eighteen eighties, 239 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: lawn tennis shoes were very in demand as that sport 240 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: became a popular pastime following the publication of Major Clopton 241 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 1: Wingfield's Book of lawn Tennis Rules in England in eighteen 242 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: seventy three. Lawn tennis shoes spanned a really wide range 243 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: materials and price wise. Models were often made with canvas, 244 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: while those that were aimed at a more fashionable and 245 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: privileged player would have been made of things like fancy leathers. 246 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: A write up in The Times Union of Rochester, New 247 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: York in July eighteen eighty two included mention of lawn 248 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: tennis shoes in its fashion column, stating quote, the regular 249 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: lawn tennis shoe had a rubber sole which ensures the 250 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 1: player of firm footing and is harmless to the court. 251 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: The canvas shoe is very desirable. It is faced with cashmere, 252 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: a waterproof rubber solutions cements the two materials together, producing 253 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: a soft, flexible effect, comfortable and pretty. An ad placed 254 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: by the Nickel Plate Shoe Store in the Des Moines 255 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: Register in June of eighteen eighty eight red notice tennis 256 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: players our tennis shoes are made to assist in playing tennis. 257 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: That was all caps, not made only for looks, though 258 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: as for looks, fit and price, they surpass all other's 259 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: exclamation point. One of the interesting details of lawn tennis 260 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: shoes was that they started out unisex, and then companies 261 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: started offering different women's and men's versions. The women's versions 262 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: from a lot of companies had heels for a while. 263 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: By the eighteen nineties, women were given the option of 264 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: having healed or non healed tennis shoes, which tickles me 265 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: to no end for some reason. In our December twenty 266 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: twenty four episode on yon Ernst matts Lagger, we mentioned 267 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: that in eighteen eighty two he invented a lasting machine 268 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: that enabled the tops of shoes to be joined to 269 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: the soles without the need for a person to do 270 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: the hand finishing. This machine was designed for leather soled shoes, 271 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: but it represented the completion of a mechanized shoe production process. 272 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: All of the other parts of the process had already 273 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: been mechanized, and it didn't take long for companies manufacturing 274 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: athletic shoes to adapt this process for rubber soles, which 275 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: were often glued on but also had some stitching. At 276 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: least some of them also had some stitching. Matzelager's invention 277 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: changed the entire shoe industry, including athletic shoes, and it 278 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 1: made mass production of rubber soled shoes possible. By the 279 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,080 Speaker 1: end of the eighteen eighties, less than a decade after 280 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: the lasting machine was invented, there were huge warehouses of 281 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: lawn tennis shoes dotting Europe and North America. Thomas Turner's 282 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,719 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen paper The Production and Consumption of Lawn Tennis 283 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: Shoes in Late Victorian Britain quotes an eighteen eighty eight 284 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: article in Pastime magazine that complained about how difficult it 285 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: was getting for sports reporters to have to make the 286 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: rounds of all the tennis shoe showrooms and factories in 287 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:46,240 Speaker 1: the UK each year to see the latest models, because 288 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: there were so many shoe companies with new ones starting 289 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: up all the time, and they had to get a 290 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,679 Speaker 1: look at all those shoes. I don't know why. That 291 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,480 Speaker 1: also tickled me, just this idea of it's my job 292 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: to go look at every tennis shoe today. There are 293 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: people that have that job and they love them. And 294 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,120 Speaker 1: here's the thing. The demand was there for this rapidly 295 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: expanding production, because tennis shoes quickly made their way into 296 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: other activities in sports, including things like walking for sport, 297 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 1: not just strolling, but sport walking, cycling, golf, and boxing, 298 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: among others, And soon the term tennis shoe also just 299 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: came to be used to refer to almost any shoe 300 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 1: that had a rubber sole, So though they were used 301 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: in a lot of sports, the word tennis still stuck 302 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: to them. So if you've ever wondered why they're called 303 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: tennis shoes, that's why. Then in eighteen ninety one, doctor 304 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 1: James Naismith invented basketball at Springfield College in Massachusetts as 305 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,199 Speaker 1: a way to keep the school students' active indoors in 306 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: the winter, and soon shoes that looked more or less 307 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: the same as tennis shoes were being sold as basketball 308 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 1: shoes to appeal to the players of the new sport, 309 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 1: and players of all of these sorts fell in love 310 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: with the grip of the rubber soul, so by the 311 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,879 Speaker 1: dawn of the twentieth century, sports and shoes made specifically 312 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: for those sports that featured rubber were just deeply intertwined. 