Keds (shoes)

Keds
Subsidiary
Industry Sportswear and Sports Goods
Founded 1916 (1916)
Headquarters Lexington, Massachusetts, United States
Areas served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Gillian Meek, President
Blake Kruger, CEO of Wolverine World Wide
Products Footwear
Parent Wolverine World Wide
Website www.keds.com

Keds is an American brand of canvas shoes with rubber soles. Founded in 1916,[1] the company is owned by Wolverine World Wide.[2] The original shoe design, the Champion, was the first mass-marketed canvas-top "sneaker."[3]

History

Early history

Keds Champion sneaker, for women, 1916

In 1916, U.S. Rubber, one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896,[4] consolidated 30 different shoe brand names to create one company. Initially, the brand name "Peds" was chosen for the company from the Latin word for feet, but the name was already trademarked. Keds was founded in 1916 and was later acquired by Stride Rite Corporation.[5][6] Because the shoes had a soft rubber sole, they became known as sneakers as the rubber soles allowed "sneaking around silently".[7][8][9] By the early 1920s, the shoes were worn by Olympic soccer players, national and international tennis champions, and college athletes.[10] In 1926, the Keds Triumph shoe was introduced.[11]

1930–2000

Keds released "Kedettes", a line of washable high-heeled shoes for women, in 1938.[12][13][14] In 1949, Pro-Keds were introduced as a line of sneakers designed for athletic performance.[15] Designed specifically for basketball players, the original style, the Royal Tread,[16] was endorsed by George Mikan. In 1953, the Minneapolis Lakers were outfitted with Pro-Keds.[17] Pro-Keds were intended to compete with the industry standard, Converse.[17][18][19] Pro-Keds were worn by NBA stars including Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate "Tiny" Archibald, JoJo White, Bob Love, Lou Hudson, Bob Lanier and "Pistol" Pete Maravich,[16] as well as music icons, The Ramones.[20] The shoe earned cult status in the hip-hop community by the late 1970s.[16]

Stride Rite Corporation purchased Keds and Sperry Top-Sider from Uniroyal in 1979 for $18 million.[18][21]

In the 1990s, Demi Moore voiced a television campaign for Keds.[22] Mischa Barton, who starred in The O.C., became the face of Keds in an ad campaign in the late 2000s.[23]

Post-2000

In January 2012, Rick Blackshaw was appointed brand president of Keds.[24] Collective Brands Inc., the parent company of Stride Rite Corporation and Keds, was acquired by Wolverine World Wide for $1.32 billion in May 2012.[2] In September 2014, Chris Linder, former CMO and senior vice president of business development for Sperry Top-Sider, became president of Keds.[25]

Keds launched the "Ladies First Since 1916" campaign in July 2015, which focuses on female empowerment and featured celebrities including Taylor Swift.[26] In 2016 Keds celebrated its centennial and the continuation of its "Ladies First Since 1916" campaign[27] with a birthday celebration held during New York Fashion Week.[28] The company also announced that its shoe manufacturing was moving to Michigan, in the U.S. for the first time in 35 years.[27]

The shoes have been featured in television and film including Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen) on Saved by the Bell, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and D.J. (Candace Cameron) on Full House, Lucy Camden on 7th Heaven, Becca Thatcher (Kellie Martin) on Life Goes On, Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) in Dirty Dancing, and Cat (Ariana Grande) on Sam and Cat.

The shoes have been worn by celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman, Betty White, Humphrey Bogart, Ariana Grande, Fred Rogers, and Taylor Swift.[9][13]

In the Stephen King novella Apt Pupil, guidance counselor Ed French owns several pairs of Keds, which he (incorrectly) believes will endear him to the student body. They nickname him "Sneaker Pete" and "The Ked Man."

Keds has produced collaborative collections with companies including Kate Spade New York, Madewell, Opening Ceremony, Steven Alan and Alice + Olivia. In 2009, Keds launched a collaboration with Loomstate which was sold at Barneys. The shoes were made with organic cotton, recycled rubber and non-toxic inks and dyes.[29]

Keds are mentioned in the Wheatus song Teenage Dirtbag. The shoes are worn by Noelle, the girl the subject of the song.[30]

The Ray Stevens song The Streak mentions Keds "Didn't have on nothin' but his Keds! / Made a hook shot and got out through the concession stand"

References

  1. ↑ "99 Years of Keds". ATHM. April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  2. 1 2 John Kell (May 1, 2012). "Owner of Stride Rite, Payless to Be Split Up". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ Robert J. Baptista (May 19, 2009). "Naugatuck Chemical Company". Colorants History. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ "The 12 original Dow stocks: Where are they now?". MSN. July 1, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Keds Sneakers". Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  6. ↑ Evan Morris (November 9, 2004). From Altoids to Zima:The Surprising Stories Behind 125 Famous Brand Names. Simon and Schuster.
  7. ↑ "Keds Brings Sneaker Art to Gortz 17 Stores". Sportswear International. April 13, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  8. ↑ "It Isn't Spring Without Keds". Trendsylvania. May 4, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Roseary Feitelberg (November 23, 2011). "Keds Kicks Off Apparel at Opening Ceremony". WWD. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  10. ↑ Stephanie Pedersen (August 15, 2005). Shoes: What Every Woman Should Know. David & Charles.
  11. ↑ "Mark McNairy x Keds Triumph Canvas". FNG Magazine. July 9, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Kedettes". The Hutchinson News. April 19, 1938.
  13. 1 2 "Marketing Keds to a New Generation of Feet". University of Pennsylvania. February 24, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  14. ↑ Jean Williams (April 24, 2014). A Contemporary History of Women's Sport, Part One. Routledge.
  15. ↑ Martin Marks (October 23, 2009). "Flashback: Bobbito Garcia Revamps The Pro-Keds Royal Flash". Paper Magazine. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 Mari Davis (January 13, 2009). "Pro-Keds Shoes: The Original Court King". Fashion Windows. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  17. 1 2 Nick Santora (October 16, 2012). "The 50 Most Influential Sneaker Sponsorships in Sports History". Complex. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  18. 1 2 Stephen M. Pribut, Douglas H. Richie. "2002: A Sneaker Odyssey". Dr. Stephem M. Pribut's Sport Pages. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  19. ↑ Yuniya Kawaura (January 28, 2016). Sneakers: Fashion, Gender, and Subculture. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  20. ↑ Tyler Atwood (April 4, 2014). "How Did Converse Become Popular? A Brief History of The Iconic Sneaker". Bustle. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  21. ↑ N. R. Kleinfield (March 23, 1986). "Sailing To The Top". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  22. ↑ "My Life As A Voice: The Road to Show Biz Through your Golden Pipes". Los Angeles Times. June 18, 1995. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Mischa Face of Keds". New Idea. December 5, 2006. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Collective Brands Appoints Rick Blackshaw as Keds Brand President". Marketing Weekly News. February 11, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Executive Changes at Wolverine Worldwide". Sportswear International. September 16, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  26. ↑ Lara O'Reilly (July 22, 2015). "Keds wants Taylor Swift to transform its canvas shoes into feminist icons". Business Insider. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  27. 1 2 Rhonda Schaffler (February 9, 2016). "Keds' President on How to Keep a 100-Year Old Brand on Its Toes". The Street. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  28. ↑ Gina Marinelli (February 12, 2016). "Ciara Sang At A 100th Birthday Party This Week". Refinery 29. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Loomstate makes eco-friendly Keds". Los Angeles Times. June 12, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Teenage dirtbag lyrics Wheatus". Retrieved June 18, 2016.
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