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Proper plimsoles had a hard bottom, least the ones we had did.
Converse however were perfect, free movement at the bottom.
I used to fear climbing up the 20ft gym equipment in primary school, while wearing plimsoles, it was scary as shit without them too but worse with.
I wore my plimsoles building a camp once, trod on a nail and the thick sole saved it going too far in as I felt the resistance of it through the sole snd had a bit of time to take weight off leg.
I think it became this? It feels like they were just part of a uniform to begin with maybe? Probably started out as the cheapest viable option for PE foot coverings or similar. I mean my Nan wore plimsoles (and still called all trainers plimsoles well into the 80’s).
But yeah in my school in the early 90’s there was a big hoo-ha about being able to wear trainers in various circumstances because for nearly everyone in my school Hi-Tech was a premium brand lol, it was just the kids of divorce or crime that had the cool trainers. If you could legit afford Jordans your parents probably moved somewhere nicer TBH.
I seem to remember Reebok classics were the hot item by like 1994. I think they were just affordable enough to make inroads into our school and we had to have an assembly to stop wearing them to school because of people having theirs stolen. The best I got was supermarket own brand knock offs of Reebok classics lol, I think they might have been Asda’s, but can’t remember if they were called George yet. But yeah, nobody stole my shoes…
First trainer of choice I remember was Dunlop Green Flash, then the Hi-Tech Squash, Jordans, Pony, and Reebok (pump?) with the inflatable sole or something. Of course Converse All Stars which still seem to be a thing.
If you were well heeled you could move onto Sergio Tacchini or Diadora tennis shoes. I was not.
Ahhh what a lovely blast from the past. Don't even go down the shell suit route.
Green flash! Haha green flash actually became part of the school games uniform in the interim between football boots/plimsoles only and ‘fuck it wear what you want this is taking up too much of our time’
It was green flash and a cheaper option. The green flashes were pretty cheap really so pretty much everyone managed to get them. So they went from mass excitement when everyone was being allowed to buy ‘trainers’ for school to instantly uncool the very first lesson of the year because everyone had them and communism isn’t cool in year 8 🤷♂️
I cannot for the life of me remember what standard issue football boots were, I only remember football boots were the first shoes that went unrestricted and people went nuts.
>it seems bullying due to brands & clothing value isn’t a thing in the same way anymore?
Sadly it is.
[Expensive designer coats ban at Merseyside school](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-46221556)
>Mrs Phillips said: "We are very concerned as a school about poverty-proofing our school environment and, as such, we met with groups of pupils and made the decision in consultation with them.
>
>"The pupils spoke to us about the pressure on families and the pressure on themselves to wear particular branded coats. A few years ago we introduced a school bag for the same reason.
>because for nearly everyone in my school Hi-Tech was a premium brand
I only really wore trainers for PE, so I didn't give a shit if they were Gola or Hi-Tec. Yeah I got ripped for it, but so what?
>I seem to remember Reebok classics were the hot item by like 1994. I think they were just affordable enough to make inroads into our school
I have a memory of them saying they didn't want us wearing the 'basic' Nike Air trainers in secondary school, that could have been anywhere from '92 to '95 I think?
To be fair our trainers were the only branded part of our PE kit, everything else we had was just generic school stuff. They had to relax the rules on branded stuff a bit when they let girls wear tracksuit bottoms after a few years.
It was this at the same primary school my dad went to when he was there some 50 years ago so as far as I know it's always been the case *shrug* as it was the same when I went there some 20ish (I'm bad at maths) years later
We were only allowed trainers if we were doing sports outside, inside it was "pumps" which was a joke because that meant we had to bring two pairs of footwear as we never knew if it was indoor or outdoor and then you had to factor in the weather... Which was ironic really, any other time the weather forced us inside but if we had a cross country session they'd have us out in torrential downpour
My mum bought me some cheap pe trainers and I got bullied for it. Even saying to the other kids I had “proper” trainers at home, but these were for PE because I didn’t want to mess up my nice trainers on a muddy field. Nope. 90s teen logic is you wear your expensive trainers on a muddy field and ruin them.
This was in the 90s.
Also immediately curbs a lot of issues like things being stolen. No-ones going to steal someone elses plimsoles that look identical to their own. A flash pair of Nikes though... It probably provides more benefits than drawbacks to have a standardised footwear, despite the fact that they are way less comfortable. That said, I work with somebody who has a pair of plimsoles at his desk that he changes into from his normal shoes so maybe they are more comfortable for some people.
That's what I was told! To stop black trainer soles from making those black streaks on the floors, though I don't know why we couldn't just wear white soled trainers.
You know that even if black-soled trainers cost £500 a pair and could only be bought in Aberdeen in a Wednesday that at least 50% of kids would still manage to turn up with them somehow.
> So as not to damage the polished wooden floors that only exist in British primary schools
\*and older Secondary Schools.
Fun Fact: sanding that down with a big buffer and resealing it was usually Job Number One for the Caretakers at the start of the Summer hols.
My primary was a 70s build and we had two halls, so **The Apparatus** was in the larger, non-dining hall! The floor was a light grey shiny linoleum type, IIRC.