313 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: A little bit of mythbusting here in a lot of places, books, articles, 314 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: online discussions, you'll see that the first use of the 315 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,919 Speaker 1: word sneaker describing rubber soled shoes is attributed to a 316 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: marketing man named Henry Nelson McKenny around nineteen seventeen, but 317 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: there are also sources that state that it came into 318 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: use in the eighteen eighties. Holly really quickly found earlier 319 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: uses of the word when not even looking for earlier 320 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: uses at first. There was an article in the New 321 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 1: Orleans b from November nineteen oh four with the headline 322 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:55,479 Speaker 1: Sneakers the things. It opens with quote, sneakers said the 323 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: man back from the woods. That's what you want, sneakers. 324 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: This whole write up is about how if you're going 325 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: for a trail walk, you want rubber soled sneakers, not 326 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:10,439 Speaker 1: leather sold shoes. That lays out the reasons why sneakers 327 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: are the superior option, noting that the flexible sole and 328 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 1: canvas tops quote permit the foot the freest play and 329 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: permit it to settle and grip on whatever you step. 330 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: That article incidentally ran in newspapers around the US that autumn, 331 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: so that is obviously before nineteen seventeen, but mentions of 332 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: sneakers also go farther back than that. The sneaker was 333 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 1: in fact so popular and so popularly known by that 334 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: name in the early eighteen nineties that on August twenty 335 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: third of eighteen ninety four, the Boston Globe ran a 336 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,679 Speaker 1: sad fictional tale worthy of a Pixar short, about a 337 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,720 Speaker 1: baseball shoe that was cast aside by its owner. It read, 338 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: in part quote, early one spring, when the air was 339 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: salubrious and the small boy was out with his marbles, 340 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: the sneaker, that hybrid of rubber and cloth, the hated 341 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: rival of the baseball shoe, came along to wheedle the 342 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 1: small boy and the youth for sugared favors. My touch 343 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: is like velvet, said the sneaker. I alight like the snowflake, 344 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,679 Speaker 1: and when laced to your foot, I cling like the vine. 345 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: Unlike the dirty red coated baseball shoe. I never grow 346 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,639 Speaker 1: flabby with age. I bag not at the knee like 347 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: old trousers, but hold close to the foot while yielding 348 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: to its every caprice. Is so sad this baseball shoe 349 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,640 Speaker 1: is just going through it. But that baseball shoe does 350 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,400 Speaker 1: make peace with its fate. Recognizing eventually in the story 351 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: that it once supplanted another shoe. But that is again, 352 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: and even earlier, you said the word sneaker. The Record 353 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 1: Journal of Meriden, Connecticut ran an article in eighteen ninety 354 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,400 Speaker 1: eight indicating that the writer at least believed the term 355 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: sneakers in relation to shoes was a new development that 356 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: ride up started. Quote sneakers a new word. It has 357 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: been coined by the children of a New York family 358 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: whose mother was made their unconscious accomplice in passing the 359 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: counterfeit word upon the public. All soft sold shoes in 360 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 1: which a child of an inquiring nature can noiselessly perambulate 361 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: the house in search of raisins, lump sugar, and such 362 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: lawful prey, are by these children given the euphonious and 363 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: suggestive designation of sneakers, snake, sneaker, sneakers. The origin is 364 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: too obvious to need any further explanation. The story than 365 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: relais how a mother went to an apartment store asking 366 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,719 Speaker 1: for sneakers, only to be embarrassed when she realized that 367 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: she was after tennis shoes or another version of this 368 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: origin is similar, but it suggests that the term sneakers 369 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: was applied to rubber soled shoes because adult criminals like 370 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: thieves could noiselessly move around in them. Regardless of when 371 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: and why people start and using the term sneakers, it 372 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: