World's oldest basketball shoes (hoax!)
SEE UPDATE BELOW
These may be one of the oldest pairs of basketball sneakers in the world. The shoes were manufactured by the Colchester Rubber Company which shut down in 1893. Vintage clothing dealer Gary Pifer paid 50 cents for them at an estate sale in Vista, California. From CafeTerra:
UPDATE: Hey, looks like this story was a marketing ploy! (Thanks, William Gibson!)
These may be one of the oldest pairs of basketball sneakers in the world. The shoes were manufactured by the Colchester Rubber Company which shut down in 1893. Vintage clothing dealer Gary Pifer paid 50 cents for them at an estate sale in Vista, California. From CafeTerra:
"World's first basketball sneakers 116 years old found at an estate sale""In a instant, I knew this discovery would be re-writing basketball and sneaker history, as these sneakers are 25 years older than the 1917 Converse All-Stars", added Pifer. The Colchester Rubber Co. was located in Colchester, Connecticut and was in business from 1888 to 1893.
UPDATE: Hey, looks like this story was a marketing ploy! (Thanks, William Gibson!)
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Those look amazing! I would have imagined it would have taken longer to refine the basketball shoe, but these shoes come from around the same time as creation of the sport itself and they look modern.
Here is some more pics and info http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz-k2ENd5pU
They do look so modern and contemporary. The design has obviously endured.
Some sports shoe manufacturers have their own in-house archives/museum of models of shoes and the development of designs.
I realized growing up in Connecticut that so many wonderful things are there or came from there; Winchester Rifles, Hedge Funds, Fairfield County, George W. Bush, etc. This is just one more reason to say how proud I am being a Yankee.
They look remarkably similar to the Buzz Rickson & William Gibson shoes.
http://hypebeast.com/2008/10/buzz-rickson-william-gibson-athletic-shoes/
Winchester Rifles, Hedge Funds, Fairfield County, George W. Bush, etc.
You forgot lawyers!*. Litchfield had the first US law school
I also blame Connecticut.
* - lawyers being both the cause and solution to the above mentioned problems.
I'm calling BS on this. It doesn't pass the smell test.
The only "proof" these shoes date to 1892 comes from the guy who "discovered" them--then started selling "replicas" via mail-order catalogs.
There's no historical evidence to back this story up. There are all the red flags of a hoax: No provenance, no historical record, companies that no longer exist. NPR got suckered by it four years ago.
Brilliant marketing, poor history.
They have their own site:
http://colchesterrubberco.com/welcome.html
Very cool idea, and I think it's almost entirely a hoax. I wish they really did intend to make them, though--I'd buy a pair. I guess we'll find out some day.
yeah, I'm feeling totally duped. The shoes in the photo are obviously modern. They are made from http://colchesterrubberco.com/ who probably created the whole "first shoe" story to promote their "replicas".
They still look good though.
I'm with Aaron. Smells like marketing.
The near-pristine condition of the rubber alone is enough to make me doubt that the shoes in that photo are really 116 years old.
natural rubber in an airtight container might last that well.
yep, I'm calling hoax too.
Even on the site of the 'colchester rubber company' the designs they show are very very different to this shoe.
an image of their various 'Bals'
http://0301.netclime.net/1_5/0dd/13c/33d/skgi_3429416_26779.JPG
See others in the gallery. None at all look like this 'ancient' shoe.
Before reading the headline, I assumed they were Gibsons.
ahh, I see: "Heritage Branding"
page 3
http://www.rubber-stichting.info/natuurrubber/Natuurrubber%2022.pdf
Natural rubber is very long-lasting. Black rubber not so much. The black is added to make the rubber wear out faster so that you'll buy new shoes and tires.
@ Antinous #17:
Do you have any data behind that claim? I've had plenty of rubber products that didn't have any black added and they seem to wear out just as fast.
It's a planned obsolescence horror story I've heard since the seventies. It could be an urban legend, I suppose. I can't find any citations.
basket ball was invented in 1891, and these shoes were made in 1892 specifically for a sport invented just a year prior?
Looks like a nice alternative to Chucks, but expensive. I still want to get a pair of those Chinese Worker shoes, but w/o the obnoxious logo...anybody know where you can buy 'em?
@ #17
The complete opposite is true. Black pigment (specifically 'carbon black') in rubber actually increases strength and has for over 100 years. This discovery was tied to early vulcanization methods. Black also improves UV resistance. It also makes color consistency very simple due to varying formulas of natural and synthetic rubbers, which are sometimes layered through a tire. Lastly, they also hide dirt. Even white walls are a nightmare to keep looking clean. Can you imagine the frustration of an all white tire (which have historically been available, such as on early Harley Davidsons)?
It's not in a tire company's best interest to make a quickly wearing tire anyway. There are far too many opportunities for legal action if a tire fails because the manufacturer intentionally made them weak. Besides, you can buy 'soft' tires for high performance applications. These tires are gummy and grip the road surface. But they do not last one third as long the tires on your grocery getter.
Want.
Another conspiracy theory shot down.
...and man are they ripe!
I would totally just wear them daily. How cool is it running around in 116 year old shoes? (Although I, too, believe it is a hoax.)
at what point is viral egregious?
keeping in mind primates have always lied but a webbed world changes what is potentially at stake.
I am the owner of the sneakers. Yes they are real. Converse has known about the sneakers for
4 years. Calling them a hoax without meeting me
or seeing the actual sneakers is very lame.
So I will invite David Prescovitz to come to
Oceanside, Ca. to view the Original Basketball
Sneakers, and while he is here, I will show him
other original Colchester Rubber Company's
1880's Tennis Sneakers, Rubber Work Boots, Original, Catalogs, Advertisements.
So as a hoxer, I figured out an old obscure
Company, hatched a plan, Came up with the old
Baksball sneakers idea then with no footwear
experience,
I was able to create a old looking shoe, by using natural gum rubber, I was able to inject red mold into antique twill and button weave adobe color canvas along with adding mold to the cotton and culloid shoe laces and tips. Then I was able to vulcanize the sole
into a solid slab of rubber leaving in the impurities, Then I poured melted Rubber into a hand carved turkey feather design mould while hand carving the cooling rubber with finner details.
Earth to David, I may have a Moderate IQ, But I aint that smart. It was much eaiser, finding the
Original 1892 Sneakers.
I think the Colchester's are much better looking than the William Gibson sneakers and a hell of a lot cheaper. I believe the story is true.