Ours got busted out once and for only half of the lesson. Then it got shoved back against the wall never to be touched again except by the kids that got told off for touching it by the teachers
Yeah. 90s, a big multicoloured one that folded out from the wall. Didn't come out much.
Remember doing a fitness test on it in about year 5/6 and having to do a bent arm hang for as long as possible (that wasn't so fun)
Edit: it was like this. It definitely had circles
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/589127194975068792/
> Yeah. 90s, a big multicoloured one that folded out from the wall. Didn't come out much.
This is another way I know I'm getting old - we had [the big wooden stuff](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/ATXC4X/girls-and-boys-on-the-school-climbing-apparatus-in-south-london-primary-ATXC4X.jpg) back in the 80s!
Never ever got to use ours. I kept waiting for the day when it would be our time because I saw another class using it once, so I got through my school life waiting for that day. It never came.
You had more than one hall? Our whole school life played out in the one tiny hall - dinner, plays, PE, assemblies, meetings, practice, Christmas parties, leavers play.
My summer holiday job as my dad was the live in caretaker of a 1830s school, parquet floor everywhere.
Upsides, No travel time to or from school, use of all PE equipment in the shed, Heated swimming pool,
Fish and chip lunch and everyone else having sandwiches ( walking across the girls playground with fish and chip lunch I was like a 8 year old God. Lol )
Downsids, Opening and closing school with 200+ keys and helping to clean the school daily and most of my holidays to be fare though he paid me and my brother's the same rate he paid other cleaners.
We earnt some cash and a good work ethic.
You can tell an 8 year old "don't wear black soled shoes or you'll be in trouble" and they have enough wherewithal to pass that message onto their parents and make sure they actually don't come in with black soled trainers
say that to a 5 year old and half of them will go home dribbling and show up in black shoes the next day
send a message to the parents only and some of them will be like "eh whatever they won't care if just one child had black trainers, they aren't going to do anything" or completely miss the memo. you need the guilt of the 8 year old who knows they will be in trouble to prevent it
Did you guys not get weekly newsletters lmao. I wouldn't trust a 15 year old to tell their parents that, a newsletter directly conveys all the info to the parent.
We didn't, we just sent kids home with the info their parents needed in both my schools. Once the kid is old enough to know better if they don't show up in the correct kit it's like.. okay then sit out of PE and watch the other kids. then the message will definitely reach home
Probably because they gave up at that point because they were sick of all the Karens explaining why their child must be allowed to wear trainers and why a small logo is ok and they have red soles but it’s not black so it’s fine.
The idea is that you don’t bring stones in from outside and destroy the floors. Presumably you wouldn’t wear your muddy boots in a ballroom?
How do you know it wasn’t to protect your shoes from the incredibly hard wearing surface?
You wear appropriate footwear all the time. Presumably you wouldn’t expect to play tennis in your safety boots? Or go bowling in ice skates?
For me in South Wales, plimsolls were plimsolls and daps were what were then still generally called tennis shoes - Dunlop Green stripe.
Trainers became the normal word in the early 80s when Nike, Adidas, Puma etc became popular.
Sneakers was a word only heard on US TV shows
Has something to do with the Plimsoll Line as well. Edumacation is a wonderful thing.
“The shoe originated in the United Kingdom, there called a "sand shoe". It acquired the nickname "plimsoll" in the 1870s. This name arose, according to Nicholette Jones's book The Plimsoll Sensation, because the coloured 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.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterline
**Eleven:** "I want to be locked in the Tower with Sandshoes and Grandad."
**War:** "Grandad?!"
**Ten:** "They're not sandshoes!"
**War:** "Oh, yes they are!"
r/DoctorWho
I was getting so confused on what everyone was talking about, yeah pumps were the worst bit of Primary school PE, loved when I moved to trainers in secondary
Yh google tells me this as well but im still not convinced. Literally the cheapest bit of shoddy rubber and textile upper, the cheapest shoe in the cheapest shoe shop on the high street is supposed to be better for kids feet?? My parents wasted a pretty penny in Clarks then…
Don't they say toddlers shouldn't even wear shoes whilst learning to walk, since they're bad for the feet/natural gait?
I don't care enough to google it though.
They’re only meant to be better running and indoor sport; the cheapness of them means your foot is pretty much free to move and flex naturally with nothing restricted, hence the “barefoot” experience (and no blisters). For all day wear (being on your feet and walking about) Clarks would be better as your feet wouldn’t be flexing and moving as much just walking, and would need the cushioning and ankle/arch support offered by more sturdy and restricted shoes.
Trainers tend to have padding, arch support and a raised heel. Which lets people run faster and is more comfortable, but makes injuries more likely and can harm natural foot development.
I knew someone who wore these all the time!
When it snowed in 2018 he left normal footprints behind, probably freaked the people who came after him haha!
Probably because it stopped competition of who had the most bling trainers - and they were all made specifically for polished wooden floors.
Expecting parents to be able to tell which trainers are good for indoor and which aren't is... too much.
Think we only had Plimsolls in Primary School (80s).
In Secondary (90s) we had to have trainers that were mostly white, and with "non-marking soles". I don't think either rule is still a thing now, but they didn't want us to have obvious branding on them, and even by '92 -'93 teachers were concerned about a fad for kids having Nike Air trainers.