was obviously in use by the eighteen nineties, so sneaker 373 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,679 Speaker 1: and tennis shoe were both in common use by the 374 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,240 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century. Yeah, if you go looking at a 375 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 1: lot of you know how newspapers would do, like serialized 376 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: fiction during this time, A lot of them start to 377 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,880 Speaker 1: include a clue that like they are sneaker prints. Clearly 378 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,400 Speaker 1: someone very sneaky is flying. They get around it cannot 379 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: be heard. I started giggling so much at how many 380 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: of those I ran into you. We are about to 381 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: talk about a lot of familiar names because many sneaker 382 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: companies that really mark the beginning of the industry are 383 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: still around. We will get into it after we hear 384 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:59,160 Speaker 1: from the sponsors that keep the show going. In nineteen 385 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: oh six, New Balance Arch Support Company was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, 386 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: but it was not initially a shoe company, as that 387 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: name indicates. It made arch supports that fit inside of shoes, 388 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: and those supports were a new invention of the company's 389 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,479 Speaker 1: founder William J. Riley, who, according to the company and 390 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,479 Speaker 1: the lore that it shares, got the idea for a 391 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: three point insol after watching chickens walk around in his yard, 392 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: noting the way that they balanced on their splayed out toes. 393 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: By nineteen thirty eight, the company was making shoes that 394 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: were designed for track and field sports. The Brown Bag 395 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: Harriers Sports Club commissioned Riley to design and make them 396 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: shoes that year, which he did. Those first models for 397 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: the Harriers were famously made of kangaroo leather, and the 398 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 1: company remained primarily an arch support manufacturer for decades even 399 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: after they made those shoes, and they didn't introduce the 400 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: first true sneaker in their line, the Trackster, until nineteen sixteen, 401 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: and that happened after the company had been through a 402 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: few ownership changes. In nineteen oh eight, Marquee Mills Converse 403 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: founded the Converse Rubber Shoe Company, and this was a 404 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: significant moment, not just because Converse would grow into a huge, 405 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,239 Speaker 1: multinational brand, but also because this is one of the 406 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 1: first instances where a rubber company was formed to make shoes. 407 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: Up until this, rubber sold shoes were being made by 408 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: companies that were rubber generalists. They were also making things 409 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,640 Speaker 1: like tires and other non apparel rubber products, but even 410 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: though the company made shoes, it wasn't making sneakers. Initially, 411 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: the first products were water resistant boots. The limited offerings 412 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:49,080 Speaker 1: of doing just water resistant boots created a seasonality problem 413 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: when there was a dip in sales in the warmer months, 414 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,640 Speaker 1: when things like snow and rain were not quite as prevalent, 415 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: so the first Converse tennis shoe designed came out in 416 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: nineteen ten. Eventually, to take advantage of the growing popularity 417 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: of basketball, Converse introduced a basketball specific shoe in nineteen 418 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: seventeen called the Non Skid, and the Non Skid became 419 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: the All Star in nineteen nineteen. The All Star model 420 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: was developed after the company got feedback from coaches on 421 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: how to improve the original, and at this point throughout 422 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,639 Speaker 1: pretty much all of shoe marketing, coaches were really the 423 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 1: target market for athletic shoes because they would select the 424 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,160 Speaker 1: models that their entire team would wear throughout the season. 425 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,640 Speaker 1: A few years later, in nineteen twenty three, Converse made 426 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: its deal with basketball star Charles Hollis Taylor, better known 427 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 1: as Chuck Taylor. Taylor had been a professional player, but 428 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 1: that was very different in the early nineteen twenties from 429 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: how it is today. He played a few semi pro 430 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: games before being hired at Converse, and when he was 431 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 1: brought onto the company, he was a salesman and a 432 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: coach for the Covers All Stars basketball team. Part of 433 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: Taylor's job was touring the US selling the All Star 434 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: shoe model. He promoted basketball as he traveled, giving clinics 435 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 1: to teach about basketball. It was really this work promoting 436 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: the sport and the shoe that led Converse to officially 437 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,359 Speaker 