WWII Homefront

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:

Think you’ve got what it takes to make your own ‘vintage’ clothes?  Good for you!  You may have noticed by now that I post a lot of links to books here… it’s because research is key. So here, my friends, is a great place to do some research!

Why so many links for quilting books, you ask? Because they are going to show you reproduction prints of cotton fabrics that are going to make trips to the fabric store a whole new experience for you Go to the bookstore, or order online from the comfort of your own home, but check out what these books have to offer!

I put a lot of books up on here for you to look at today, then of course I had to go look at what I wanted to make for dinner tonight.

Silly me… Of COURSE you want to see what rationing cookbooks are out there!   You’re in for a treat, because there are some great ones!! Pick one up, and spend a week trying to eat only what was allowed!