The London Lounge

I ordered two pairs of Sperry shoes from the U.S. of A., which arrived this week. And they are made in China.

One is a white buck leather Blucher with a rather solid orangey-reddish brown shade. The other is a navy boat shoe with white rubber soles and 3 pairs of eyelets for the shoe laces.

To my surprise, the Bluchers had an attached tag describing the shoes as boat shoes with the name of Sperry Navigator, while the navy pair had an attached tag describing them as boat shoes with the name of Sperry Performance. Are the tags correct?

I believe, though I can't prove it, that "Top-Sider" was the original and only model designed by Paul Sperry in 1935 for walking on slippery boat decks. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperry_Top-Sider)

The shoe design has been produced by more than one company over the years, and now Sperry Top-Sider is used (as a phrase) as the brand for a large line of shoes, of which the "Authentic Original Boat Shoe" model is the closest to the 1935 classic, and versions of the canvas 'Striper" model also have several decades of history behind them. For use on boats the white rubber sole with razor sipes (splits) featured by both models was a crucial component--it gripped the deck even when wet and the white color would not leave marks on painted or varnished surfaces. For use on land a similarly styled "camp moc" made by Sperry and many others (usually with a darker sole) has also been popular for decades as a "trad" casual shoe.

Sperry Top-Sider now makes many kinds of shoes including a "Performance" line that is of more contemporary design and intended for (or at least to suggest) use in high-performance sporting activities. Each model in the Performance line has its own name. So that tag at least makes sense:

Sperry Performance:
http://www.sperrytopsider.com/products/H42206.jsp

I couldn't find a "Navigator" model or line on the Sperry web site, but that's hardly definitive. It might have been produced in a limited production or for another retailer.

Couch:
You remind me of how much I miss my red Topsiders (and the beautiful shade of orangey/pink they faded into). I kept them long after they were unwearable (fault my feet, not their durability) and eventually discarded them when I was reminded that I wasn't running a prop shop. (Though I still have my old wooden squash racket in case I open one.)