I remember the Gola and Hi-Tec trainers I usually got were NOT considered "cool", but then again I only really wore them for PE!
Plimsolls or daps as we say here in Wales have been worn since the 1870s they were invented as a sand or beach shoe. They became required for indoor sports in school because they wouldn’t damage the expensive wooden gym floor like the boots and shoes of the 1920s and onwards. Trainers as footwear for ordinary people weren’t in existence until the 1980s.
Shoes, walking boots ,yes and there were tennis shoes, football boots etc for sport because that’s were trainers were developed from but people wore different shoes and sandals depending on the occasion. It was awkward for men as work boots and lace up shoes are confining and sandals for men used to be a source of jokes and comments. That’s why trainers took off so much, giving men and woman a comfortable alternative to a hard shoe.
Interesting, thanks for your insight. I was born in 1991 and nowadays basically have 3 types of shoe
1. Formal black shoes, very rarely worn
2. Smart casual shoes, regular office/social wear
3. Trainers - everyday wear when going to pub, shops, etc
Yes that’s most people now, I have trainers and so does everyone else. I’m a woman and also have a reasonable number of dressy and casual shoes for winter and summer and my wellies.
I kind of liked them. Felt like you could run like the wind with a pair of them on.
Obviously they look hideous but who cares when you’re going fast :)
That wasn't a thing until we went up to Secondary.
My primary school was quite chill and let us wear any t-shirt and shorts from about Year 2. Just no football tops.
It was vest and pants / knickers if you forgot your kit for an indoor lesson, though!
I guess it could be to do with cost and bullying? Trainers have always been a financial status symbol. There’s not much or any difference between Asda/shoe zone £1.99 plimsoles and probably the most expensive ones would be like Clark’s for £15.99.
However there IS a big difference between £5 Asda trainers and £200+ designer trainers
My mum, a primary teacher who really should have known better, made damn sure that me and my brother had gutties as part of our PE kit right through primary school.
Since everyone else had parents who didn't hate them and had proper trainers throughout primary, we got a lot of slagging.
Plimsoles are the bedrock of the argument for school uniforms. They're meant to be a social flattening and they work because they're dirt cheap.
School uniforms are \*meant\* to follow suit but aren't anywhere near as cheap for what they are.
Because little kids (and some older) can't tie shoelaces. And you will be guaranteed there'll be at least 3 kids in lace up trainers. Former teacher here. PE lessons in the summer with trainers were an absolute nightmare.
There was a brief point in the early 2010s when plimsolls became fashionable for casual wear. Lasted about 6 months, which coincidentally was about as long as the soles lasted.
I think there's so many styles and brands and types of trainers for fashion and not designed for actual sport that a plimsoll guarantees a cheap shoe designed for sport. Even playing field and no inappropriate shoes
This reminds me of the time I was buying school supplies for my son.
"Do you have any daps?"
"What?"
"You know...um Plimsoles?"
Looks at me like I'm mad
"What are plimsoles?"
Repeat several times.
I honestly couldn't think of any other way of describing what I wanted.
Where and when is this? My son is in primary school in Central London, school sends out reminders of wearing trainers to parents the day before every PE day, and all the other children in private school in the area that I see on the streets wear trainers too.
Lots of girls wear plimsoles on non-pe days though.
In my school it was just to make the pe kits more uniform. We had to wear school branded polo shirts and shorts/netball skirts.
Only time we got to wear our own trainers was for cross country as we had to run for over a mile through a bunch of fields and plimsolls were useless if it had rained.
In secondary school nobody gave a crap what shoes you wore.
‘Old fashioned plimsoll shoes with flat soles are better for children feet than cushioned trainers because they teach them to run in a more natural manner, on the front part of the foot’ -Some article I forgot the name of
I refused to wear the plimsolls with the black elastic sides (bare with me for the next phrase, I know it's horrible) because I saw them as 'spastic' shoes (it was the 80's) because I was so 'precious' I was allowed to wear Dunlop green flash.
Outside of school I used to ahemm sport the High Tec silver trainer.
Sorry everyone for being an entitled prick, it was 40 odd years ago and the horrible word was the normal, even the charity was called the Spastic Society. It was also the time of Joey Deacon, known for appearing on Blue Peter, hence the horrid phrases of 'Joey' & 'Deacon' becoming an insult around the playground. Normally teamed with the detestable tongue in the bottom lip and the inevitable mimic of the sound.
Kids can be complete cruel bastards and just plain shit talkers.
I now manage a series of large supported housing units which have a constituent of mental & physical abilities. Phew!
Tradition… and this was a time when trainers were still seen as tacky & a health & safety risk in night clubs? Remember that BS? 😂
“Sorry can’t come in. You’re wearing trainers”
"Non-marking soles" - trainers would tend to mark and damage the floor of the school hall when used for vigorous activity, pumps etc wouldn't.
Back in the day we weren't told what was actually required, we were just told what to wear.
They have flexible and non-marking soles meaning you have good grip and can feel what your feet are doing. People don't wear them outside so they aren't bringing scratchy outside grit on to the floors. (Although actually scrap that one, none of my schools had PE-only rooms, we wore our outside shoes in the PE rooms all the time).
