Athletic Shoe History（1）

The idea of a "sneaker" did not come along until an American inventor, Charles Goodyear, patented the process for the vulcanization of rubber.

While many believe that the first basketball tennis rackets shoe was the famous Converse All Stars (developed in 1917), this is mistaken. This belief is easily attained simply because it was one of the highest selling sneakers of the early sneaker generation. The Spalding company produced shoes specifically for the game of basketball as early as 1907,[citation needed] and an estate sale led shoe experts to believe that some of the earliest shoes were produced by Colchester Rubber Company of Colchester, Connecticut, which went out of cheap tennis racket business in 1893. Although there is no hard evidence suggesting this, the shoes were found only a few miles away from the birthplace of basketball,[citation needed] and two years after the game was invented.

By the early 1900s, sneakers were being produced by small rubber companies who specialized in the production of bicycle tires. U.S. Rubber, introduced Keds in 1916, about the same time that Converse was marketing its All Star. Other companies, including B.F. Goodrich and Spalding Co., were producing tennis shoes and smaller family-owned companies were manufacturing early cleated shoes. At first, the discount tennis racket market for sneakers was small and practically invisible, but after World War I, the U.S. turned to sports and athletes as a way to demonstrate moral fiber and patriotism. The U.S. market for sneakers grew steadily as young boys lined up to buy sneakers endorsed by football player Jim Thorpe and Converse All Stars endorsed by basketball player Chuck Taylor.

As the 1920s and 1930s approached, these companies added traction, and also started marketing them for different sports. A huge breakthrough of this time was the separation of designs for men and women. At this time, sneakers were used prince tennis racquet strictly for athletic events. When the Olympics were revived, this attracted more fans not only to sports, but to sneakers as well. In 1936, a French brand by the name of Spring Court [4]was born as the first canvas tennis shoe featuring signature 8 ventilation channels on the vulcanized natural rubber sole.