Perry Boys Abroad 2: Never Going Back to Acrylic
April 5, 2009
As a youth I would listen. To the elders of the tribe, the late-teens and twenty-somethings; those with the proper Mancunian accents, those who’d shed platforms for sandals and boat-pumps. Those who disappeared for weeks on end and returned with sparkling tales from the South of France and Italy.
“We never paid for owt in six weeks. Restauarants got ran from, shops were a piss-take!” This common boast succeeded in pulling more clans across the Channel. To wander wide-eyed and light-fingered down Parisian boulevards. To swim in the Med and gawk at Austrian and German tits on show along the Riviera. To discover shops selling fetish items; branded sportswear, chiefly tennis, that eclipsed anything Adidas or Admiral or (most definitely) Umbro had insulted us with on our island to the north.
The Perries back home didn’t bat an eyelid when the Salford crews came back with their booty; they’d been on a Mod trip since the early 70s and recognised most of the designer labels at a glance. But the textures, the consistency of the fabric, had these urchins mesmerised. They were never going back to acrylic and nylon. No way. A lambswool Lacoste cardigan or a Munsingwear golf sweater seemed to flop with an organic life of its own. Assumed magnificent folds and spontaneous arrangements involving collar and cuff. Stripes woven into the whole that delineated style in a way hitherto unseen. But not unknown; anyone from the Manchester area knew a good thing when they saw it and now these, these monstrosities had unleashed a passion inside. An unquashable desire to own the entire “collection”. For collections are what young men, or indeed any men, aim to own. And so it began. Adidas Kick and Bamba, Mamba and Samba were freely available in Blighty. But superior shoes, like Bali and Hawaii, masterpieces in suede, occupied French sports shop windows like proud sentinels, their vibrant colourways lush and seductive.
As 1978 turned to 1979, these creations began to trickle in. The boat-pumps, moccasins and Polyveldts - traditional Perry Boy attire - welcomed them to the tribe. Our thing was expanding its genetic variability; street and sportswear fusing in a way never before dreamed. Well, maybe dreamed, but not like this. This wasn’t Mod, it wasn’t Glam and it barely retained a hint of the Soul that provided much of the momentum via Fred Perry and wedge hairstyles. It was something else and it was Nameless.
The train stations of Germany and Belgium were beginning to function as storage units for ragged gear; shoes and shirts grabbed from sports shops and hurriedly stashed before its procurers did one, off to find more. The Perry Boys abroad were bouncing across the continent, picking their fruits like a wild species hellbent on getting their fill after a drought. But it was about more than shoes and shirts. More than wedge haircuts and straightleg jeans. It was about attitude and slang. Style of mind, not just of trainers. And if we’re honest, early 1979 was still largely mired in the Adidas Kick, Pods and boat-pumps of the previous year. I’m not here to tell you I saw lads wearing Tobacco in Manchester in 1977 - I’m not even sure Adidas were making them at that time. No, I’m here to tell you the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. It is better to always tell the truth and that way they can’t find you out and make you look a plonker.
I remember my Uncle Geoff - a bloke who did the Euro thing for a few months - wearing his Adidas Bali. When Jogger became popular the following year, I instantly recognised the template; same shoe, different colours, barring the suede tongue of Bali being better than the foam Jogger tongue. “Perry Boys” abroad and at home began to tread freshly on rubber heels. And then Hawaii arrived. And all the while Stan Smith was impinging, perforating the suede wonderwall with its incandescent starkness: White leather, laced down to the edge, almost, like old style “baseball boots”, as we called Converse pumps in Salford. An unlikely contender but looking so right. Similar rubber soles to the suede range, with the added novelty of an absence of real stripes. Just lines of holes. They were top. And then, amid that chaos, when everyone was trying to make sense of it all, came Kio Riders. Kio’s were the earliest form of shoes designed to resemble trainers without possessing any of the physical sophistication or robustness of trainers. It was no coincidence that they appeared at the tail-end of the Stan Smith craze in spring, 1980. Initially white, Kio’s sought to head the Boys off at the pass by becoming available in a variety of colours, including a “delicate shade of lilac,” as my Religious Education teacher, Miss Davies described my own in a (failed) attempt to embarrass me in class. Kio’s were a stepping-stone towards fusion: Street and sports. They were the original K-Swiss or Skechers. The red rectangle in the side-sole contrasted with whatever colour the leather uppers happened to be and projected a message to the world: Someone Knows About Us.
And still it became. In becoming. In the ineffable suchness of evolution.
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Reminiscing
Memories of Australian by l’Alpina the brand that came to liverpool in the 1980’s.
25 years ago – February 1984 we received our first delivery of Australian at Wade Smith Shoes in Slater Street in Liverpool. Originally we had polo shirts and tracksuits hanging from a picture rail at the back of the shop behind the till. We also stocked Cerrutti 1881 and Head at that time and had fantastic Head skiing jackets which were very popular. By May of 1984 we had fitted lockable glass cabinets in the shop to display the new clothing that we had started to sell. It was about this time that Wade Smith Shoes Ltd. became known as Wade Smith or more locally as Wades or Wadies.
Australian along with Cerrutti were perceived as better and more expensive than the soon to become widely available Ellesse and Tacchini.
Its interesting to know that Australian is still made in Italy, in the same factory were the same famous Italian quality continues to be produced. In truth, most other Italian sports brands are now manufactured in the Far East.
February 1984 –
28th Jan – 3rd March, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was number 1 – replacing Paul Mc Cartney.
4th Feb, Division 1 Everton 4 Notts County 1 – A Heath 3, Sheedy Pen.
18th February FA Cup 5 H Everton 3 Shrewsbury 0, Irvine, Reid, Griffin og.
12th Feb, Division 1 Liverpool 3 Arsenal 0
20th Feb FA Cup 5 reply Liverpool 7 York 0
30th May Liverpool won the European Cup for the 4th time beating Roma on penalties.
As well as the historical striped and plain polos that season, they had produced a mad horizontal multi coloured stripe polo in mercerized cotton in a few different coloured versions. The 100% pure mercerized cotton is a cotton so fine and lustrous it’s often referred to as ‘pearl’ cotton. Mercerization is a process that treats cotton thread to shrink the fiber and make the fabric stronger. During the treatment process, the yarn is kept under tension, giving mercerized cotton its silky luster and feel. Mercerized cotton gives you all the benefits of cotton - comfort and natural fibres - and more. Not only does mercerized cotton shimmer and feel like silk, it’s tear resistant, absorbs water, and is pre-shrunk. Bet you did not know that!
I had one and Nick Taylor my mate from Green Lane, Old Swan also had one. He dropped his in clear water off an inflatable lilo in Ibiza in the summer of that year. We could see it as we floated above it but it was too far down for him to dive for it. I wet myself laughing but he was gutted.