Kids shoes were inexpensive Freeman, Hardy & Willis jobs in black with rubber soles. Lace-ups of course.

I was told leather breathed but only adults wore leather soles.

Older kids - from 11 say - aspired to winklepickers and Beatle boots in those days. Younger kids were not bothered.

Last edited by Kingston1an (2013-03-29 04:33:15)

As a small todler in the early 70s my mum started buying me proper leather soled dress shoes to be worn at churh on sunday or when visiting relative. When I started kindergarden I wore these exclusively but I also remember a few others that wore these also and you didn't see that many trainers. 

One make the I distinctly remember was nun Bush but can't remember what my mum was paying then, however these were the typical goodyear welted lace ups in black leather exterior and leather soled. I also remember that the soles would last about a year or so as I played and biked in these. My parents would have them resoled once or twice before the upper was gone. The resoling was done by a local cobler that would only do a half resole and this was glued not sewn like the original. You see even back then most coblers did hack jobs but tbh I didn't care back then as that brought me closer to a new pair. I quick look at the current Nun Busk offering reveals nothing but cheap crap alhtough I haven't seen these locally for decades

In the late 70s leather outer soles started to be covered by a finish called Neolite which prevented the sole from wicking up moisture (when playing in puddles of course). I only strated wearing trainers in the mid 80s when everyone in high school did as well. Half of the time i would still wear leather soled loafers though and would really stand out.

Wow amazing shooey about your grandfather and the shoes! People like that are a dying breed and it's a shame because they are so interesting to talk to and bounce ideas off of.

You know I would try to condition the brown shooes a little, not to wear obviously but to keep them in a collection. It would be awesome to dig up every single pair of shoes you still have, both the ones you wear and those that are dead, and put them in thier own display room. A bit like a museum just for yourself.

I unfortuneately have not kept a single pair of shoes that I wore prior to college. I had disassembled many of these to see how they were made and the threw them out. It's kinda funny because i was already a shoe bug and collector of many things, so not sure what got over me to throw out these shoes. Now all I have is memories of the details and I have obviously forgotten alot. Man it would have been great to have kept even a single pair of my shoes when I was a toddler just to show my own kids how shoes were back then. It's funny because my own daughter has the shoe bug and not because of any encouragement from me.

It's crazy how shoe quality has gone down hill. I just saw an add a few minutes ago on the tele for Payless shoes advertizing some shoes for $9.95 cdn for women and kids. Can you imagine what crap these must be. I mean I get good shoe laces for that price.

Last edited by xenon1 (2013-03-30 08:22:17)

I got my first shoes, Florsheim as well, back when I was 15. Black loafers. I actually just got rid of them a couple years ago, kind of regret it.