Trends

Canvas has taken over the world

King Henry VIII has been credited — or discredited — with many firsts, but today’s fashionistas will be horrified to learn that the earliest known version of their favourite footwear was worn by the portly king with a penchant for chopping off heads.

Yep, when in a less bloodthirsty mood, King Henry V111 also enjoyed a game of tennis, which he played in canvas shoes. Although the uppers were canvas, the rubber soles that is such an integral part of the shoes made famous by the scowling looks and what y’re looking at? attitude of James Dean, were only developed in the 19th century.

While the English name – plimsolls – has an utterly decent navy connotation, the American name, sneakers, came about because the soft rubber soles gave the wearer the opportunity to sneak up on people. Probably just as well that alternative names like felonies and brothel creepers disappeared.

Mind you, those canvas-upper lace-up shoes with rubber soles made according to the Goodyear Rubber company’s vulcanizing process were priced beyond the means of the ordinary felon or brothel creeper. At $6 a pair only the idle rich could afford them.

Canvas and rubber-soled shoes were worn by the upper classes when partaking in a genteel game of croquet or slightly more vigorous tennis during the 19th century, but it was not until the early 20th century and the basketball-era that canvas sneakers became the footwear of the masses.

It is said that master James Naismith created the game of basketball to tame a crowd of unruly students at Springfield College during the winter months. It is also said that Spalding made the first pair of basketball shoes as early as 1907. And it has been written on the Internet that the first branded sneakers were Keds, made in 1916 by US Rubber, a conglomerate of 9 American rubber tyre manufacturers.

But what is KNOWN, is that Converse made the first performance basketball shoe in 1917. Also that basketball-great Chuck Taylor became the first sponsored player when Converse signed him on in 1921 and that the Chuck Taylor All Star with traction on the outsole and ankle support is till today one of the most famous shoes.

For many years Converse All Star had a monopoly at the top end of the basic canvas market, explains Laurence Slotsky of Footwear Trading, who had been studying canvas brands for many years. "There were many copies of All Star at the lower end of the market — from no-name labels to labels like Millé, The Star, American Star, One Star and many others. Even discounters and major South African chain stores have been copying the product in their own labels."

Superga started manufacturing hand-made tennis shoes from cotton canvas in Italy in 1911 and soon created their own niche in the canvas market. "The one basic canvas style has been around since 1925, the bulk of Superga business is Generic basics — it is the Rolls Royce of canvas and a lifestyle product," says Michael Joseph, who distributes Superga in SA.

Many brands have tried to copy Superga’s distinctive look, without much success, says Joseph. "The rest of the canvas market is just copies of each other. Only Converse and Superga are the real original canvas brands."

But, points out Slotsky, "it is interesting to note that in the motor industry Ford was the original motorcar in the world, but other brands thereafter perfected styling and became more aspirational than the original car. The same seems to be happening in the canvas market."

In 1937, PF Flyers entered the market. "PF has been dedicated to having fun, looking good and being comfortable," says brand manager Wesley Scott of New Balance SA. "Back then, the idea that everyone could benefit from a body-aligning arch was ahead of its time. Today, PF has evolved in a variety of technology packages that provide better support and comfort while looking good and fashionable."

During the 1930s Converse also developed the Jack Purcell shoe, named after the famous badminton player, with a leather toe-strip resembling a smiley and non-marking flat sole.

Before World WarII put everybody back into leather boots, canvas was worn by people all over the world who had never even heard of basketball.

But that, as they say, is all history.

Today canvas is THE fashion story.

It is worn with suits and jeans. It is worn by rich and poor. It is worn to cocktail parties and to all-night raves. It is worn for work, sport and play. Canvas is worn by everybody — and hardly anybody cares about where it comes from.

This is a pity.

Very few other footwear fashions have such a rich political and cultural heritage. Much of it steeped in protest and counter-culture. From the 1950s onwards, the wearing of sneakers and jeans became as much a statement of beliefs as of fashion.

