PF Flyers

Part of the world-famous annual Sundance Film Festival’s allure are the “gifting lounges”, which offer visiting celebrities the chance to pick up swags. Gauging from what they wind up holding onto, one can tell what’s going to be hot for the coming year. At last year’s Sundance, the buzz was especially a buzzin' at the Boost Mobile Marquee Lounge, where the PF Flyers booth was located -- a signal that the shoe brand is squarely on its way to becoming a shoo-in (again) as everyone's essential footwear.

Most PF Flyers customers today may not remember or even know about the history of the brand, but they do value its heritage & new modern direction.
The "PF" in PF Flyers stands for "Posture Foundation". BF Goodrich (a tyre maker now under Michelin) patented this invention in 1933 & used it to produce the first "Posture Foundation Flyers" in 1937. The technology, still imitated to this day by many other major sneaker manufacturers, involved a wedge-like insert (that distributes weight to the outside of the foot & reduces strain on the legs) which the company claimed could make one "run faster & jump higher".
It was in the 50s, when the brand teamed up with the famed Boston Celtics star Bob Cousy to create a string of classic basketball designs, that PF Flyers really began to make strides. Its popularity escalated into the next decade, becoming one of the largest sneaker brands in America, before gradually losing steam in the early 70s. Thankfully, the brand is now being returned to its former glory after being bought & re-launched by sportswear giant New Balance. (Converse had purchased the brand earlier, but sold it off when the US government filed an antitrust suit claiming that if both companies combined they would have a monopoly for sneakers.)
These days, young Hollywood hipsters as well as the mature crowd are zero-ing in on PF Flyers for its perfect convergence of old & new, & of course for its excellent support & comfort. The brand’s retro style sneakers, updated with re-issued or new colour & pattern schemes, offer a breath of fresh air to kicks filled with (ahem...) a bunch of pumps, bubbles, pockets & contraptions. And for those ready to open their minds to something other than that “other” old-timey, basketball player-endorsed sneaker brand, PF Flyers are as cool as they come!

Trivia:- In recent years, the phrase "wearing his PF Flyers" has been commonly used when describing a person who’s running very fast (in a game, etc). Example: "Though women outnumbered the males almost 2 to 1, it was Will Meadows wearing his PF Flyers who blazed a time of 5:16, one of the fastest of the season, to win the race."