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 I’m
sure everyone has at least one pair of sneakers.
Today, sneakers are very popular among people of all ages
-- children and adults alike. But have you ever
wondered about the history
of sneakers? This week, let’s learn about the amazing history of sneakers!
A long time ago, sneakers
did not exist. But shoes have been
around as long as humans have existed. Even
primitive humans needed foot coverings to protect their feet. Sandals
made out of grass or leather were the most primitive
shoes to exist.
As our human culture and craft skills evolved, so did our shoes.
Soon, shoes became not only
a means of protecting one’s
feet, but a fashion statement -- just
as clothing has changed with fashions through the ages, so have
shoes.
The first rubber soled shoes called
plimsolls were developed and manufactured in the United States in
the late 1800s. But they were
very crude because there was no
right foot or left foot! Around 1892, the U.S. Rubber
Company came up with more comfortable rubber sneakers
with canvas tops.
 By 1917,
these sneakers began to be mass produced. They got
the nickname “sneakers” because
they were so quiet that a person wearing
them could sneak up on someone! That
same year, Marquis Converse
produced the first shoe made just for basketball called Converse All-Stars.
In 1924, sneakers went international. That’s when
a German man named Adi Dassler
created a sneaker that he
named after himself -- Adidas. This brand became the most popular
athletic shoe in the world.
Adi’s brother Rudi started up another famous sports shoe company -- Puma.
During the first half of the 20th
century, sports shoes were worn mostly to play sports. But
in the 1950s, children began wearing them as fashion statements.
Even more teens followed the trend after seeing James
Dean in sneakers in the popular movie Rebel Without a Cause. |
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