The other day a friend of mine who is fairly in the know referred to my Bean Boots as "gumshoes." In my 30-year acquaintance with the style, I must confess I've never heard the expression. Has anyone else?
When I was growing up, of course, everyone called them "duck shoes," although that appelation is often used to describe the colorful rubber rain boots also favored in preppy circles at the time.
When I was in middle school in 1981, a girl I had a terrible crush on was the first in our class to acquire Beans. She hated me, but her leadership had already inspired an entire clique of sixth-grade girls to don Oxford shirts, jeans, and Aigner belts on a daily basis, and it wasn't long before our relatively pedestrian canvas Nikes were surrounded on all sides by the famous chain-tread soles.
It was a very intimidating time, but the schoolyard never looked better!
Isn't it because the soles were originally made from gum rubber? Also, isn't it sort of a Yankee term - not heard much in the south?
ReplyDeleteThat may be part of the explanation. But as it turns out, it's also Bean's name for a lace-up variation that occupies the middle ground between the boot and the mocassin. See here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/19069?pi=198059&qs=3012739-Google_Base&subrnd=0
Thanks to Tom Davidson for pointing this out.