1: rename the All Star as Chuck Taylor's All Star in 438 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four. Two years later, the company made the 439 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: shoes for the US Olympic basketball team's appearance at the 440 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six Berlin Games. That was the debut of 441 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: the red and blue stripes on the foxing band around 442 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,879 Speaker 1: the outside edge of the shoe. The Olympics were a 443 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: good advertisement for Converse internationally, and soon other countries wanted 444 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: to place order for their teams as well. Yeah. I 445 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: think sometimes people think that Chucks are named for Chuck 446 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 1: Taylor because he was like an amazing, high achieving pro 447 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: basketball player and that's that's not really what's up now. 448 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: He was an amazing, high achieving staff member for Converse. Listen, 449 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 1: we love our Chucks. In nineteen sixteen, a new shoe 450 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,440 Speaker 1: brand entered the market and it was made by US Rubber. 451 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: They had made a boot before this, but then they 452 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:18,160 Speaker 1: got into making more athletic style shoes and those were Keds. 453 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 1: At the time, US Rubber, which had formed when several 454 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: smaller companies joined together in the late nineteenth century, dominated 455 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,119 Speaker 1: the US rubber market, but they didn't have a shoe 456 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,359 Speaker 1: at market at that point. The first plan was to 457 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 1: call the shoes Peds, pulling from the Latin word petitas, 458 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: which means foot, but that name was already in use 459 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: by another company, so Keds was eventually chosen. Apparently there 460 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: were a few other things that they considered that switched 461 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: out that first letter as well. In the nineteen twenties, 462 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: a Keds model that was made for women's tennis was 463 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: named the Champion because a lot of players who won 464 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: tournaments wore them, and that kind of bolstered their image 465 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: and they took off from there. The J. W. Foster 466 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: and Sons Shoe Company was established in eighteen ninety five 467 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:09,080 Speaker 1: by Joseph William Foster. Over the years, Foster had spent 468 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: a lot of time repairing the spiked shoes that cricket 469 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: players used, and it occurred to him that shoe spikes 470 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: might be beneficial for other sports as well. Foster liked 471 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: to run that he added spikes to his running shoes 472 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,960 Speaker 1: and found that he really liked the extra grab and 473 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: stability that he could get from them. This invention gained 474 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: worldwide attention in nineteen twenty four when athletes Harold Abrams 475 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: and Eric Liddell won medals running in the Paris Olympics 476 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:40,479 Speaker 1: wearing custom spiked running shoes made for them by Foster. 477 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 1: The model was then mass produced as Olympian track shoes. 478 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: The Foster family is going to come up again shortly. 479 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty four, two German brothers, Adolph and Rudolph 480 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: Dossler started a company called Grebruda Dossler that literally translates 481 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: to Dossler Brothers, and they started this to make shoes 482 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: in their hometown of Herzegenaure. The company went by Getta 483 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: for short, and the two brothers handstitched their sneakers in 484 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,479 Speaker 1: the home that they lived in with their parents, and 485 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: for the first several years, although their company grew, it 486 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: was pretty slow. But then everything changed when they made 487 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: shoes for several athletes in the nineteen thirty six Olympic Games, 488 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: including US track star Jesse Owens. Just as Ghetto was 489 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: gaining some notoriety, World War II ramped up. World War two, 490 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: of course, impacted the progression of the growing sneaker industry 491 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: globally because rubber became an important material for military applications. 492 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: A lot of shoe factories transitioned temporarily to producing military items. 493 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: The Dassler factory was one of them, although that didn't 494 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: happen until nineteen forty three. This also starts a complicated 495 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,959 Speaker 1: part of the brother's history, since they both joined the 496 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: Nazi Party, although some historians have come to believe that 497 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: this was a move to ensure that their business survived, 498 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,719 Speaker 1: rather than being a matter of ideology for the two 499 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 1: of them, particularly given their ties to sports, the company 500 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: would have been very valuable to the Nazi Party. Adolf, 501 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,239 Speaker 1: who went by Addie, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 502 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: nineteen forty but was discharged the following year, having been 503 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 1: deemed necessary for the running of the factory. When his 504 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: brother Rudolph, who went by Rudy, was called up in 505 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, he had to go, and it seems 506 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: that there was already a good bit of tension between 507 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: the brothers, but being forced to go to war when 508 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 1: his younger brother had been released from service in part 509 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: due to Rudy's campaigning for him to be released so 510 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: that he could come and handle the family business. This 511 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 1: whole thing really tore open a rift that continued to 512 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,080 Speaker 1: grow between the two of them due to additional other factors. 