WWII Homefront

You’ve heard the Beach Boys singing about them… but huarache sandals have  been around since before the Beach Boys were born!  Originating in Latin American countries, made of woven hand-tooled leather uppers and soles, they began appearing in Mexican markets around 1936. Eventually the soles were replaced with rubber from worn tires, but the year this began is not specific.   They were originally a peasant shoe, and the smaller sizes made them popular with American women.  Some modern pairs have lasted their owners up to 20 years!  Now THAT is a long-lived shoe!  Huaraches are traditionally hand-made, so no two pairs are ever exactly alike.

Sure, we’ve all heard of Keds….  people refer to those little white oxford-type canvas sneakers as Keds regardless of whether or not they actually ARE…. simply because it’s easier to associate a brand name than call them ‘little white sneakers’.  While this is important to note in product branding, it has been ingrained for four generations now, and is likely to stick.

Lets give you a little history on the little white sneaker…

This is direct from Wikipedia:  ”A plimsoll shoe or simply plimsoll is a type of athletic shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole, developed as beachwear in the 1830s by the Liverpool Rubber Company (later to become Dunlop). The shoe was originally, and often still is in parts of the UK, called a ‘sand shoe’ and acquired the nickname ‘plimsoll’ in the 1870s. This name derived, according to Nicholette Jones’ book “The Plimsoll Sensation”, because the coloured horizontal band joining the upper to the sole resembled the plimsoll line on a ship’s hull, or because, just like the Plimsoll line on a ship, if water got above the line of the rubber sole, the wearer would get wet.”

BUT WAIT… There’s more.  This is where it gets interesting….

“As it was commonly used for corporal punishment in the British Commonwealth, where it was the typical gym shoe (part of the school uniform), plimsolling is also a synonym for a slippering. ” (you know… smacking someone around with a soft shoe to punish them)

“They were generally black or white with a few in brown.

In most of North America, they are known as sneakers or tennis shoes, depending on the regional dialect. In the UK these shoes were compulsory in schools’ physical education lessons and today are still generally known as Plimsolls or pumps. Regional terms are common for these. In Northern Ireland and central Scotland they are usually known as gutties; “sannies” (from ‘sand shoe’) is also used in Scotland. In parts of Southern England and Wales they are known as “daps” or “dappers”. There is a widespread belief that “daps” is taken from a factory sign – “Dunlop Athletic Plimsoles” which was called “the DAP factory”. However, this seems unlikely as the first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary of “dap” for a rubber soled shoe is a March 1924 use in the Western Daily Press newspaper; Dunlop did not acquire the Liverpool Rubber Company (as part of the merger with the Macintosh group of companies) until 1925.In South Africa they are called tekkies and in East Africa Tackies allegedly because that is how the rubber went in the sun. In India, white plimsolls are often worn by school children and are known as Keds. The brown version is used by most police and military units as a gym training shoe; they are also part of the uniform of a batman (military). or else”

That was the Keds tie-in…

Keds  as a brand were introduced in 1916, by US Rubber (later called Uniroyal).  They were first mass-marketed with the designation of “sneakers” in 1917, because the canvas uppers and rubber soles made no noise

SOOO… now you know more about the little white sneaker, and that they came in more colors.  Let’s show you some links!

These are the British Army style plimsolls, which you’d use for WWII reenacting, available at What Price Glory:

And THESE are several styles of ‘Keds’ you can still get just about anywhere:

The saddle shoe was introduced in 1906 by Spalding (yes, the same one that makes baskeballs!) Not precisely what you would imagine for athletic footwear, it was actually indeed created with tennis and squash players as its main market. The black ‘saddle’ middle of the shoe helped to stabilize the foot during activity.

This shoe was originally intended for sports, but because of its stylish lines and clean look, it soon became popular with young men and women all over, with all different sorts of clothing!

So to keep your feet comfy and stylish, a retro pair of black-and-white saddle shoes with the bubblegum pink rubber sole just might be the way to go at your next retro event!

Originally begun during WWII, when there was a leather shortage, Hoy Saltwater Sandals were made from scraps from boot factories!!

Hoy Sandals are now offered in not only children’s footwear, but ladies as well.  Super durable, and long-wearing because of it’s vulcanized rubber sole, these shoes are NOT an emerging trend- they’re a continuing one!

Here are some examples of Hoy Saltwater Sandals offered on Amazon.com:

I was looking for a uniform for a friend online this morning, on ebay, and I had to contact no fewer than NINE sellers who didn’t list ANYTHING about the size of the uniform!  But I hadn’t told you nice people how par for the course this really is.

When you are shopping for clothing on a site like ebay, you want to know the sizes you are shopping FOR.  This doesn’t mean you go looking for dresses in a size 12.  If you are a modern size 12, you are FAR from a vintage size 12.  So, lets get your measurements ready! The ones you will need, that make the most difference in how the clothing fits are:

shoulders (you’ll need help for this one, unless you measure a garment you know fits already)

chest (circumference, and in case you have really bad math days, write down what half of it is as well, so you will know if someone says the chest measures 20″ flat from pit to pit that it will fit your 38″ chest with room to spare)

waist (no cheating!  nobody cares what your waist size is besides you, seriously. measure it around your navel)

hips (again with the no cheating!  you want your clothing to fit; you don’t want to look like someone pour 10lbs of dough into a 5lb bag)

inseam (measure from your ankle on up on the inside of your leg… you may want assistance with this)

height (shoes don’t count)

waist-to-knee (or thereabouts, so you will know where a skirt will fall on you if they mention the skirt length)

hat size  (this is actually quite easy- and Everything2 has a great chart and instructions for measuring)

Sounds easy, right?  Actually it is.

The things you need to remember are that A) sellers will rarely list measurements for things they consider to be ‘collectible’  B)you MUST check to see if their measurements are FLAT or AROUND. If they don’t say, don’t be afraid to ask them.  C) sellers want to SELL!  If you have any question at all ask them!  If they don’t answer, or are rude, move on. You don’t need it that badly.

Try this conversion chart on Vintage Swank if you aren’t sure.

Another thing to know ahead of time is your age. Don’t laugh. Some people have got it in their head that every woman in the 1940′s was a pinup, and that nobody really wore anything modest.  SOOOOO WRONG.

If you are in your 30′s or 40′s, and are not built like a swimsuit model, don’t be afraid to wear something that is NOT pinup styling. You can be beautiful in whatever dress you put on!  I myself have decided that shirtwaist dresses, cotton stockings, and oxfords are amazingly comfortable compared to heels and cocktail dresses, so I am not afraid to wear them.

So, go get your measurements, and go look for something hot!