Keds is an American
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
known for its
canvas shoes with rubber soles. Founded in 1916 by
U.S. Rubber, its original shoe design was the first mass-marketed canvas-top
sneaker. The brand was sold to
Stride Rite in 1979, which was acquired by
Wolverine World Wide
Wolverine World Wide, Inc. or Wolverine Worldwide, is a publicly traded American footwear manufacturer based in Rockford, Michigan. The shoemaker is known for its eponymous brand, Wolverine Boots and Shoes, as well as other brands, such as Hush ...
in 2012. Since February 2023, Keds has been owned and operated by
Designer Brands.
History
Early history
In 1916,
U.S. Rubber consolidated 30 different shoe brand names to create one company. Initially, the name "Peds" was chosen for the brand from the
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
word for feet, but it was already trademarked. Keds's original shoe design, the Champion, was the first mass-marketed canvas-top shoe. They became known as "
sneakers
Sneakers (American English, US) or trainers (British English, UK), also known by a #Names, wide variety of other names, are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but are also widely used for everyday casual ...
" as the soft rubber soles allowed "sneaking around silently".
[ By the early 1920s, the shoes were worn by Olympic soccer players, national and international tennis champions, and college athletes. In 1926, the Keds Triumph shoe was introduced. Keds released "Kedettes", a line of washable high-heeled shoes for women, in 1938.]
Pro-Keds
In 1949, Pro-Keds were introduced as a line of sneakers for athletic performance intended to compete with the industry standard, Converse. Designed specifically for basketball players, the original style, the Royal, was endorsed by George Mikan
George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...
. In 1953, the Minneapolis Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, having played and won championships in both the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) prior to ...
were outfitted with Pro-Keds. In 1969, Pro-Keds introduced the 69er, and demand for them in Harlem and The Bronx was so overwhelming that they became known as "Uptowns". The early 1970s saw the introduction of the Royal Plus, also known as the "Suede Super", which had a suede upper, padded collar, and was available in a high or low top. Pro-Keds were worn by NBA stars including Willis Reed
Willis Reed Jr. (June 25, 1942 – March 21, 2023) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and general manager. He spent his entire ten-year pro playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball ...
, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...
, Nate "Tiny" Archibald, JoJo White, Bob Love, Lou Hudson
Louis Clyde Hudson ("Sweet Lou") (July 11, 1944 – April 11, 2014) was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player, who was an All-American at the University of Minnesota and a six-time NBA All-Star, scoring 17,940 total points in 1 ...
, Bob Lanier
Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. (September 10, 1948 – May 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player. He played center (basketball), center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). L ...
and "Pistol" Pete Maravich, as well as musicians The Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of t ...
. The brand gained a following in the hip-hop community by the late 1970s.
In the spring of 1980, Pro-Keds launched a collection of performance cupsole basketball shoes with the marquee model being the Shotmaker. The Shotmaker would be worn by Ralph Sampson
Ralph Lee Sampson Jr. (born July 7, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A phenom, three-time college national player of the year, and first overall selec ...
and Gerald Henderson. In 1981 Sugar Ray Leonard
Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning quintuple c ...
became a spokesperson for the brand.
Subsequent ownership
Stride Rite Corporation purchased Keds and Sperry Top-Sider
Sperry or Sperry Top-Sider is an American brand of Boat shoes, boat shoe designed in 1935 by Paul A. Sperry. Sperrys, or Top-Siders, were the first boat shoes introduced into the boating and footwear markets. Until January 2024, the Sperry brand ...
from Uniroyal (formerly U.S. Rubber) in 1979 for $18 million.
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 New York
Barneys New York is an American brand founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman that operated full-line department stores from 1923 until 2020. Authentic Brands Group acquired Barneys' intellectual property in 2019, and has licensed the brand to Saks F ...
. The shoes were made with organic cotton, recycled rubber and non-toxic inks and dyes.
Collective Brands Inc., the parent company of Stride Rite Corporation and Keds, was acquired by Wolverine World Wide
Wolverine World Wide, Inc. or Wolverine Worldwide, is a publicly traded American footwear manufacturer based in Rockford, Michigan. The shoemaker is known for its eponymous brand, Wolverine Boots and Shoes, as well as other brands, such as Hush ...
for $1.32 billion in May 2012.
Keds launched the "Ladies First Since 1916" campaign in July 2015, which focuses on female empowerment and featured celebrities including Taylor Swift. In 2016 Keds celebrated its centennial and the continuation of its "Ladies First Since 1916" campaign with a birthday celebration held during New York Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...
. The company also announced that its shoe manufacturing was moving to Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, in the U.S. for the first time in 35 years.[
Since February 2023, Keds has been owned and operated by Designer Brands.
]
Popular culture
The shoes have been worn by celebrities including Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...
, Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...
, Kristen Stewart, and Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...
.
After the release of the 1987 movie ''Dirty Dancing
''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romance film, romantic drama film, drama Dance in film, dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tel ...
'', in which Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey (born March 26, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut with the film Reckless (1984 film), ''Reckless'' (1984), and had her breakthrough with the teen comedy film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986). She earned wo ...
's character wore Keds, company revenue grew 10 times. Many cheerleaders
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...
also wore Keds as part of their uniform during the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.
In the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and many post-Soviet countries, sneakers with canvas tops became known generically as "keds" (Russian: кеды).
In 2009, singer Lana Del Rey
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...
featured in an advertisement for the company and served as a spokesperson for a new line of shoes being offered.
References
External links
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{{Clothing
Athletic shoe brands
Shoe brands
Clothing companies established in 1916
Wolverine World Wide
Companies based in Lexington, Massachusetts
1910s fashion
1920s fashion
1930s fashion
1940s fashion
1950s fashion
1960s fashion
1970s fashion
1980s fashion
1990s fashion
2000s fashion
2010s fashion
1916 establishments in New York (state)