513 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: By nineteen forty eight, the two brothers had reached a 514 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: point where reconciliation was just not going to be possible. 515 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: Their company closed and each of them open their own 516 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: shoe company on either side of the River Auruk that 517 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:08,760 Speaker 1: separates the city of Herzegenarak. Rudy formed the company Ruda, 518 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: and Addi started Adidas. We're going to talk about that 519 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 1: name in just a second. And a year later he 520 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: started using the company's now iconic three stripe design on 521 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: all the shoes. This was kind of an evolution because 522 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: the shoes they had been making together had two stripes, 523 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: so Addi just threw another stripe on and said that's 524 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: my design. Ruda eventually became Puma. Incidentally, most people in 525 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: the US say Adidas the way I just did Adidas, 526 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,680 Speaker 1: but a lot of people around the globe pronounce it differently, 527 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: and I know this confuses people sometimes. One of the 528 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: more common ones is Audidas, which is the most German 529 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: version because it references Addi's name pronunciation. So if you 530 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: hear Adidas, they're not saying it wrong. That's just a variation. 531 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: Now we're looping back to that Dunlop mythbusting earlier. In 532 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty seven, after James Boyd Dunlop had retired from 533 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 1: day to day operations of the company, Dunlop collaborated with 534 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 1: the Liverpool Rubber Company and they produced not a sneaker 535 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: but a boot, the Dunlop Protective Rubber Boot. That was 536 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: not the first rubber boot invented, they go back to 537 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: the mid nineteenth century, but it was the first that 538 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: was reinforced to protect the feet in work scenarios rather 539 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: than just being waterproof footwear. But the success of the 540 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: boot led to another shoe. In nineteen twenty nine, Dunlop 541 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 1: introduced a model called the Green Flash that was a 542 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 1: white sneaker with green accents, including a sort of wedge 543 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 1: shaped design on the exterior side that featured the Dunlop logo. 544 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: Famed British tennis player Fred Perry won Wimbledon in nineteen 545 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: thirty four, nineteen thirty five and nineteen thirty six wearing 546 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:58,480 Speaker 1: green Flash sneakers. They became a standard part of athletic wardrobes, 547 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,720 Speaker 1: not just for pro athletes, but also for school kids 548 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: who needed them in their pe classes. They then transitioned 549 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:09,800 Speaker 1: into streetwear. You can still buy Dunlop Green Flash shoes today, 550 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:14,240 Speaker 1: although the original colorway is no longer available. People still 551 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: find them on the secondary market though, and there is 552 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: a seemingly never ending call from collectors for the original 553 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: white and green color scheme to be re released. Oh yeah, 554 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 1: you can find it so fast, just people being like, 555 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,360 Speaker 1: why will you not put out new shoes with the 556 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: white and green? They love what they love. A lot 557 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:34,799 Speaker 1: of them grew up wearing them in school and they 558 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: just they love them. Joe and Jeff Foster, the grandsons 559 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,919 Speaker 1: of the J. W. Foster that we mentioned earlier who 560 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,840 Speaker 1: started putting spikes on running shoes, started their own shoe 561 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: company in nineteen fifty four called Mercury, but there was 562 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: a problem with that name. It was already trademarked by 563 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: somebody else. In an interview with the BBC in October 564 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, Joe explained how they can with their 565 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: new name. Quote, the dictionary was there. I opened it up. 566 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,319 Speaker 1: I like the letter R. I don't know why. After 567 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,759 Speaker 1: coming across the word rebook. While perusing the entries, they 568 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 1: saw that it was a South African gazelle. They did 569 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,439 Speaker 1: some more digging and they learned that the Afrikaans version 570 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 1: of the word is rebok, and they settled on that 571 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,840 Speaker 1: as the company's new name. In nineteen sixty four, a 572 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,280 Speaker 1: company called Blue Ribbon Sports was founded by Phil Knight 573 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:32,600 Speaker 1: and Bill Bowerman. Bowerman had been Knight's track coach when 574 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: Knight was enrolled at the University of Oregon. After graduation, 575 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,920 Speaker 1: Knight had become a certified public accountant and then a professor. 