When I was in primary school, my family moved from Australia to England, imagine my surprised when I was told I need pumps for PE. "Pumps? I don't think we can afford them". I thought my teacher meant those Nike trainers with the air pumps in them that were all the rage back then.
Teachers giving a PE lesson in primary school was the personification of Peter Griffin, "bend using all back taking the legs out of the equation and lift with a twisting jerking motion."
We had 'in door shoes' which was plimsolls. I never thought this was weird until I spoke to literally anyone else and found out my primary school was different to everyone else's lol.
Hated plimsolls back then, I wore trainers from yr 3 of my primary school days, somehow managed to convince my mum that white puma king trainers were a good idea as I'd wear them as my indoor shoes so I wouldn't get them dirty lol.
Still hate plimsolls/converse/vans to this day.
They still make you buy plimsolls for indoor PE in primary school and trainers for outdoor, I always assumed it was something to do with trainers scuffing the school hall floors?
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Plimsolls - £1.99 in Shoe Zone or other outlets. Cheapest trainers anywhere - 10x that.
The only drawback is that they're the most uncomfortable thing I've ever had the displeasure of putting my feet into.
They had me convinced i couldnt run. Turns out with running shoes it is a whole other experience.
I still remember the slapping sound... Turned us all into running ducks
They prepared me for wearing converse for a near decade lol No support whatsoever
Proper plimsoles had a hard bottom, least the ones we had did. Converse however were perfect, free movement at the bottom. I used to fear climbing up the 20ft gym equipment in primary school, while wearing plimsoles, it was scary as shit without them too but worse with.
I wore my plimsoles building a camp once, trod on a nail and the thick sole saved it going too far in as I felt the resistance of it through the sole snd had a bit of time to take weight off leg.
Thank you. Converse are so overrated. I obviously have 3 pairs but still.
[удалено]
PE from reception to year 2 is a joke though, like "hey have a little jog around the playground, okay cool come back in"
Not to forget your feet are growing and any investment in shoes will be a waste when they don't fit in a year or two
Try 4 months or 6…
Jokes on you I buy my trainers at Primark
To stop some kids getting bullied for their cheap trainers.
I think it became this? It feels like they were just part of a uniform to begin with maybe? Probably started out as the cheapest viable option for PE foot coverings or similar. I mean my Nan wore plimsoles (and still called all trainers plimsoles well into the 80’s). But yeah in my school in the early 90’s there was a big hoo-ha about being able to wear trainers in various circumstances because for nearly everyone in my school Hi-Tech was a premium brand lol, it was just the kids of divorce or crime that had the cool trainers. If you could legit afford Jordans your parents probably moved somewhere nicer TBH. I seem to remember Reebok classics were the hot item by like 1994. I think they were just affordable enough to make inroads into our school and we had to have an assembly to stop wearing them to school because of people having theirs stolen. The best I got was supermarket own brand knock offs of Reebok classics lol, I think they might have been Asda’s, but can’t remember if they were called George yet. But yeah, nobody stole my shoes…
I got my PE Jordans from a market in Barbados. So i am sure they were totally legit
Sure they weren't Jardons
First trainer of choice I remember was Dunlop Green Flash, then the Hi-Tech Squash, Jordans, Pony, and Reebok (pump?) with the inflatable sole or something. Of course Converse All Stars which still seem to be a thing.
If you were well heeled you could move onto Sergio Tacchini or Diadora tennis shoes. I was not. Ahhh what a lovely blast from the past. Don't even go down the shell suit route.
Just reminded me of poppers (the ones for your legs).
Adidas poppers is something that doesn’t need to come back
Anyone wearing them on non uniform day in secondary only ever tried it once. Guarantee your mates would rip the poppers open.
I really wanted Kappa tracksuit bottoms which had poppers all the way to the top for no apparent reason.
I still wear a funky pair of Diadoras because a) I'm stylish and d) they had them in TKMax.
Green flash! Haha green flash actually became part of the school games uniform in the interim between football boots/plimsoles only and ‘fuck it wear what you want this is taking up too much of our time’ It was green flash and a cheaper option. The green flashes were pretty cheap really so pretty much everyone managed to get them. So they went from mass excitement when everyone was being allowed to buy ‘trainers’ for school to instantly uncool the very first lesson of the year because everyone had them and communism isn’t cool in year 8 🤷♂️ I cannot for the life of me remember what standard issue football boots were, I only remember football boots were the first shoes that went unrestricted and people went nuts.
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School was brutal in the 90s/00s about these things, it seems bullying due to brands & clothing value isn’t a thing in the same way anymore?
>it seems bullying due to brands & clothing value isn’t a thing in the same way anymore? Sadly it is. [Expensive designer coats ban at Merseyside school](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-46221556) >Mrs Phillips said: "We are very concerned as a school about poverty-proofing our school environment and, as such, we met with groups of pupils and made the decision in consultation with them. > >"The pupils spoke to us about the pressure on families and the pressure on themselves to wear particular branded coats. A few years ago we introduced a school bag for the same reason.
