The gnarly name kidskin or kid leather refers to leather made from goat or lamb skin— sometimes even kangaroo. It was never a particular brand of leather and we suspect its meaning was adapted at times by advertisers and copywriters to mean any hide that was soft and pliable.
Kid leather has a history in bags, gloves, bookbinding, and of course shoemaking.
Check out more classic shoe ads from my post yesterday on the Apollo anniversary.
I had the pleasure of slicing through some historical records (old newspapers— mostly Boston Globes) pertaining to major historical events in US history, including the exciting sequence leading up to Neil Armstrong’s walk on Earth’s moon fifty years ago today. Reading about the astronauts’ ITMG boots equipped with utility pockets layered under a lunar overshoe was of course fascinating, but for us it’s all about the ads. What was on the shelves back then?
Consumers could get a better fit in ’69. Look— just look at the widths offered by popular retailers of the time. For perspective; the average off-the-shelf women’s width is a “B”. For guys it’s “D”.
“Otter Smooth Leather”, “styles in all wanted heel heights”. “fabulous assortment of evening and cruise shoes”.. the copy on these are pure gold. Solby Bayes was even advertising AAAAAAs (that had to have been a joke). In reality these products were filling a need that modern footwear has dumbed down and ignored. As you can see, it was not uncommon for women to to have a wider foot than “B”.
This one is so excellent it may be worth framing (Globe, May 16th 1963)
Popdiatry readers know that “A” is the thinnest, “E” is the widest and that multiple letters denote even thinner or wider. So AA is thinner than A, AAA is thinner than AA, EEEE is about the widest you’ll ever see. In 2019 it’s very uncommon to see “C” or multiple “A”s and many companies have done away with the antiquated letter system in favor of “M” or “W” but if you pride yourself on being super-scientific, knowing your Brannock width is the first key to the game.
I like a good phone as much as the next guy, gal or gender X— just got this device a few weeks ago and was inspired to drop a little Who, What, When, Where, Why (in reverse order) for anyone interested. My first phones were rotary. Then came push-button. Cordless evolved into mobile with little retractable antennae, to flip & candybar to these infernal things we have now..
Smart. When I’m rolling with the Palm I get a feel of my favorite cell phone of yesteryear, the Motorola PEBL (which was an SUV’d-up RAZR). Knowing I have all the modern maps and apps at my disposal is a better feeling than using them frivolously. This isn’t a phone that begs for your attention, so we like it more. Someone was bound to do this sooner or later, and I’m happy with what the new iteration of Palm brought to market.
WHY?
Because who wants to lug an impulse-driven power-phablet around all the livelong day especially since they’ve become so devilishly smart? Mentally the new Palm lends lends itself to the essence of what our mobile phones were circa 2005. It’s the tiniest a phone can be without even being a thing at all. A bit like the watch (on your bill at least), but something else (you could strap this to your wrist and make it so). Not every blip needs action, and this gives you plenty of options to let only VIPs through. Cloud notes can be scribbled for later access on bigger screens. Synced-up contacts and a simplified version of Android allow you to create a mini version of your phone, but one with a size advantage that can go any way depending on your imagination.
WHERE?
Wear wherever! Preferably pocket. The Palm is so small— uncased it could so so easily fall beneath a carseat, in a grate, down a chute— faster than you could say shh. It’s wearable in that it’s your responsibility to keep it from falling—or falling out of the wrong hands. This means you shouldn’t let anyone examine it, which is fine because since it’s barely a thing at all, it looks much better hidden. One of the reasons I wrote this article is to direct curious askers to it if they ask to see mine.
WHEN?
When you want to be polite, social, busy. When you bicycle, go to dinner, play handball. You can always switch back to your main phone when you’re done with your minimalist mission. Face it. Socially, once you’ve reached the people you need to be with, the big boppin’ phone isn’t always a good look. The Palm is great for times you want to go against the obsessive, phone-addicted, picture-fiend aesthetic that’s so common in today’s public spaces.
WHAT?
Palm calls this a cell phone the size of a credit card. They’re right. I’m using the companion version. It is also available as a standalone. It runs a simplified version of Android, has one single button and one USB-C slot.
WHO?
palm.com (no affiliation)
Less = more is my philosophy with this and I’m slowly adding apps based on how essential I deem them. “Subway Time” works fine on here as does the freelancer-friendly work app “When I Work”. I checked into flights, used the flashlight, took some pictures— having another smaller phone with the same number is something I’ve wanted as a consumer so I was happy to buy into this. I’m looking for suggestions on a good weather app. Feel free to tweet us with tips. Here’s a raw unedited Palm camera photo of the Ferris Wheel at the Brockton Fair a few days ago:
Popdiatry occasionally writes about apparel and accessories in our feature Off The Path.
