What do you call them in your neck of the woods then? Plimsolls, gym shoes, daps, pumps, tennis shoes, rubbers, sandshoes, sneakers, trainers, tackies... A lightweight canvas sports shoe with a rubber sole
My first plimsolls were black, with an elasticated gusset, so we could easily slip them on for PE at school [having first removed outer clothes, and were just in our vest and pants]
In the mid 19th C they were called sandshoes, but the coloured horizontal band joining the sole to the upper got them the nickname "Plimsoll" after the Load Line round a ship which had just been introduced
If you got water above that line on your shoes, your feet would get wet!
At secondary school we had to have white plimsolls for tennis. Mine came from a bloke on Romford Market I think. Other people [with more money!] had 'proper' Dunlop Green Flash shoes. Worn at Wimbledon since 1929 [Fred Perry, three times champion wore them and won, three years in a row, 1934-1936] The ad on the left is 25 years old!
White plimsolls were back in fashion in 2021, and I treated myself to a pair from Muji. How bright and white they were when I got them. I have worn them a lot during the last three summers, with jeans, and with skirts. They are cool and comfortable.
But now it is almost October, and they'll go away with my summer clothes till next Easter. They looked so grey and grubby last week. I have scrubbed them well with a mixture of Washing Powder and Vanish, and soaked the laces in more of the WP&V solution.
I rinsed them and pegged them on the airer to dry.
I did not risk putting them through the washing machine in case they disintegrated! Clothes
and shoes put into winter storage should be put away
clean. Though I doubt these will ever regain their virgin purity!
Perhaps I should treat myself to a bottle of Cherry Blossom Sports Whitener. I remember Grandad watching some cricketers and muttering about their dirty shoes. In
his day, every man kept his sports footwear [and parts of his army uniform too] pristine white with
an application of Blanco...
How times have changed! My grandchildren wear shoes with velcro straps, and trainers you can run under the tap or put through the washing machine!!
My children's primary school required all the pupils to wear black plimsolls as indoor shoes. Back in the 'olden days' when we were young we had to have regulation Clarks or start-rite proper leather indoor AND outdoor shoes; at boarding school I neded an extra pair of indoor shoes, one pair at school and one pair in the boarding house about a mile away. Talk about ££££!
ReplyDeleteAt the end of a Summer term I decorated my daughter's black plimsolls with gold decor paint snd she happily wore them all thrthe holidays. That was quite a saving.
I love the golden slippers! I remember painting a green pair of shoes black once, so they could be worn as uniform shoes, to save £££
DeleteI use the word Daps from when I lived in Bristol. I wear Sketchers, black ones that look like plimsolls. I started wearing them when we lived on the boat and I still wear them now, especially when walking the dog.
ReplyDeleteDaps is definitely Wales /West Country. I met a lady at church yesterday who showed me her new Sketchers, "my podiatrist recommends them" she told me.
DeleteWe call them plimsolls here. I wear Sketchers nearly all the time. I have black, navy blue and a turquoise pair. They all wash really well in the washing machine. They are not stylish but oh so comfortable. My feet complain when I have to wear "proper" shoes. You got your white plimsolls quite pristine again. No plimsolls today it is pouring with rain here Wellingtons are called for. Regards Sue H
DeleteThrowing it down with rain here too.🌧️☂️🌧️
DeleteMy husband 's maternal family came from Bristol and his gran used to say " just dap across the road."
DeleteJean.
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DeleteThat's odd. I sent a longer comment about school, plimsolls, deck shoes and shoe whitener, prior to the dap one, and it doesn't appear to have arrived.
DeleteJean.
It has just arrived, along with another sent by someone else at same time. But the Internet went weird around 9am (Norfolk is a bit odd!) I have replied below...
DeletePlimsolls is the moniker I use!