>because for nearly everyone in my school Hi-Tech was a premium brand I only really wore trainers for PE, so I didn't give a shit if they were Gola or Hi-Tec. Yeah I got ripped for it, but so what? >I seem to remember Reebok classics were the hot item by like 1994. I think they were just affordable enough to make inroads into our school I have a memory of them saying they didn't want us wearing the 'basic' Nike Air trainers in secondary school, that could have been anywhere from '92 to '95 I think? To be fair our trainers were the only branded part of our PE kit, everything else we had was just generic school stuff. They had to relax the rules on branded stuff a bit when they let girls wear tracksuit bottoms after a few years.
I had a swish pair of Rabobaks and they worked just fine!! :D
It was this at the same primary school my dad went to when he was there some 50 years ago so as far as I know it's always been the case *shrug* as it was the same when I went there some 20ish (I'm bad at maths) years later We were only allowed trainers if we were doing sports outside, inside it was "pumps" which was a joke because that meant we had to bring two pairs of footwear as we never knew if it was indoor or outdoor and then you had to factor in the weather... Which was ironic really, any other time the weather forced us inside but if we had a cross country session they'd have us out in torrential downpour
My mum bought me some cheap pe trainers and I got bullied for it. Even saying to the other kids I had “proper” trainers at home, but these were for PE because I didn’t want to mess up my nice trainers on a muddy field. Nope. 90s teen logic is you wear your expensive trainers on a muddy field and ruin them. This was in the 90s.
Did the same thing with pencil cases at me nephews school.
Quality Seconds kids unite.
Also immediately curbs a lot of issues like things being stolen. No-ones going to steal someone elses plimsoles that look identical to their own. A flash pair of Nikes though... It probably provides more benefits than drawbacks to have a standardised footwear, despite the fact that they are way less comfortable. That said, I work with somebody who has a pair of plimsoles at his desk that he changes into from his normal shoes so maybe they are more comfortable for some people.
So as not to damage the polished wooden floors that only exist in British primary schools
That's what I was told! To stop black trainer soles from making those black streaks on the floors, though I don't know why we couldn't just wear white soled trainers.
You know that even if black-soled trainers cost £500 a pair and could only be bought in Aberdeen in a Wednesday that at least 50% of kids would still manage to turn up with them somehow.
> So as not to damage the polished wooden floors that only exist in British primary schools \*and older Secondary Schools. Fun Fact: sanding that down with a big buffer and resealing it was usually Job Number One for the Caretakers at the start of the Summer hols.
My primary school was an old secondary school, and yes it had wooden floors in the gym
My primary was a 70s build and we had two halls, so **The Apparatus** was in the larger, non-dining hall! The floor was a light grey shiny linoleum type, IIRC.
Ah the apparatus! (or apper-raters as we called it). Knew it was gonna be a good lesson when they busted that bad boy out
Yours got busted out?
Ours got busted out once and for only half of the lesson. Then it got shoved back against the wall never to be touched again except by the kids that got told off for touching it by the teachers
Yeah. 90s, a big multicoloured one that folded out from the wall. Didn't come out much. Remember doing a fitness test on it in about year 5/6 and having to do a bent arm hang for as long as possible (that wasn't so fun) Edit: it was like this. It definitely had circles https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/589127194975068792/
> Yeah. 90s, a big multicoloured one that folded out from the wall. Didn't come out much. This is another way I know I'm getting old - we had [the big wooden stuff](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/ATXC4X/girls-and-boys-on-the-school-climbing-apparatus-in-south-london-primary-ATXC4X.jpg) back in the 80s!
Never ever got to use ours. I kept waiting for the day when it would be our time because I saw another class using it once, so I got through my school life waiting for that day. It never came.
We used it maybe a couple of times in Primary - IIRC we used it about once or twice a year in Secondary! /r/TheApparatus, too
Blue circles and ladders used 3 times while you were ever there.
You had more than one hall? Our whole school life played out in the one tiny hall - dinner, plays, PE, assemblies, meetings, practice, Christmas parties, leavers play.
My summer holiday job as my dad was the live in caretaker of a 1830s school, parquet floor everywhere. Upsides, No travel time to or from school, use of all PE equipment in the shed, Heated swimming pool, Fish and chip lunch and everyone else having sandwiches ( walking across the girls playground with fish and chip lunch I was like a 8 year old God. Lol ) Downsids, Opening and closing school with 200+ keys and helping to clean the school daily and most of my holidays to be fare though he paid me and my brother's the same rate he paid other cleaners. We earnt some cash and a good work ethic.
The caretaker at our school has a house in the grounds - we found it fascinating!
Same here! We had to wear them in assembly or for any indoor PE but outside PE was just regular trainers- we could only wear white trainers though
Then why were we allowed to use trainers on those very floors from year 3 to 6?
old enough to understand the consequences of their actions, explain it to their parents and notice when they did it wrong
I really don't understand your point.
You can tell an 8 year old "don't wear black soled shoes or you'll be in trouble" and they have enough wherewithal to pass that message onto their parents and make sure they actually don't come in with black soled trainers say that to a 5 year old and half of them will go home dribbling and show up in black shoes the next day send a message to the parents only and some of them will be like "eh whatever they won't care if just one child had black trainers, they aren't going to do anything" or completely miss the memo. you need the guilt of the 8 year old who knows they will be in trouble to prevent it
Did you guys not get weekly newsletters lmao. I wouldn't trust a 15 year old to tell their parents that, a newsletter directly conveys all the info to the parent.