576 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: He went into business with Bowerman, initially to sell a 577 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:47,760 Speaker 1: Japanese sneaker brand called Tiger in the US. Blue Ribbon 578 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: rebranded as Nike in nineteen seventy one. They paid a 579 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: designed student named Carolyn Davidson thirty five dollars for the 580 00:35:56,160 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: swoosh logo that became globally iconic, then later said in 581 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 1: an interview that night didn't really like the swoosh, but 582 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: told her maybe it'll grow on me. Carolynton is credited 583 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,759 Speaker 1: with by a lot of people as being integral to 584 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,240 Speaker 1: the development of the brand, and she was given quote 585 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,920 Speaker 1: Nike stock and a gold swoosh ring, according to her 586 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:20,760 Speaker 1: account given a number of years later, when Nike stock 587 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: went public. Yeah, for a long time, there were a 588 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,040 Speaker 1: lot of articles that were coming about out about how 589 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 1: Nike had cheated this person who really designed the icon 590 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,359 Speaker 1: of their brand, and it's she was like, no, they 591 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:37,760 Speaker 1: gave me more money. Yeah. One of the most repeated 592 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:41,680 Speaker 1: stories about the early days of Nike involves a waffle iron. 593 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,120 Speaker 1: I feel like, if we don't tell the story, the 594 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,800 Speaker 1: people who love sneakers in our audience will lose their minds. 595 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,520 Speaker 1: Bill Bauerman was trying to solve this problem, which was 596 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 1: the Eurothane tracks that have become popular and that he 597 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:57,240 Speaker 1: had put in at Oregon were a little too slick 598 00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:59,840 Speaker 1: for regular sneakers. You kind of slid on them. But 599 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,719 Speaker 1: they were also unsuitable for spike shoes because those would 600 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,800 Speaker 1: destroy this new running surface, and he famously was inspired 601 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,279 Speaker 1: to try to create rubber spikes by pouring liquid your 602 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: thane onto the family waffle iron. I think this was 603 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: a wedding present he and his wife had gotten some 604 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: years earlier, and that destroyed that waffle iron. It glued shut. 605 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 1: But Bauerman thought this was still a good idea, so 606 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,480 Speaker 1: he thrifted a whole bunch more used waffle irons to 607 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,600 Speaker 1: keep doing this experiment. Once he got a shape that 608 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,719 Speaker 1: he thought actually was pretty good, it was obviously inverted 609 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: from what it needed to be, so this led to 610 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:42,200 Speaker 1: mold making and negative casting, and eventually he had a prototype, 611 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,239 Speaker 1: and he had a small run of them made with 612 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,879 Speaker 1: those spikes so the University of Oregon's track team could 613 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 1: test them, and next it was tried by Olympic marathoners. 614 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: They all love these. These new shoes were called moon shoes, 615 00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,320 Speaker 1: and they are kind of a holy grail for sneaker collectors. 616 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,280 Speaker 1: They didn't really put them out as a regular line, 617 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: but there were a few that had been made that 618 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,440 Speaker 1: never got used, that apparently got put in their company 619 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: store early on, and some people got those, but pair 620 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,640 Speaker 1: of them sold at auction for four hundred and thirty 621 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:19,920 Speaker 1: seven thousand, five hundred dollars in twenty nineteen. I think 622 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,080 Speaker 1: the expected amount was like one hundred and sixty two 623 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty thousand, so they obviously blew that 624 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,279 Speaker 1: out of the water. The Moon Show, as I said, 625 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: never went into wide production, but one of the models 626 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,239 Speaker 1: that followed it, the Waffle Trainer, is credited with solidifying 627 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: Nike's business. Incidentally, Bauerman's kids eventually found that original destroyed 628 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,919 Speaker 1: waffle maker. He buried it in the backyard. I guess 629 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,680 Speaker 1: that's what you do when you break appliances there, but 630 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 1: it is now on display at Nike's headquarters. In nineteen 631 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:55,439 Speaker 1: sixty six, the Van Doren Rubber Company was founded by 632 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 1: Paul and James Van Doren. The company debuted it's deck She, 633 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,959 Speaker 1: known initially as Van's Number forty four, that same year. 634 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 1: Eventually it was renamed The Authentic, and you can still 635 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:10,080 Speaker 1: buy them under that name. In fact, a lot of 636 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 1: the models that Vans debuted in its first two decades 637 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:17,160 Speaker 1: are still in production. The number ninety five debuted in 638 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:20,800 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six and was an instant it with skateboarders. 