In the 1950s James Dean’s smouldering good looks, T-shirt, jeans and canvas shoes led a generation seeking a cause to rebel against. Marlon Brando’s T-shirted canvas wearing tough guy was the antithesis of the do-gooder hero. The gang members in the first teenage musical, West Side Story, waged their war wearing canvas sneakers.

The 60s generation that waged a war with flower power, free love and dope also defied all dress codes by adopting jeans and sneakers as a uniform. By adopting the workman’s denim overalls as their own, the hippie generation not only showed solidarity with the workers, but also turned their backs on the dresses, grey slacks and leather shoes considered decent by their parents.

John Lennon, epitomising the free love and rock n’ role era of The Beatles, inspired the Converse Peace-sign shoe, commemorating his youth protest song Give Peace a Chance in several languages.

In SA, canvas was very popular during the Apartheid era amongst a group of black consumers known as the Pantsula’s. The shoes were hard-wearing, easy to clean, very comfortable and fashionable and also affordable.

Converse became so popular here that the SA market was only second to Japan in sales. Chuck Taylor became a generic name for the high top boot, while the All Star is the common name used for the Converse shoe.

Superga was also a big hit in this market, but when the international boycotts were initiated in the early 1980s, the Italian brand also withdrew from the SA market.

Last year, Superga re-launched their canvas ranges into SA. "The SA market is unique and very different to other markets," says Joseph, "but like in the rest of the world, canvas is now a huge story here as well, with other brands following the trend."

With the whole world hankering back to the lifestyle and fashions of the much less complicated fifties, canvas is indeed riding the crest of the fashion wave.

Instead of angry teens bent on changing the world, canvas is now worn by those enjoying life and celebrating youth. That is also reflected in the fun styles of many ranges.

This is a fashion trend as much driven by those old enough to remember the original colourful sneakers with the rubberised toe caps as those who refuse to believe their parents wore their fashions when young.

"Canvas shoes are affordable, so a fashion geek can purchase a couple of pairs in various shapes and colours," says Slotsky, who markets canvas brand Levi’s, amongst others. "You will see people wearing canvas shoes with bermudas, jeans and even the trendier in a black suit. Canvas works in fashion cycles worldwide and whilst denim and jeans is at the top of the trend cycle, canvas will follow. When this trend tapers off, so will canvas."

At the end of the 1990s, Sechaba "Chabi" Mogale and his partner, Sowetan, Wandi Nzimande, launched their distinctive African urban clothing and footwear brand, Loxion Kulca (slang for Location Culture). This home-grown South African brand also launched their version of canvas and was relatively successful in a short space of time.

In 2003 Fila and Soviet entered the canvas market: Fila re-engineered their products from the 70s and Soviet launched a trendy range of canvas, says Slotsky. Levi’s came back into the South African market by introducing a powerful selection of canvas styles.

Now everybody is into canvas. Even brands like Diesel, Pony, Lacoste, Reebok, adidas, Puma and Nike are trying to gain market share in this category.

The fact that Bronx, one of Europe’s trend-setting men’s fashion shoe brands entered the canvas market, is an indication of how dominant the trend is. According to the Drapers Record Footwear Report Bronx was the #1 footwear brand in London in 2004 and the #1 footwear brand for brand loyalty in 2005. Since they entered the SA market in 2004, sales have increased three-fold.

"Canvas is SO big all over the world, we just had to enter this market," says SA brand manager Wayne Stanford of Jordan & Co.

During the past season, sales of canvas footwear had been breaking records everywhere.

"The racial colour divide amongst the fashion-conscious youth of SA was narrowing," explains Slotsky. "Trends became trends, no matter what education or racial group you belonged to, which is a worldwide phenomenon, where fashion, music and art are one."

Dickies — famous for their workwear clothing — and Millé are two of the brands that crossed this cultural divide

Consumers now have a huge choice of canvas brands and styles. The question is: which brand do they turn to.

"One very important element as a distributor is to offer the retailer margin and good stock turn," says Slotsky. "If the retailer cannot make sufficient margin on an acceptable stock turn he is wasting his time stocking that choice of product."