Collecting sneakers is like scrapbooking. It’s about preserving memories, marking a place and time. When I ask my son what he’s going to do with his sneakers when he doesn’t wear them anymore, he tells me he’s going to keep them. He says that even now, he just likes to open the boxes and remember where he was and what he was doing when he wore his prized purchases. Annette John-Hall, ‘Sneaker-collecting Trend Gains Traction, Sneaker Collecting: Scrapbooking for the Feet’, Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 July 2006 A sneakerhead has knowledge of releases, material, history, and availability that runs deeper than the box they come in. A regular person may compliment you on your blue and white Nikes; a sneakerhead will stop you in your tracks to learn how you acquired the Nike Air Jordan 1 High ‘North Carolina’ like a dying man asking for an antidote. Keith Nelson Jr, ‘#SneakerHeads: How a New Generation of Sneaker Fans Are Taking over the Internet’, Digital Trends, 24 October 2015 The eminently modern sneaker is an innovation of the industrial age. From their origins in the nineteenth century, the history of sneakers has been intertwined with the pursuit of technological innovation as well as the politics of consumption. Today, sneakers are worn around the world and in many ways could be considered the most democratic form of footwear, yet commodification and branding have transformed some into highly coveted objects of desire that are increasingly central to men’s fashion. Under the broad category of ‘sneaker’ lies a wide range of nuanced meanings linked to exclu- sivity, social aspiration, athletic prowess and shifting constructions 1 of idealized masculinity. Pierre Hardy was inspired by the artwork of Roy Lichtenstein when designing this pair of Poworamas, translating the artist’s graphic appeal into wearable art. French, 2011. Sneakers: Exclusivity 225 The story of the sneaker starts in the forests of South and Central America, where the indigenous people had used the milky sap of the ‘weeping wood’ tree (Hevea brasiliensis, or rubber tree) to make everything from rubber balls to waterproof footwear for centuries. Europeans became aware of this unusual substance in the sixteenth century but it did not arouse much interest until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the remarkable elasticity and waterproof qualities of the gum began to fascinate Western scientists. By the early nineteenth century inventors as well as the public were be- coming enamoured with the substance, and the introduction of rubber overshoes made in Brazil for export to the u.s. and Europe in the 1820s created a rubber craze.2 The price for these remarkably stretchy and waterproof overshoes was five times that of leather footwear, marking them as luxury goods that reflected the high cost of rubber due to its relative scarcity.3 Rubber tree cultivation was extremely labour-intensive and trees could only be tapped every other day, with each tapping yielding about one cup of latex, as the sap came to be called. Despite this challenge there were high hopes for the new type of waterproof overshoe, including health considerations, which would go on to become a core motivation for the acquisition of sneakers: What a crowd of painful recollections are conjured up in the mind of the physician, of any age and experience, by the words wet feet . The child which had been playing about in the morning in all its infantile loveliness and vivacity, is seized at night with croup from wet feet, and in a day or two is a corpse.4 This lament in the Journal of Health in 1829 promoted rubber overshoes as a means of keeping illness at bay, but despite the potential health benefits sought by doctors and hopes for quick profits envisioned Stretchy, waterproof overshoes made in Brazil for the Western market captured the imagination of consumers but proved to be unstable in both hot and cold temperatures. Brazilian, 1830s. 226 Sneakers: Exclusivity by importers, Brazilian-made overshoes proved to be unstable. They melted in the heat of summer and cracked in the bitter cold of winter, and the market collapsed.5 Notwithstanding the ensuing ‘rubber panic’, many continued to strive to make rubber a stable and useful material. Charles Goodyear was one of many focused on the task. His dedication to the potential of rubber verged on mania, and he saw a future in which almost everything, from dishes and jewellery to clothing and footwear, would be made of the material.6 Goodyear began his experiments in 1834, during one of his repeated stints in debtors’ prison, with a batch of raw rubber and his wife’s rolling pin. He finally hit upon the solution in 1839. Building on the experiments of Nathaniel Hayward, he began adding sulphur to boiling latex and eventually