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There is no hard evidence for when hiking might have first come into existence. Its roots can be found buried back in the ancient past at some point when the first people began to walk simply to see what the world around them looked like rather than in search of food or shelter.

Since those first hikers blazed the way centuries ago, there have been many more explorers and trail blazers. Men and women who have sought to discover what the wilderness held, to walk trails through rugged terrain in search of the wonders of the natural world. There have also been significant changes in the equipment they used.

The trail hiking shoe of today are the culmination of a long history of advances in shoe design that began with the first cobblers who realized they could create a better way to protect the feet of travelers.

One significant advance in shoe design, that we still see in the modern hiking shoe, is the arch support. This simple means of making shoes comfortable was born in 1906 from the desires of a 33 yr old waiter, William J. Riley, who was trying to devise a way to help relieve the pain that people working all day on their feet suffered from. Three years after creating the arch support, William J. Riley was listed in the 1909 Boston Business Directory under the heading shoemaker'.

A few years later, in 1916, the first sneakers, Keds, would be produced by US Rubber. It is quite likely that s significant number of the shoes that first traversed the Appalachian Trail were Keds sneakers.

The Appalachian Trail was first proposed by Benton MacKaye in 1921 as a network of work camps and communities, by its completion on August 14, 1937 the shoe industry was well on its way to creating the footwear that would one day be the standard for those who would use the trail.

Keds had already introduced their new shock-proof arch cushioning in 1936, and by the year after the completion of the Appalachian Trail, in 1938, they would introduce Kedettes, targeted as being the ideal dress shoe for women they were the first athletic shoes to have heels on them.

The modern trail hiking shoe saw some changes around the 1940's with William J. Riley's shoe business being reborn as New Balance - creating custom shoes for running, baseball, basketball, tennis and boxing, through to 1949 when Adidas was registered as a company.

In 1947 the Salomon company was born in the heart of the French Alps.

In 1952 Nathan Swartz bought part of the Abington Shoe Company, by 1955 he was sole owner and his sons

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