Paul A. Sperry invented the boat shoe in 1935, but his innovation was primarily the sole. As the legend goes, inspired by the pads on his dog’s paws, he created a rubber outsole with siping to provide traction on wet surfaces.
Sperry attached his clever sole design to a leather camp moc design that had been around for generations. A new collaboration between Sperry, the brand, and One of These Days explores a different branch of the moccasin footwear family tree.
European immigrants adopted moccasin footwear construction from Native Americans before the United States was founded, and the tradition has carried on for generations in areas like New England and the Great Lakes.
The basic design of a leather vamp that wraps under the foot and attaches to a top panel with a stitched toe can be broken into two broad groups. There are shoes like boat shoes, camp mocs and traditional moccasins, and then there are moc boots.
One of These Days founder Matt McCormick set out to create a moc boot in the style of Sperry’s tried-and-true Top-Sider boat shoe. It includes a soft leather upper, metal eyelets and stitching on the toe and heel.
McCormick’s design even includes rawhide laces like the ones used on Sperry boat shoes. In a nod to the inventor of the boat shoe, he named the design after his dog, Tony.
