80s Shoes We Hated to Wear: Jelly Shoes

They were a totally cute 80s fashion, but they made your feet sweaty and smelly. The plastic broke easily, and that meant you were always begging your mom to take you to the store to get a new pair. Yeah, they came in lots of colors and a few different styles. But out of all the trendy 80s shoes, we hated wearing jelly shoes the most — even if we did go through a gazillion pairs of them.

Stinky Plastic 80s Fashion

Why would anyone want to stick their bare feet into plastic shoes? Okay, so some people may have worn them with socks, which was, like, fashionably questionable (at best), but what did we think was so stylish about stinky feet? And believe me, no 80s fashion smelled worse (except maybe Aqua Net hairspray). I remember sitting around the house, wondering what’s that foul odor? — only to discover it was coming from my own jelly shoes! It was totally disgusting!

But 80s Shoes Had to Be Cute

But they were soooo cute! And when it comes to fashion, it’s all about aesthetics. They make your feet smell? So what? They look awesome! Women have been wearing uncomfortable shoes for decades… centuries even, and 80s shoes were no different.

All of my jelly shoes were made mostly out of soft plastic, but the back piece was hard and it used to give me blisters — blisters that hurt! The plastic along the sides of the shoes was always breaking. Did I mention they were cheap? You could get a pair for under five dollars, which was a good thing since I always had to replace mine.

But on the playground, jelly shoes totally ruled. I remember all too well how much all the girls thought jelly shoes were the greatest 80s fashion ever. We flaunted them, and for about a season, we gave them top honor among all our other 80s shoes. But alas, the love we had for our jelly shoes did not last (thank goodness).

Rest in Peace, Jelly Shoes

I’m sure all my old jelly shoes are in a landfill somewhere, stubbornly NOT decomposing. This is one 80s fashion that I’m glad has been laid to rest and one pair of 80s shoes that I hope never comes back into style.

Good riddance jelly shoes!

80s Shoes: Converse Hi-Tops

We already know that 80s fashion was over the top. In the 80s, shoes could be pretty wild, but we totally embraced one classic piece of rad footwear that had been around since 1908 and continues its popularity today: Converse hi-tops.

Converse Rubber Shoe Company was launched in 1908 by a dude named Marquis Mill Converse. The originals were rubber, but in 1915, they started manufacturing athletic shoes. Then, in 1917, a basketball player named Chuck Taylor went to the company complaining about sore feet. His original job with Converse was to market and promote their shoes. It wasn’t until 1923 that his signature was added to the shoe.

There have been many imitations over the years, and a similar shoe by Keds has been popular on and off. But no shoe has had the longstanding, massively popular success of Converse All Stars.

80s Fashion

80s fashion made a statement. The brighter and bolder, the better. Wild prints and vivid colors were totally trendy. We mixed and matched and we layered. Nothing was off limits, and our footwear had to take us places, literally and figuratively. The right shoe has always made the outfit, but 80s fashion required extra special shoes. Because the outfits were so wild, 80s shoes had a lot to live up to. A boring white sneaker or basic black pump just didn’t cut it.

80s Shoes

80s shoes came in all sizes, shapes, and colors. They were made out of leather and lace, plastic and rubber, canvas and vinyl. They came in every color of the rainbow as well as any print imaginable. Some were even layered. I was particularly fond of a pair of floral print canvas hi-tops with lace overlay. I wore those shoes ragged.

The 80s fashion scene was demanding. All those colors and prints required a pretty big shoe collection so you could choose the right kicks for every outfit. Red shoes, yellow shoes, green shoes, and blue shoes. They came in plaid, paisley, and polka dots. Casual, formal, and athletic.

Converse Hi-Tops

Converse hi-tops were the answer to many 80s fashion prayers. Made of canvas and rubber, they came in a huge array of colors. And canvas was friendly to permanent markers, so you could customize your own shoes with names of your favorite band or whoever you had a crush on.

Of all the 80s shoes, Converse were the most flexible. If you had two pairs, say a pink pair and an aqua pair, you could mix and match. Wear a pink one on your left foot and an aqua one on your right foot. If you had a best friend with a similar shoe size, you might even double match and swap.

You could roll your pants up and show off the hi-tops or get a tight pair of socks and tuck the pants in. Lots of us laced the Converse hi-tops halfway and then folded the top down, which wasn’t technically layering, but sure looked like it.

The totally awesome selection of colors and prints alone made Converse hi-tops iconic 80s shoes. But they were also affordable, which meant you could get a few pairs for mixing, matching, trading, and swapping. Everyone likes flexible footwear and Converse hi-tops delivered.

Best of all, they still do.