Introducing the “PALLADENIM”®, a traditional PALLADIUM® shoe design, revisited by MISTER FREEDOM®
For a kid like me, growing up partly in France and Africa, the brand PALLADIUM® meant sneakers (we called them baskettes) and outdoor shoes. Everyone owned a pair…
So when talks about a collaboration MFxP® initiated over a year ago, I had two words: OUI MESSIEURS!… And called my Mum right away…
Flipping through an old cherished photo album my Dad, Gérard Loiron, had put together when doing his two years in the French military in Algeria, I found several shots of him wearing government issued chaussures de brousse. The year was 1956, my Dad was 24, and wearing a pair of Palladium!
Starting in the late 1940′s PALLADIUM® contracted with the French military to supply troops with rugged, functional, durable and comfortable footwear. PALLADIUM® manufactured gym shoes and outdoor boots (the legendary Chaussure Pampa, Pallabrousse…), supplying Légion Etrangère, Armée de l’Air, Marine Nationale…
Non related, but there are a few shots of Steve McQueen wearing his Pallabrousse in the very excellent book “The Last Mile” by Barbara McQueen.
That’s ol’ school enough for me ☺