The History of the Tennis Shoe

Ewing Kipspringer’s devotion to his tennis shoes (3/9/19 Commentary) touched me.  I got to thinking about whether his shoes were really for playing tennis.  After a bit of research, I determined they probably were.  After the plimsoll was invented in the nineteenth century, the first generation tennis shoes were designed by Keds, in 1916.  The Keds website has an interesting history of its original shoes, and touts that its “sneaker” was designed then and now “to empower women to be who they want to be and go where they want to go.”  Its first canvas-topped rubber soled shoe would be something Jenna Coleman would wear in her role as Queen Victoria, but its 1940 relative looks more like something we recognize.  Yoko Ono wore a pair of Keds when she wed John Lennon, and Taylor Swift is the International Keds Brand Ambassador. 

Tretorn, a brand which my friends and I wore faithfully in college per The Preppy Handbook, also has an interesting history.  Tretorn started as a rubber galoshes manufacturer in Sweden in 1891, and diversified into tennis balls and other products.  The company was one of the first to offer free health insurance and vacation time to its employees (did I mention the company was Swedish?).  In 1967, the Nylite, with its distinctive “wing” accent, was designed and became one of the first “luxury” tennis shoes. The shoe was worn by tennis players, including Bjorn Borg during the Wimbledon championship in 1976.  The Tretorn website is also worth a gander. 

I’ve curated a sampling of vintage inspired tennis shoes in order to pay homage to those early styles.  See the Pro Shop

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“You see, they’re tennis shoes, and I’m sort of helpless without them.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“This is Mr. Carraway,” I said.
“Oh!”  He sounded relieved.  “This is Klipspringer.”
I was relieved too, for that seemed to promise another friend at Gatsby’s grave.  I didn’t want it to be in the papers and draw a sight-seeing crowd, so I’d been calling up a few people myself.  They were hard to find.
“The funeral’s tomorrow,” I said.  “Three o’clock, here at the house.  I wish you’d tell anybody who’d be interested.”
“Oh, I will,” be broke out hastily.  “Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do.”
His tone made me suspicious.
“Of course you’ll be there yourself.”
“Well, I’ll certainly try.  What I called up about is—“
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted.  “How about saying you’ll come?”
“Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I’m staying with some people up here in Greenwich, and they rather expect me to be with them tomorrow.  In fact, there’s a sort of picnic or something.  Of course I’ll do my very best to get away.”
“I ejaculated an unrestrained “Huh!” and he must have heard me, for he went on nervously:
“What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there.  I wonder if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on.  You see, they’re tennis shoes, and I’m sort of helpless without them.  My address is care of B.F.—“
I didn’t hear the rest of the name, because I hung up the receiver.

This scene from The Great Gatsby seemed appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, maybe because it was written by a man named Fitzgerald or maybe because of the thematic green light throughout the novel.  Ewing Klipspringer was Gatsby’s house guest, piano player and hanger-on when times were good, but abandons Gatsby in death.  Nick Carraway is desperately trying to gather friends and acquaintances for Gatsby’s funeral and assumes Klipspringer is calling to determine the funeral arrangements.  Klipspringer, instead, is calling to ask about his tennis shoes.  By refusing to commit to attend the funeral, Klipspringer makes clear that he values the tennis shoes over friendship, and feels no debt of gratitude to Gatsby for Gatsby’s generosity in allowing him to live at the mansion and attend his parties. 

In re-reading this text from the The Great Gatsby, a novel which I have read many times before, I am again struck by the way Fitzgerald is able to invest each interaction with such meaning to expose the character’s ugly but human flaws in a way that we can guiltily understand.  If you haven’t read the novel , or haven’t read it lately, here is a link to Amazon where you can purchase it. And while this post is rather dark for jubilant St. Patrick’s Day, you will find a collection of vintage-inspired tennis shoes and a Pot o’ Gold of of gift ideas in the Pro Shop.

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