Sperry Top-Sider
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1935[1] |
| Founder(s) | Paul Sperry |
| Headquarters |  Lexington, Massachusetts, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Industry | Sportswear Sports equipment |
| Products | Boating shoes Apparel |
| Website | SperryTopSider.com |
Sperry Top-Sider is a brand of boat shoe designed in 1935 by Paul Sperry, older brother of author/illustrator Armstrong Sperry. Sperry was an avid boater who, like most boaters, risked injury while walking on the slippery deck of his boat. He had tried without success to design a shoe that would provide improved traction. His successful design was inspired by the pattern of grooves or cracks on his dog's feet and combined a leather upper-shoe with a herringbone pattern of grooves on the sole. The cutting of grooves in the sole of the Top-Sider was an implementation of a process of splitting or siping a shoe sole invented and patented in the 1920s by John Sipe.
Sperry's shoe quickly became popular with boaters not only for its non-slip sole but also for its white color, which prevented the shoe from leaving marks on a boat's deck. The shoe remained a niche product until 1939 when the U.S. Navy negotiated the right to manufacture the shoe for its sailors. As a result of the Navy contract, Sperry's business was purchased by the U.S. Rubber Co., which then marketed the shoe across the country.
The brand is owned by Collective Brands Inc. Performance and Lifestyle Group, formerly Stride Rite Corporation. The brand currently uses the advertising slogan "A Passion for the Sea". Sperry product still features its signature non-slip soles.
Today Sperrys are also popular with college students, middle school and high school students, and students in American preparatory schools who wear the shoes with shorts, jeans or capris.
[edit] References
R. Steele (April 2007) Boating Magazine