ReplyDeleteI've heard people restore their white trainers to pristine with Nancy Birtwhistle's Cream cleaner recipe. Perhaps you could give it a try making it? Kxx
I must check that out. Thanks kezzie
DeleteDaps in Wales! Never heard them callled this anywhere else. I had completely forgotten shoe whitener for white sandals. Also , cutting the toes out of leather sandals to get one more wear. Best wishes Jill
ReplyDeleteCousin Gill and I always had new white sandals every year for the Sunday School anniversary!
DeleteAt Grammar School my black plimsolls had laces, white plimsolls for tennis. I now buy the black ones with elasticated sides for gardening as they are comfortable when kneeling to weed. I remember white plimsolls being fashionable in the 1960's and wore them with flaired jeans. I've worn white plimsolls for the last few summers and also different coloured canvas deck shoes. Once you could easily buy plimsoll whitener for canvas, but now all I can find in the shops is leather whitener for trainers and it doesn't work on canvas.
ReplyDeleteJean.
I think that cherry blossom do a leather one AND a canvas one
DeleteWhere I was brought up in Fife, it was gym shoes or gutties, the latter presumably from guttapercha. My slippers were/are baffies maybe from the word bauchle, an old shoe. My Shetland relatives call slippers smucks which I think is of Scandinavian origin.
ReplyDeleteOh such gorgeous words [I have been fascinated by the word guttapercha since childhood] I found a great website "Dictionaries of the Scots Languages" which explains all your words. You're right about Scandi origins. And you sew your smucks with a smuckie-needle !! I don't recall Dougie Henshall mentioning his smucks on Shetland though.
DeletePlimsolls here. My daughter always called them "plimmies" she believed they made her run faster.
ReplyDeleteI do think that your white shoes came up very clean. Most people in our "throwaway society" would have binned them, but yours are just grand.
I like the idea of super-powered plimmies!
DeleteWe called them pumps, but the school referred to them as plimsolls in the list of required items for the school uniform. I never wore them out of school but do remember the distinctive pong of numerous pairs of canvas shoes lined up in the changing rooms!
ReplyDeleteEeew! I wish you hadnt reminde dme of that!
Deletewe called them plimsolls and I had white ones too when Was at school ,but didn't wear for school mine were for the evening out with my mates to play, we hadn't got whitener so i used to clean them up with white emulsion paint out of my dads shed it worked, but yours have come up a treat how you've cleaned them.
ReplyDeleteVanish and washing powder paste
DeleteWe always called them 'pumps' whether they were the black ones for school or the white ones for playing out in. Dad made sure that I whitened my playing out shoes regularly, so I was always happy when my leather school shoes got scruffy and I was allowed to finish trashing them for the summer holidays.
ReplyDeleteDads often had the responsibility of family shoe cleaning, didn't they?
DeleteWe call them sneakers in Canada, but I seem to remember plimsolls at school and also heard trainers used in England in later years.
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DeleteI always called them pumps and had black and white pairs. I can remember scrubbing the black ones in a tin bath with a nail brush and using shoe whitener. Dad played cricket and had special whitener for his boots and can remember Mum muttering under her breath as she tried to get the red leather ball marks out of his trousers from where he'd been trying to get a shine on the ball. Hugs Xx
ReplyDeleteDo young people today clean their shoes? and can they tie laces?
DeleteIris can tie her own shoelaces, Xx
DeleteWell done Iris- you have a great GD there, by the sound of it!!
DeleteWe called them gutters and I had to use the white blanco stuff on them as my father was a stickler for smart footwear. I’m a big Sketchers fan now as I need comfort for walking. Early time for boots to go on as the weather is colder and somewhat wet. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI wore boots today as it was cold and wet here
ReplyDeleteI used to call them tennis shoes when I was growing up, but, over here, they are called sneakers. You got your shoes all nice and clean after washing them!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised how white they were once dry
DeleteI remember black pumps at primary school. Reading about the loadline around ships, I can see why they also got the name plimsolls too.
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