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Saturday, 22 November 2008

WAYFINDERS - 1966

I remember a lot of us wearing Wayfinders at Balerno school in the mid 60's. They appealed to primary aged kids because they were shoes with 2 novelties for the price of one. The first obvious one was the animal track soles for identifying various animal footprints. The second not so obvious novelty was a hidden working compass in the inside heel which needed the wearer to lift a wee round lid to get to it. The idea behind them was to encourage kids to have outdoor adventures, but the problem was, in order to see the animal tracks we had to stomp around in the mud which then lead to a bit of bother from parents when we came back home with messy shoes! Ok for snow unless they were bought in summer which usually meant the sole would be worn away by the time it snowed! Still good fun though.
I also seem to recall they came with a free wall chart or a booklet all about animal tracks.

9 comments:

  1. Ah. Your memory is better than mine. I thought these were Clark's Commandos. I did have pair of these too though :) G.C

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  2. Had both Wayfinders and Commandos lol.

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  3. I'm pretty sure Clark's Commandos did an animal track and compass sole too, maybe a few years later.

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  4. https://youtu.be/7jpIv3LkUuM

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  5. And a little round blister made by the indent the compass made

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  6. Does anyone remember the tv advert for these shoes ?

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    1. Yes I do it was me in the advert

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  7. Got mine from walkers shoe shop top off church street in St Helens Merseyside

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  8. The compass in the heel helped me navigate my way home from the sweetie shop many a time!

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