What’s a Plimsoll?
I read the blog of a colleague today, and it was all about Black Plimsolls being all the rage in the UK. Check out the story on Pup Buzz UK.
Well, I thought I knew everything there was to know about shoes. NOT! I had to check out Wikipedia to found out what a bloody Plimsoll was. Apparently David Beckham (that gorgeous soccer guy) sports these shoes like there isn’t another shoe on the planet.
According to Wikipedia Plimsolls are like Chucks:
A plimsoll or plimsoll shoe is a type of athletic shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole, developed as beachwear in the 1830s by the Liverpool Rubber Company (later to become Dunlop). The shoe was originally called a sand shoe, and acquired the nickname ‘plimsoll’ in the 1870s. This name derived either because of the colored horizontal band joining the upper to the sole resembled the Plimsoll line on a ship’s hull, or because, just like the Plimsoll line on a ship, if water got above the line of the rubber sole, the wearer would get wet.
As it was commonly used for corporal punishment in the British Commonwealth, where it was the typical gym shoe (part of the school uniform), plimsolling is also a synonym for a slippering.
In Australia and other places such footwear is still referred to as a sand shoe.
In most of English-speaking North America, these shoes are colloquially referred to as “Chucks” — in reference to Converse’s Chuck Taylor All Star shoe — usually regardless of the manufacturer. Depending on the regional dialect, however, they may also be known as sneakers or tennis shoes.
In the UK these shoes were compulsory in school’s PE lessons and today are still known as Plimsolls, except in western Scotland where they are usually known as gutties. Their use however is decreasing with trainers being used more often. However, the shoe has become an icon of many generations — and music genres, including Grunge, hip-hop, and gangsta rap.
But they don’t look like any Chuck Taylors that I have ever seen. They look more like a deck shoe. They look comfy enough, but certainly not the shoe for for this stylish stiletto loving woman. On a down day with sweats though, Plimsolls may be just the ticket.
plimsoll, shoes, beckham, chucks
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 am
Totally agree….working in the fashion industry in London everyone is rocking a Plimsoll…..have set up a little site also selling my fave……even spotted Kate Moss in a pair with an amazing grey YSL suit - so damn cool!! Let me know if you fancy a pair?