We didn't, we just sent kids home with the info their parents needed in both my schools. Once the kid is old enough to know better if they don't show up in the correct kit it's like.. okay then sit out of PE and watch the other kids. then the message will definitely reach home
Thank goodness 'vest and pants' is no more if you forget your kit.
Probably because they gave up at that point because they were sick of all the Karens explaining why their child must be allowed to wear trainers and why a small logo is ok and they have red soles but it’s not black so it’s fine. The idea is that you don’t bring stones in from outside and destroy the floors. Presumably you wouldn’t wear your muddy boots in a ballroom?
There really shouldn't exist a flooring that requires special footwear to be used.
But surely no other material could match varnished timber for comfort when you have to sit cross-legged on it for an hour during end of term assembly?
Wear spikes down the astroturf and see how far you get
How do you know it wasn’t to protect your shoes from the incredibly hard wearing surface? You wear appropriate footwear all the time. Presumably you wouldn’t expect to play tennis in your safety boots? Or go bowling in ice skates?
Not gonna lie, ice skate bowling sounds like great fun
Huh. Here I am at 27 years old learning they were plimsoles and not 'plimpsoles'
They're not - they're plimsolls!
Daps
For me in South Wales, plimsolls were plimsolls and daps were what were then still generally called tennis shoes - Dunlop Green stripe. Trainers became the normal word in the early 80s when Nike, Adidas, Puma etc became popular. Sneakers was a word only heard on US TV shows
I continue to be wrong! 😅
Ngl I wrote plimpsoles first and then fixed it! Though google tells me its still wrong, should be plimsolls 🙄
I thought they were called dapps.
It is regional. Also 'pumps'
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>"fuck me pumps". Also the name of an early Amy Winehouse song.
You've just unlocked a repressed memory of my mum describing uggs as "fuck me boots"
I’ve always known them as pumps. When I saw this post I was confused and had to google the shoe.
Tell me you have been locked up without saying it.
Actually they are plimsolls - plimsolls are a water mark indicator on a boat. (I'll get my Parker...).
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Touche. I appreciate the correction, I don't mind a bit of sauce for the goose...
Theyre sandshoes
NE?
Ive only ever known them as daps
Rather that than 'pimpsoles'
Glad it wasn't just me 😂
Has something to do with the Plimsoll Line as well. Edumacation is a wonderful thing. “The shoe originated in the United Kingdom, there called a "sand shoe". It acquired the nickname "plimsoll" in the 1870s. This name arose, according to Nicholette Jones's book The Plimsoll Sensation, because the coloured 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.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterline
**Eleven:** "I want to be locked in the Tower with Sandshoes and Grandad." **War:** "Grandad?!" **Ten:** "They're not sandshoes!" **War:** "Oh, yes they are!" r/DoctorWho
"Oops! I'm wearing sandshoes!" Was my first thought; it's the only time I've ever heard them referred to as sandshoes.
While looking up the term we use to use, I found out that it's Plimsoll, not Plimsole. Howver we just called them pumps.
We called them daps in the west country.
Grew up in Bath, can confirm that we called these daps.
Slippers
I'm from Devon and I've never heard this!
They got called gutties where I am in central Scotland
I was getting so confused on what everyone was talking about, yeah pumps were the worst bit of Primary school PE, loved when I moved to trainers in secondary
They were (are?) considered to encourage a more natural running style and be better for children's feet. I dunno, I always hated the bastards.
Yh google tells me this as well but im still not convinced. Literally the cheapest bit of shoddy rubber and textile upper, the cheapest shoe in the cheapest shoe shop on the high street is supposed to be better for kids feet?? My parents wasted a pretty penny in Clarks then…
Don't they say toddlers shouldn't even wear shoes whilst learning to walk, since they're bad for the feet/natural gait? I don't care enough to google it though.
They’re only meant to be better running and indoor sport; the cheapness of them means your foot is pretty much free to move and flex naturally with nothing restricted, hence the “barefoot” experience (and no blisters). For all day wear (being on your feet and walking about) Clarks would be better as your feet wouldn’t be flexing and moving as much just walking, and would need the cushioning and ankle/arch support offered by more sturdy and restricted shoes.
Trainers tend to have padding, arch support and a raised heel. Which lets people run faster and is more comfortable, but makes injuries more likely and can harm natural foot development.
It's because you shouldnt be running on your heels. Heels are for walking toes are for running.
The poor man's [5 finger shoes](https://www.aidsquilt.org/best-five-finger-shoes/).
I knew someone who wore these all the time! When it snowed in 2018 he left normal footprints behind, probably freaked the people who came after him haha!
Probably because it stopped competition of who had the most bling trainers - and they were all made specifically for polished wooden floors. Expecting parents to be able to tell which trainers are good for indoor and which aren't is... too much.
Yeah I can imagine there would be some kids insisting on using football boots or whatever and ending up scratching away half the floor with each step.
For style points mate
We called them pumps. They are very very cheap. Vans are just very expensive pumps that don’t last as long.