639 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: It's now known as the Era. The following year, the 640 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:28,280 Speaker 1: number thirty six Old School was introduced, which used leather 641 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 1: instead of just canvas, and then a slip on style 642 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: that remains a staple in their line also came out 643 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:39,680 Speaker 1: that year. The Skate High, another longtimer, debuted in nineteen 644 00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: seventy eight. In the nineteen seventies, there was a huge 645 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:48,920 Speaker 1: surge of interest in the US and Europe, especially in jogging, 646 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 1: which bolstered sales across all brands. Up to that point, 647 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 1: athletes had still been the primary consumer group for all 648 00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: of these sneakers, but a much wider audience of runners 649 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:04,759 Speaker 1: suddenly needed shoes. Nineteen seventy was the year that a 650 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,880 Speaker 1: number of popular road races were started, including the New 651 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 1: York City Marathon, the Seattle Marathon, and the Peachtree Road 652 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 1: Race in Atlanta. Focusing on the Peachtree since it is 653 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:19,279 Speaker 1: our hometown race and I've run it several times, it 654 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: is so easy to track the rapid growth of running 655 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,840 Speaker 1: as a pastime by just looking at the Peachtree's numbers, 656 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,440 Speaker 1: Because in nineteen seventy, one hundred ten or one hundred 657 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,880 Speaker 1: and fifty runners participated in the ten k. The numbers 658 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,600 Speaker 1: vary by source, but even so, the suit it's a 659 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 1: pretty small number. Five years later it was one thousand runners. 660 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy eight, it was twelve thousand, five hundred. 661 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,399 Speaker 1: By nineteen eighty, race officials decided that they would cap 662 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,319 Speaker 1: registrations at twenty five thousand. If you run the Peachtree, 663 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 1: this is making you crack up, because today they take 664 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:57,680 Speaker 1: sixty thousand. This is just one race, obviously, but it 665 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 1: parallels the rapid growth of US other road races as 666 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:05,439 Speaker 1: interest in running for health and fitness and community exploded 667 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: in the US in the seventies and eighties, and every 668 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:12,760 Speaker 1: one of those runners needed shoes. The modern fitness industry 669 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,960 Speaker 1: also boosted shoe sales. Joe Foster of Reebok noted that 670 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,600 Speaker 1: once Jane Fondo wore a pair of Rebox in one 671 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 1: of her workout videos in the mid nineteen eighties, the 672 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,480 Speaker 1: brand really took off. Minor heads up that he calls 673 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,560 Speaker 1: women girls in this quote. Quote for being a nine 674 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,960 Speaker 1: million dollar running company, we became a nine hundred million 675 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:37,399 Speaker 1: dollar aerobics women's company in four years. The girls loved 676 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:39,879 Speaker 1: aerobics so much that they went to work in them, 677 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:42,760 Speaker 1: put their heels in their bag and went to work 678 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,319 Speaker 1: and changed when they went to work. This is where 679 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: Rebok became, just became lifestyle and street and the volumes 680 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: were incredible, so they quickly introduced the Freestyle specifically marketed 681 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:57,640 Speaker 1: to women's aerobics classes, and then started to introduce a 682 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:01,319 Speaker 1: lot of items to appeal to gemgoers. And Reebok was 683 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:04,919 Speaker 1: not alone. Most of the major shoe brands expanded their 684 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: lines to include clothing and accessories to capitalize both on 685 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:13,400 Speaker 1: the increased interest and exercise programs and the street style 686 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:17,760 Speaker 1: that grew out of the burgeoning fitness industry. The idea 687 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,479 Speaker 1: of sneakers as fashion was cemented in nineteen eighty four 688 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: when Gucci made their first sneaker and that became the 689 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,440 Speaker 1: first one that was associated with a luxury brand. That 690 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:32,280 Speaker 1: same year, Michael Jordan entered into an endorsement deal with Nike, 691 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 1: which is sometimes pointed to as the transition point of 692 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 1: sneakers from sport related shoe to status item. This idea 693 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 1: was further reinforced the following year when Adidas or Adidas 694 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:48,319 Speaker 1: and run DMC entered into an endorsement deal that made 695 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:52,120 Speaker 1: the group the first sneaker Ambassadors who were not athletes. 