Sneaking Back : P.F. Flyers Live--This Time From Head to Toe

Thirty years ago, a free decoder ring came as a bonus with a new pair of P.F. Flyers. Soon, they’ll be offering a matching designer sweatshirt instead, but you’ll have to pay extra.

The once-popular P.F. Flyers, virtually absent from shoe stores in the 1980s, will soon be back.

Flyers sold for less than $15 a pair four decades ago. The new version will cost $60 to $70. Changes, yes, but one thing remains: P.F.’s old rival, Keds.

In fact, Keds--Flyers’ nemesis from the 1940s and 1950s--is the runaway leader in the sale of canvas-topped shoes, a re-emerging segment of the $3.5-billion athletic shoe industry, industry analysts say.

And it is this demand for the old canvas tops that Hyde Athletic Industries hopes to exploit in reintroducing the Flyers next spring.

“Hyde is trying to capitalize on the success of Keds,” said Steven Frankel, a research analyst with the Boston-based investment firm of Adams, Harkness & Hill. He said sales of Keds, made by Stride Rite Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., are expected to reach $150 million this year, three times the sales of 1985.

“Keds has taken off like a rocket in the last couple of years. Canvas is hot. It’s a backlash against leather products like Reebok, Avia and L.A. Gear.”

The surge for canvas is being led by consumers who want a “simple, elegant shoe that is also comfortable,” Frankel said. Adults--ages 20 to 35--are the biggest buyers of canvas, according to Frankel. These cloth shoes are particularly popular with women, and with people in the their 30s, 40s and 50s, Frankel said.

“They wore Keds when they were kids,” said Frankel, “so there is a nostalgia element there.”

Hyde hopes to exploit the nostalgia factor, according to John Fisher, president of Hyde. Hyde, based in Peabody, Mass., unveiled to retailers its new P.F. Flyers at a trade show in Long Beach last weekend and will begin shipping the shoes to stores in May.

Fisher recalled wearing Flyers when he was a boy. At that time--the 1950s and the late 1940s--Flyers and Keds were the most popular gymshoes around. Demand for Flyers plummeted when the newer athletic shoes with soft leather tops became the rage in the 1970s.

“Flyer has been virtually absent for 12 years, but it still has name recognition with the retailers who will sell it,” he said “We haven’t rejected the idea of using parts of the old commercials for the nostalgia.”

While Hyde is borrowing from the past, it is also seeking to establish a new identity for the sneaker.

P.F. still stands for Posture Foundation, a reference to arch support in the sole, but the shoes will certainly have a new look. The vintage version had traditional white soles and canvas held together by rubber strips. The new version, however, has a black rubber base made from a single mold. In addition, the canvas will be available in unconventional green, in red and in “splatter”--a speckled look.

For those interested in the splatter look, there will also be a splatter sweatshirt, expected to retail at $55. There will also be shirts with the P.F. Flyer name or logo and berets in black and green, the official P.F. Flyer colors. And, for the complete P.F. Flyer aficionado, prepare yourself for the “wing,” a special P.F. Flyer haircut styling.

“It’s a very different market,” observed the 40-year-old Fisher, comparing the buying tastes and habits of today’s teens with teen-agers in the 1940s and 50s.

Fisher said the shoes will initially be marketed for 11- to 18-year-old males. Shoes designed and targeted for adults are being held back until fall 1989 for strategic reasons.

“We want the kids--not the adults--to discover the shoes (in stores) first,” Fisher explained. “Kids don’t want to be told about a product their parents are wearing. And, kids don’t want their parents telling them, ‘I wore this as a kid and you should wear it.’ No, the kids have to discover it first.”