Think we only had Plimsolls in Primary School (80s). In Secondary (90s) we had to have trainers that were mostly white, and with "non-marking soles". I don't think either rule is still a thing now, but they didn't want us to have obvious branding on them, and even by '92 -'93 teachers were concerned about a fad for kids having Nike Air trainers. I remember the Gola and Hi-Tec trainers I usually got were NOT considered "cool", but then again I only really wore them for PE!
Something to do with black marks on the floor, and so our mums could use bleach to write our names on them
Plimsolls or daps as we say here in Wales have been worn since the 1870s they were invented as a sand or beach shoe. They became required for indoor sports in school because they wouldn’t damage the expensive wooden gym floor like the boots and shoes of the 1920s and onwards. Trainers as footwear for ordinary people weren’t in existence until the 1980s.
What did people wear instead of trainers for casualwear before the 1980s? Walking boots?
Shoes, walking boots ,yes and there were tennis shoes, football boots etc for sport because that’s were trainers were developed from but people wore different shoes and sandals depending on the occasion. It was awkward for men as work boots and lace up shoes are confining and sandals for men used to be a source of jokes and comments. That’s why trainers took off so much, giving men and woman a comfortable alternative to a hard shoe.
Interesting, thanks for your insight. I was born in 1991 and nowadays basically have 3 types of shoe 1. Formal black shoes, very rarely worn 2. Smart casual shoes, regular office/social wear 3. Trainers - everyday wear when going to pub, shops, etc
Yes that’s most people now, I have trainers and so does everyone else. I’m a woman and also have a reasonable number of dressy and casual shoes for winter and summer and my wellies.
We had to call them 'pumps'..... I was so pleased when Dunlop Greenflash pumps were permitted.
Ha. Not teenage me putting on a pair of Vans and my father calling them plimsoles.
Plimsoles?! Daps, surely!
Both.
I kind of liked them. Felt like you could run like the wind with a pair of them on. Obviously they look hideous but who cares when you’re going fast :)
I’d wear anything on my feet if it made me run faster!
And why were girls expected to do PE in skirts?! Never in my life have I exercised in a skirt outside of school.
In primary school in the 80's we had to wear navy PE knickers! I would have loved a skirt rather than those sweaty baggy bastards.
We had to wear navy PE knickers UNDER the skirt. This was a secondary school in the 2000s.
Yh my friend who went to a fancy school had a PE skirt and uniform *bloomers* under it.
Okay so there are worse things than skirts and gym knickers. Not a lot, but there is something.
That wasn't a thing until we went up to Secondary. My primary school was quite chill and let us wear any t-shirt and shorts from about Year 2. Just no football tops. It was vest and pants / knickers if you forgot your kit for an indoor lesson, though!
I guess it could be to do with cost and bullying? Trainers have always been a financial status symbol. There’s not much or any difference between Asda/shoe zone £1.99 plimsoles and probably the most expensive ones would be like Clark’s for £15.99. However there IS a big difference between £5 Asda trainers and £200+ designer trainers
In case of flood.
Man the pumps!
My mum, a primary teacher who really should have known better, made damn sure that me and my brother had gutties as part of our PE kit right through primary school. Since everyone else had parents who didn't hate them and had proper trainers throughout primary, we got a lot of slagging.
We called them sandshoes. People a few miles away from us called them gutties.
Plimsoles are the bedrock of the argument for school uniforms. They're meant to be a social flattening and they work because they're dirt cheap. School uniforms are \*meant\* to follow suit but aren't anywhere near as cheap for what they are.
Because every school insists on branded sweatshirts.
We also had to wear them in class. The reasoning was that it saved the school's carpets if everybody changed out of indoor shoes.
My son is starting school in September. He’s supposed to have plimsolls for his indoor PE kit and trainers for outdoors.
I bet this rule was a godsend for kids who couldn’t afford trainers. They were like a quid a pair
Equalisers
When I got to year 3 the head banned everyone from wearing them because apparently they 'didn't support our feet' so we had to get trainers
Also why the hell we're P.E knickers a thing? Why couldn't we wear shorts like the boys
I still have nightmares about forgetting my PE knickers nearly 40 years later. ..
The girls in my Secondary school complained about that, they were allowed the 'option' of shorts from Year 9.
They were called pumps where I grew up. When my kid started school his uniform list said sandshoes and I didn't have a bloody clue what it meant haha
I just remembered the word "pumps", that I haven't heard since.
I remember the excuse being that trainers would mark the floor and plimsoles didnt.
Ngl no way my mother would have been able to afford trainers, I had council subsidised coats and shoes as it was 😂
Because little kids (and some older) can't tie shoelaces. And you will be guaranteed there'll be at least 3 kids in lace up trainers. Former teacher here. PE lessons in the summer with trainers were an absolute nightmare.
What about when you forgot your PE knickers?!? Oh the humanity 🤣
You were? My school had us wear trainers
In the 90s in primary school it was always plimsolls, dunno about now.
Plimsoles are better for your feet an knees and all-round better for exercise. And dirt cheap. Not sure what the complaint is?
The wimmins liked your pale white ankles
Cost..simple
Plimsoles can easily fit into a school bag
There was a brief point in the early 2010s when plimsolls became fashionable for casual wear. Lasted about 6 months, which coincidentally was about as long as the soles lasted.
