In the 1900’s, improvements to track spikes hit their stride. Other improvements included adding a leather strap around the forefoot that helped reduce stretching as well as running the laces all the way down to the toe area so the shoe could be tighten around the whole foot. Those first track spikes were priced at $6 a pair, pretty hefty for that time period. Very quickly, runners wanted even lighter shoes, so soft, light-weight kangaroo hide replaced the cow leather. Make of leather, cow-hide at first, with six spikes in the fore-foot, these shoes were a major transition for the sport of track. In fact, they looked much like men’s dress shoes, with metal spikes stuck in the bottom.
These first shoes were rather dull, heavy and hot compared to today’s brightly colored, light-weight footwear. Experts agree the first track spikes made their appearance around 1850 and began to be sold commercially in the late 1800’s by a man named Joseph Williams Foster, who is famous for beginning the company that eventually became Reebox. Sneakers became athletic shoes for children at first, and then for cyclists, thus beginning specialized shoes. In 1832, the process for putting rubber soles on shoes was patented and the sneaker, so named for its noiseless quality, was born. Track spikes actually have their beginnings in rubber.
So what is the history of the track and field spike shoe? How did the idea come about that runners who have sharp points on their feet would go faster? In a chicken and egg kind of way, running shoes and running companies grew together, with the great barons of running taking the lead in creating faster shoes for faster runners. That sound, feet shod in track spikes crossing concrete to the rubber track, is unique and to some, beautiful. For anyone who has ever run track, the sound of metal spikes on concrete or asphalt can bring on a flood of memories about nervous anticipation, the smell of sweat, the burn of muscles and the thrill of coming down the stretch with the crowding roaring in your ears.