Ward’s Shoes: Supa Dukes Commercial – Adventure Playground

Supa-Dukes: the boy proof boys' shoe with the all action look.

In the years before the trainer became the ubiquitous footwear for children, shoe companies battled to come up with robust products that could cope with the punishment of heavy street play. The Leicestershire made Ward's Supa-Duke was one such attempt: a shoe for 'the all action boy' complete with welded sole. Shown here being tested out by a couple of junior James Bonds in another new innovation of the 1960s: the adventure playground.

George Ward Ltd manufactured shoes at a factory at Barwell in Leicestershire from 1900 until 1989. George Ward (1871-1951) who founded the firm was a local councillor and the Liberal MP for Bosworth for a brief period in the 1920s.