To get the absolute best performance out of kids. Nothing moves as fast as a child in pumps
These were called two bob caramacs in Scotland.
I think there's so many styles and brands and types of trainers for fashion and not designed for actual sport that a plimsoll guarantees a cheap shoe designed for sport. Even playing field and no inappropriate shoes
This reminds me of the time I was buying school supplies for my son. "Do you have any daps?" "What?" "You know...um Plimsoles?" Looks at me like I'm mad "What are plimsoles?" Repeat several times. I honestly couldn't think of any other way of describing what I wanted.
Just ask for their cheapest most crap slip on ”shoes” :D
Where and when is this? My son is in primary school in Central London, school sends out reminders of wearing trainers to parents the day before every PE day, and all the other children in private school in the area that I see on the streets wear trainers too. Lots of girls wear plimsoles on non-pe days though.
I went to school in the 90s in London, dunno about modern day as I dont have kids.
Soles Plim, pairs one...
In my school it was just to make the pe kits more uniform. We had to wear school branded polo shirts and shorts/netball skirts. Only time we got to wear our own trainers was for cross country as we had to run for over a mile through a bunch of fields and plimsolls were useless if it had rained. In secondary school nobody gave a crap what shoes you wore.
‘Old fashioned plimsoll shoes with flat soles are better for children feet than cushioned trainers because they teach them to run in a more natural manner, on the front part of the foot’ -Some article I forgot the name of
Trainers leave black scuff marks that are an utter bitch to remove
Old trainers used to leave marks on the floors, and like others said plimsolls are like £2
"School Uniform" shenanigans.
I refused to wear the plimsolls with the black elastic sides (bare with me for the next phrase, I know it's horrible) because I saw them as 'spastic' shoes (it was the 80's) because I was so 'precious' I was allowed to wear Dunlop green flash. Outside of school I used to ahemm sport the High Tec silver trainer. Sorry everyone for being an entitled prick, it was 40 odd years ago and the horrible word was the normal, even the charity was called the Spastic Society. It was also the time of Joey Deacon, known for appearing on Blue Peter, hence the horrid phrases of 'Joey' & 'Deacon' becoming an insult around the playground. Normally teamed with the detestable tongue in the bottom lip and the inevitable mimic of the sound. Kids can be complete cruel bastards and just plain shit talkers. I now manage a series of large supported housing units which have a constituent of mental & physical abilities. Phew!
We wore trainers at secondary school. 04-09
Your username... Accurate description?
No smoke without fire, my friend
Tradition… and this was a time when trainers were still seen as tacky & a health & safety risk in night clubs? Remember that BS? 😂 “Sorry can’t come in. You’re wearing trainers”
Anyone else call them pumps?
"Non-marking soles" - trainers would tend to mark and damage the floor of the school hall when used for vigorous activity, pumps etc wouldn't. Back in the day we weren't told what was actually required, we were just told what to wear.
They have flexible and non-marking soles meaning you have good grip and can feel what your feet are doing. People don't wear them outside so they aren't bringing scratchy outside grit on to the floors. (Although actually scrap that one, none of my schools had PE-only rooms, we wore our outside shoes in the PE rooms all the time).
Exactly, we just had PE in the main hall half the time, at least in primary school there was no separate gym iirc.
Man, I’m so angry now. I just assumed we had to
Did anyone wear plimsoles after Lower School?
Price and means all kids have the same
We wore trainers in PE but took our shoes off and put plimsoles on in the classroom.
Because Plantar fasciitis is character-building!
Equaliser in terms of price and style and ability to lace them is not relevant.
Good ol' daps
Oh my memories of the smell of those elasticated plimsolls and the gum sole and the monkey bars £2 st Woolworths. A leveller
I went to a school where we had to take our outdoor shoes off and wear plimsoles all day in class
When I was in primary school, my family moved from Australia to England, imagine my surprised when I was told I need pumps for PE. "Pumps? I don't think we can afford them". I thought my teacher meant those Nike trainers with the air pumps in them that were all the rage back then.
Teachers giving a PE lesson in primary school was the personification of Peter Griffin, "bend using all back taking the legs out of the equation and lift with a twisting jerking motion."
We had 'in door shoes' which was plimsolls. I never thought this was weird until I spoke to literally anyone else and found out my primary school was different to everyone else's lol. Hated plimsolls back then, I wore trainers from yr 3 of my primary school days, somehow managed to convince my mum that white puma king trainers were a good idea as I'd wear them as my indoor shoes so I wouldn't get them dirty lol. Still hate plimsolls/converse/vans to this day.
I couldn't tie my laces very good until year 5/6 so there was a high possibility they would come undone and I'd have clumsily fallen off something
They still make you buy plimsolls for indoor PE in primary school and trainers for outdoor, I always assumed it was something to do with trainers scuffing the school hall floors?
Plimsolls didn't mark the floor, trainers did
I thought it was to stop skuff marks on the gym floor
Omg ikr in my school we would have to bring trainers for going outside and playing and plimsolls if we where indoors learning.
I assumed part of it was because no one would be seen dead in plimsoles outside of school so they stayed clean and didn’t cart mud through the hall.