In the Wall Street Journal’s OFF DUTY Section, the lead story is about “Enchantingly Weird Shoes,’ ‘There’s an Ugly Shoe for You.’” They’ve listed a unisex guide to, Sneakers, Mules, Sandals, and Dress shoes.
The only shoe I can really identify with, are sneakers. I do wear “The North Face,” water sandals, but that’s another story. They listed three weird, and ugly sneakers. The “Pre-Tattered Trainer,” listed for $1,090.00, “The Red Racer,” listed for $300.00, and “The Stout Canvas Stomper,” listed for $120.00.
This article made me think of the state of sneakers today. There are so many different brands on the market, you would think it would be very difficult for the kids, or unfortunately adults of today to come to an easy decision, which brand do I buy? Actually, that decision is really controlled by the advertising, which celebrity is wearing the hottest sneaker, and so on.
Well, it wasn’t very different when I was growing up in Brooklyn, New York in the 40’s, and 50’s. Of course, our choices were limited to only two brands.
When the end of June rolled around, it meant that school was out, until right after Labor Day. The daily uniform for those summer months was t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. We never wore sneakers, during the school year. It was a public school, no special uniforms, but an individual guide to what was acceptable. A buttoned shirt, with a collar, and of any color. Except on Wednesday, which was, “Assembly,” and you had to wear a white shirt. Regular trousers, of any color, and oxford shoes.
So, sneakers were a summer-time luxury. Sneakers were very important, since I was on the go constantly with the guys, from sun-up to sun-down. All of the games we played were all physical, and required a good, sturdy pair of sneakers. Also, I was only getting one new pair at the start of summer, and they had to last until school started.
The two brands of sneakers that we could choose from were Keds, and PF Canvas. Between the two brands, the “In” sneaker to have, was the Keds. The PF Canvas sneaker was cheaper, and it didn’t have at that time, a sole that was as thick, as the Keds sneakers. Also, I think the color choice was only black, possibly also white. Anyway, it was the Keds sneaker that you had to have, to be “In” for the summer.
Even though they were more expensive, my father always made sure that I had a pair of Keds sneakers, to start my summer. Now, to be really “In,” the only style was the high tops. Anything other than that, was considered not part of the summer uniform. Most important was the choice of color. There was a range starting with the traditional black, a color none of us wanted. There was red, but even this color was not chosen much. That left the top two colors of choice, white, and blue. White was very “In,” but it had a big disadvantage in that with all our games, running through backyards, and cellars, it was not a practical color to stay clean throughout the entire summer. My father brought up these reasons, as we whittled down the choices to, of course blue. Since blue was still considered very “In” that’s what I got almost every summer.
As you can see, even back then, there were some important issues to consider, when it came to buying sneakers, but not as complicated as today. The price in the 40’s, and 50’s, was a whopping $3.95. You can see how far we’ve come.