created a material that retained its elasticity while remaining impervious to heat or cold. The British scientist Thomas Hancock, inspired by Goodyear’s experi- ments, further developed the process in England, where, according to his book on his work, a friend dubbed it ‘vulcanization’ after the ancient Roman god of fire, Vulcan.7 The ability to transform raw latex into durable rubber paved the way for many revolutionary consumer items, including sneakers. Sneakers: Exclusivity 227 Early sneakers were canvas or leather shoes with rubber soles, and despite their humble appearance they began as costly luxuries with social implications, like their overshoe predecessors. The nineteenth century was a period of booming industrialization, which gave rise to an upwardly mobile middle class, and leisure time, long a privilege of the rich, was eagerly pursued as a means of proclaiming one’s new- found status. This in turn led to a demand for specialized equipment and clothing designed specifically for these amusements. Enterprising manufacturers began to offer rubber-soled athletic shoes at prices reflecting not only the high cost of rubber but also the financial success of their intended clientele. Establishing exactly when the first sneaker was made and for exactly what purpose remains elusive. Wait Webster was granted a United States patent for his process of attaching India rubber soles to shoes in 1832, but there is no indication that he intended this process to be used specifically for athletic footwear.8 A mention is made in the 1835 Public Documents of Massachusetts, a few years in advance of Many 19th-century women’s sport shoes were appropriate for a range of activities, including tennis. The brogue detailing is a nod to the male wardrobe. Italian, late 19th century. 228 Sneakers: Exclusivity Goodyear’s breakthrough, concerning the adhesion of rubber soles to sports shoes. Although the material used for the uppers is not disclosed, it is noteworthy that rubber-soled footwear was being designed for sports.9 The frequently touted claim that the British Liverpool Rubber Company introduced sneakers in the 1830s is disproved by the fact that the company did not appear until 1861. The other common theory, that John Boyd Dunlop, the inventor of the pneumatic bicycle tyre and founder of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, later the Dunlop Rubber Company, was the inventor of the sneaker in the 1830s is also put to rest as he was not born until 1840 and his company was not established until 1890. There is no question that the Dunlop company did go on to produce sneakers, including the famous Dunlop Green Flash, but that was not until the late 1920s. In the United States, the Candee Rubber Company has been posited as the originator of sneakers. They certainly made croquet shoes, but it is difficult to establish what a croquet shoe was exactly. In 1868 Gentleman’s Magazine advised, ‘In wet weather, if anxious mammas forbid thin shoes, shoes may be cast away al- together, and India-rubbers substituted, not over the shoe, but over the sock or stocking.’10 Other period sources suggest that croquet shoes, also called croquet sandals, were simply rubber overshoes.11 Similarly, sandshoes are described for seaside wear, but what consti- tuted a sandshoe is challenging to determine. Period descriptions often suggest that the soles were made of cork. There can be no argument, however, as proved by mid-nineteenth century advertisements and newspaper articles, that tennis shoes were made with rubber soles.12 An article from Harper’s Bazaar in 1881 on the appropriate dress for lawn tennis includes the advice to women to wear bright-coloured stockings with low canvas shoes without heels. It goes on to praise these flat shoes for offering a reprieve from high heels and allowing ‘the female foot for once to touch mother earth’, saying that this alone is worth the rest of the game.13 Despite advice like this, many women’s tennis shoes were made with heels. The article also discusses men’s tennis outfits, noting that they too wore a ‘cool canvas shoe . with corrugated India rubber soles’. In their specialized tennis Sneakers: Exclusivity 229 garb both men and women enjoyed the game and often played it together. The game of doubles infused the sport with the air of romance. The writer R. K. Munkittrick’s (1853–1911) fond recollec- tion of his first pair of tennis shoes reflects these cultural ideas about the game, but also suggests that sentimentality and nostalgic long- ing have been a part of sneaker culture from its origin: I note my first pair of tennis-shoes . I was told I needed the exercise to reduce my weight and keep me in good condition. Various young ladies offered to teach me to play, and make me acquainted with all the mysteries of the game.