MITCHELL & NESS PRESENTS HOOD RUBBER CO.
Hood, a brand considered by many sneaker historians to be one of the early pioneers of athletic footwear during the first half of the 20th century.
Rooted in entrepreneurial spirit, born on the factory floors in pre-war America, and surviving decades of grit and grind, they became the people’s shoes. Once the largest producer of rubber-soled footwear in the world, a distinction it held for nearly three decades, Hood was instrumental in developing athletic sneakers in America.
Reborn after 50 years of silence, Hood Footwear is back.
Starting back in 1896, read our storied history below.
Hood Rubber Co. is an athletic lifestyle brand built on a contemporary perspective of the historical, political and cultural events that have shaped our company over the past 120 years. This viewpoint is a retrospective of Hood Rubber Co.’s contribution to footwear, exhibited in a modern presentation.
To establish an accurate depiction of the company’s past, we have painstakingly collected and archived a vast selection of company artifacts. We seek to infuse the brand with the historical narrative of more than a century of leadership in footwear manufacturing.
Our goal is to leverage our substantial brand history as the premier rubber shoemaker and as one of the founding fathers of the canvas sneaker, combined with our legacy of entrepreneurialism, sound business strategy, and ongoing innovation, to re-establish a foundation for Hood Rubber Co.’s success as a world-class brand.
1896
In the beginning – In 1861, at the outset of the U.S. Civil War, twenty-six-year-old G. H. Hood began working for Charles Goodyear at the Goodyear’s Rubber Mfg. Co. After spending fifteen years there, gaining experience in manufac.turing and selling rubber, Mr. Hood struck out on his own, establishing Boston Rubber Company. He acquired the assets of a defunct rubber footwear factory in Franklin, Massachusetts, and began the production of rubber footwear under the Boston Rubber Co. and Bell brand name.
Mr. Hood’s two sons, Frederic and Arthur, worked at the footwear plant during their time off from school, learning the rubber trade alongside him. The informal apprenticeship equipped the brothers with a sound knowledge of the rubber manufacturing process.
In 1892, To compete with the small, specialized rubber manufacturing companies that were proliferating throughout the Northeast, Boston Rubber Co. consolidated with ten oth.er rubber companies under the name United States Rubber Co.,forming the first rubber trust in the United States.
As a cofounder and director of United States Rubber Co., Mr. Hood sold his entire interest in Boston Rubber Co. for an undisclosed number of preferred shares, becoming the fourth largest shareholder in the trust increased to 3,000 pairs of rubber boots per day.
Immediately after the company was acquired, U.S. Rubber Co. closed all Boston Rubber Co. plants and dismissed the company’s staff – Frederic and Arthur included.
Mr. Hood was infuriated. In protest, he resigned as director of U. S. Rubber Co. on April 25, 1896, permanently retiring from active participation in the rubber industry. His strong personality had stamped itself so indelibly upon the rubber trade that not.withstanding his retirement, he was – and is – remembered as a force de majeure in the rubber industry.
Frederic and Arthur Hood picked up where their father left off, incorporating Hood Rubber Company on October 12, 1896. Mr. Hood complied with his agreement with U.S. Rubber Co., and did not own any stock or hold an official position at Hood Rubber Co. His status as a founding father of the rubber industry, however, makes it a safe assumption that he shrewdly advised his sons as they grew the company.
Many former employees who had been affected by the closure of the Boston Rubber Co. plants joined Hood, and less than four months after breaking ground on a new plant, Hood Rubber Co. opened a 67,564-square-foot manufacturing plant with 225 employees in Watertown, Massachusetts. The first day, ten pairs of boots were produced; within six months, production had increased to 3,000 pairs of rubber boots per day.
Soon after Hood Rubber Co. launched, the company found early success with the introduction of a rugged, lightweight rubber boot line called the Tuff Boot. It was a pull-on Wellington-style boot made of extra-heavy vulcanized duck canvas fabric in the shaft and vamp, and was substantially lighter than the current pull-on boots of the time.
1901
Canvas + Rubber – The company was just finding its footing when, in 1901, U.S. Rubber Co. announced a 25% reduction in rubber footwear prices, initiating a price war within the market. If Hood failed to match their prices, heavy operating losses would force the company to shut down; the company chose to match the decrease. At these fire sale prices, customers purchased larger quantities. Although the increased production resulted in reduced fixed costs, goods could not be produced at a profit. The first few months of operation at the reduced prices resulted in substantial losses, rapidly depleting Hood’s operating capital.
Fortunately, Hood began producing a new type of shoe that had a canvas upper with a rubber sole, which required less rubber to manufacture. Over the next decade, new types and styles of the canvas rubber-soled shoes were developed with an improved appearance. A large portion of Hood’s growth came from the extraordinary increase in sales of rubber-soled canvas-upper shoes – the "original" sneakers.
1913
15 LOVE – In 1914, Hood took another leap forward in shoe innovation. No company had ever produced a canvas shoe or a sneaker equipped with an offset rubber pneumatic heel combined with acanvas oxford upper, creating a lightweight heeled shoe. But on No.vember 3, 1914, Hood received Patent No. 1,115,875 for the "Tennis Shoe."
A Legend is Born – At the turn of the tenth century, the canvas upper shoes made by the Company had not been much of a factor in the total volume of production. The Company’s management realized that the advancing price of both rubber and leather offered an opportunity to ex.pand beyond rubber shoes and boots and manufacture better grades of canvas footwear which could be used in place of leather shoes, especially for the flourishing leisure and sports markets.
The low-cut "Oxford" or high-cut "Bal-type" shoe is characterized by the eye-row attached under the vamp of the upper. Originally oxfords and Bals were simple, dress shoes, made of leather. Hood introduced an oxford shoe with a canvas circular vamp and rubber sole in 1914, as an alternative to the traditional leather oxford styles of the time, with considerable success. The vulcanized oxford style evolved into a range of canvas shoes suitable for sports and casual wear.
Hood continually produced the circular vamp oxford or "CVO," until the late 1960’s and has become the most prolific casual shoe styles in the world.
1914
Basketball had been invented just prior to the founding of Hood Rubber Co. and had become established relatively quickly in schools and universities. The history of the sport is inextricably intertwined with the history of vulcanized sneakers. Throughout the early twentieth century, basketball shoes became more refined and distinct from other footwear of the time.
Hood’s first basketball-specific shoe appeared in 1914
The origin of the first basketball shoe is debatable. Hood’s first record of a basketball-specific shoe appeared in the company’s 1914 catalog. The original shoe was a laced-to-toe high-cut boot, ensuring a snug fit. The upper was made of heavy white duck canvas vulcanized to a solid pure rubber sole. The sole had diamond and circle shape die-cuts that were believed to create suction and grip the lacquered wood floor of a gymnasium better.
1919
Athletic shoes for nearly every sporting endeavor were developed, greatly increasing sales volume. In the early ‘20s, Hood ventured into athletic youth footwear, releasing the original Hood Sandlot and Husky Sneakers for general play and athletics; the high-cut sneaker was promoted as a stylish sneaker for all-around outdoor use.
In 1919 Hood Rubber Co. capitalized on changes in mass media, continuously advertising its products in magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post. Hood Rubber’s beautifully illustrated advertising reached millions of consumers on a weekly basis, persuading Americans to buy all types of footwear, from basketball and tennis shoes to children’s sneakers.
1929
