Colchester Rubber Co.

Winn Perry of Portland, OR, arguably one of the finer men’s shops in the NW, just got his first shipment of Colchester Rubber Co. high-top basketball sneakers and he sent us a couple of pairs.   I am always a bit intrigued when an old brand re-surfaces.  I remember meeting Michael Cassel from Stronghold Denim at a  Project Tradeshow 5 or 6 years ago and hearing how they found the remnants of an old pair, did the research and were now trying to rebuild the brand that was likely the the first denim brand in LA.  Colechester is really no different – a guy finds an old pair of sneakers in a Victorian era trunk at a estate sale for $2, does the research and tries to re-build the brand.

Oddly enough, Gary Pifer, the man who bought the shoes, has received quite a bit of flack because there are some who think the shoes he unearthed are fake and his claiming that these were the first basketball shoes was simply one big marketing hoax (a) and hoax (b.) You be the judge.  Gary, in fact, responds to the hoax allegations with a pretty plausible explanation but does not have proof to just how old they really are:

“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 hoaxer, I figured out an old obscure company, hatched a plan, came up with the old Basketball Sneakers idea then with no footwear experience, I was able to create an old looking shoe, by using natural gum rubber, I was able to inject red mold into antique twill and button weave adobe colored canvas along with adding mold to the cotton and celluloid 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 mold while hand carving the cooling rubber with finer details.  Earth to David, I may have a Moderate IQ, but I ain’t that smart.  It was much easier, finding the Original 1892 Sneakers.”

It’s a pretty intriguing story and hopefully someone will come along  to adequately pin-point when they were made.  I tend to believe the shoes are indeed old but seem more modern than what shoe companies were churning out in the late 1800’s especially since the shoes CRC was offering at the same time were quite a bit different.  Perhaps another person tried to revive the brand in the 20’s or 30’s.  All speculation and hearsay of course…..

An e-mail to Gary has not been anwered as of yet.  I will update the post if I get one.

**UPDATE

I received an email from Craig Huck, Strategic Advisor at Sneaker LLC, Inc.

“I oversee operations for Sneakers LLC which holds the license to Colchester and several other heritage shoe brands for Gary. Will see if I can answer your questions to your satisfaction.

Your analogy is a good, regarding the futuristic prototype. These shoes are indeed original, and dated 1892. The working on the sole alone predates technology from the 20’s or 30’s. Regarding the “hoax” theory floating around, we believe that it can be shown to be fueled by a competitor in the marketplace, who made some statements to one of the sites, but failed to disclose his own shoe line which bears a stricking resemblence to what he has denouced as fraud. The uppers to his shoes are a different material but the basic model is very very similar. We have chosen not to respond any longer, rather are letting our shoes speak for themselves.

The shoes actually cost 50 cents, which is one of the best purchases I have ever heard of!”