Plimsoll shoe

A plimsoll shoe, plimsoll or plimsole (British English; see other names below) is a type of athletic shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole developed as beachwear in the 1830s by the Liverpool Rubber Company.

Plimsolls had solid rubber soles about 8 or 9mm thick, to which the canvas was glued without coming up the sides (as on trainers). The effect when running was not dissimilar to running without shoes.