696 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:57,560 Speaker 1: According to Statista, the sneaker industry is projected to generate 697 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:01,800 Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty one billion dollars in twenty twenty six. 698 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:04,880 Speaker 1: That's a lot of dollars. It's a lot of shoes. 699 00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: We will never stop loving sneakers at our house. Do 700 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:13,919 Speaker 1: you have some listener mail that you love? I do, 701 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,920 Speaker 1: and it is not about sneakers, but it is about clothes. 702 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:20,720 Speaker 1: It's from our listener Caroline or Carolyn, I always wonder 703 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 1: she's written us several times. Chritz Hilan, Tracy, thank you, 704 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:26,360 Speaker 1: thank you for all you do to keep us all informed, 705 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:30,279 Speaker 1: entertained and in stitches pun intended. I just listened to 706 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,920 Speaker 1: your two parter on e. Virgil Neil and the listener 707 00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:36,640 Speaker 1: mail about the Abigail Adams costume. It brought me way 708 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:39,719 Speaker 1: way back to the bi centennial. It's nineteen seventy six 709 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,359 Speaker 1: for younger folks who missed it. When my brownie troop 710 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,000 Speaker 1: dressed up as women for the Revolution. My mom, who 711 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:49,600 Speaker 1: was a great seamstress, made our costumes. I can't remember 712 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:52,520 Speaker 1: who my sister portrayed, but our then five year old 713 00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:56,880 Speaker 1: brother was an adorable minuteman. As this email's title suggests, 714 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:01,200 Speaker 1: I was Betsy Ross, despite my mom's which she'd inherited 715 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,640 Speaker 1: from her mom, a professional seamstress. I almost failed the 716 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,680 Speaker 1: sewing portion of home economics. I've never been able to 717 00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:10,520 Speaker 1: read a pattern, and there I was portraying someone who 718 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,640 Speaker 1: is then most well known for sewing the first flag. 719 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:17,000 Speaker 1: I not thought of my portrayal as something suspect a 720 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,879 Speaker 1: Deil Neil's history, and the listener mail put it all 721 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:22,640 Speaker 1: together for me. I hope this message brought a smile 722 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 1: or a chuckle, as so many of your episodes do 723 00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:27,720 Speaker 1: for me. Stay amazing, as I know you will. Attached 724 00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: as yet another picture of Penny, who loves all the 725 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,840 Speaker 1: kisses you send, her away seriously in love with the stock. 726 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,560 Speaker 1: She also sent us pictures from a recent trip she 727 00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:40,440 Speaker 1: took to LA where she visited the Academy Museum of 728 00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:43,600 Speaker 1: Arts and Sciences. Did I say that right? I don't know, 729 00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:46,080 Speaker 1: but in any case, thank you, thank you, thank you 730 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,200 Speaker 1: for sharing your travels with us and all of your 731 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:51,480 Speaker 1: fun anecdotes. And that dog is really cute. Penny's a cutie. 732 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 1: But also I just I love these moments where we 733 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:58,319 Speaker 1: remember something from childhood, yeah, uh oh uh oh, but 734 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:02,160 Speaker 1: it is funny that she didn't inherit sewing. I think 735 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:04,120 Speaker 1: I've said on the show before a lot of people 736 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,879 Speaker 1: in my family, so I sew more than all of them, 737 00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:08,440 Speaker 1: and I did not want any of them to be 738 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:10,600 Speaker 1: teaching me. Not because they weren't great. My mom was 739 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:13,280 Speaker 1: an excellent seamstress, but like we did not get along, 740 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:15,839 Speaker 1: and also like her taste and my taste, we're not 741 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:18,719 Speaker 1: gonna ever align. So I understand this, although I went 742 00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:21,520 Speaker 1: the opposite direction of I will outpace all of you 743 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,000 Speaker 1: and make all my clothes. Thank you for sending us 744 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:25,839 Speaker 1: that email. If you would like to send us an 745 00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:31,040 Speaker 1: email for a childhood memory that we've accidentally jogged that 746 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,400 Speaker 1: makes you wonder if you were being appropriate or not, 747 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,000 Speaker 1: or if you just misrepresented yourself, you can do that 748 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,680 Speaker 1: at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can also 749 00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:42,480 Speaker 1: email about anything else you cared to you. You can 750 00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,200 Speaker 1: find the show notes for today's episode in all of 751 00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:48,600 Speaker 1: our episodes at mystinhistory dot com. We'll have all of 752 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:52,080 Speaker 1: the resources that we pulled from in creating these episodes 753 00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:56,839 Speaker 1: right there. On any given episodes, information you can also 754 00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:59,560 Speaker 1: subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere 755 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:07,400 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in 756 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,160 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts 757 00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:15,320 Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 758 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:16,880 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.