First sneakers

The (uncredited) creation of mouldable, waterproof soles likely followed soon after the invention of rubber vulcanization by US chemist Charles Goodyear in 1839. Leisure footwear that we would describe as “sneakers” didn't enter mass production until some decades later, however. In the late 1860s, “croquet sandals” became popular in the USA. They took many forms, including a simple rubber overshoe, but the Peck & Snyder Sporting Goods company sold a rubber-soled, lace-up shoe with a canvas upper that could be considered the earliest sneaker.

In 1876, the New Liverpool Rubber Company (UK) launched rubber-soled shoes with canvas uppers, which would become known as “plimsolls” or “sandshoes”. They were also worn when playing croquet, although they also became popular as beachwear. These early sneakers were not paired shoes, however.

Discovered by Goodyear accidentally, vulcanization is the process of heating rubber with sulphur, resulting in a stronger, heat-resistant material.

The term "plimsoll" is thought to derive from the band securing the rubber soles to the canvas tops, which resembles the plimsoll line on a boat. The term may well have been coined by sailors, who likely wore them.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest written references to “sneaks” appeared in Female Life in Prison (1862), written by “A Prison Matron” – an alias of the British novelist Frederick William Robinson: “The night-officer is generally accustomed to wear a species of India-rubber shoes or goloshes on her feet. These are termed ‘sneaks’ by the women.” The first verifiable occurrence of the word “sneaker” appeared in 1887, in an article in the Boston Journal of Education: “It is only the harassed schoolmaster who can fully appreciate the pertinency of the name boys give to tennis shoes – sneakers.”