Early Canvas And Leather Basketball Shoes
Basketball shoes, hand-constructed | Ca. 1910s
Leather, canvas
Early basketball shoes were bench-cobbled and hand-stitched. They included uppers made of kangaroo leather, considered the strongest yet softest and most flexible material available. Midsoles had not yet been introduced, and early basketball outsoles were of standard shoe leather. Later, basketball shoemakers combined leather with canvas, a textile that had similar performance qualities, and also introduced rubberized outsoles.
(Black Fives Foundation Archives)
These shoes look like a mix between converse and bowling shoes. Crazy to think these men and women were hooping in shoes like this.