Late one night in 1934 Paul Sperry slips and falls from the deck of his sailboat on Long Island Sound. Climbing back onto the boat Sperry has an idea: a shoe designed to maintain traction on wet slippery surfaces. A year later, after noticing his Cocker Spaniels ability to run over ice without slipping, Sperry takes inspiration from the natural texture of K9 footpads and cuts grooved patterns in a rubber sole and glues the sole to and old pair of canvas sneakers – inventing the first deck shoe. Two years later, Sperry follows his original deck shoe with a leather version accented by moccasin toe stitching and 360° ‘saddle’ lacing, creating the Top-Sider.
Eighty-five years later, Paul Sperry’s sailing shoe design is regularly imitated by luxury, streetwear and heritage brands; from Christian Louboutin (stud-embellished suede – natch), Yuketen (python print Horween leather with a removable kiltie made in America), and Timberland (the lugged sole boat shoe), to Quoddy (Horween leather handsewn in Maine).
To celebrate this milestone Sperry is going back to the start. The Sperry 85th Anniversary Collection celebrates Sperry’s two original shoes with premium updates: the Striper II CVO 85th Anniversary Sneaker ($109.95) and Authentic Original 85th Anniversary Shoe ($119.95).
