1950s Kroydon Golf Shoes by Endicott Johnson

Was it the snappy red color with the contrasting black trim, or was it the tee holder with the three yellow tees?  I can’t really say, but something really sold me on this pair of vintage golf shoes.

I placed the dating of  1950s on these mainly from clues on the shoe box.

First, the guys in the photograph are straight from the mid 50s, plaid golf bags and all.

But the best clue was on the Kroydon logo, where it reads, “Golf leadership for over 40 years.”  Solid information about Kroydon was a bit hard to come by, but I found several old ads for Kroydon golf clubs on ebay.  I found that the company was located in Maplewood, New Jersey.  From there I googled “Kroydon, Maplewood” and found a reference to the company in a 1940s book called Prominent Families of New Jersey.  According to the book, Kroydon was established in 1918.

While Kroydon made golf clubs, they also must have had agreements with other manufacturers to produce golf accessories that were marketed under the Kroydon name.  Endicott Johnson was a large shoe manufacturer located in southern New York state.

Whenever I find sportswear in unused condition, I wonder about the person who owned it.  Did this woman want to learn the game, but never made the time for it?  Did her golfer husband buy them for her for Christmas, hoping that she would pick up the game?  Or did a conservative dresser buy them, hoping to snazz up her style, but then lost the nerve?  I’d love to know the real story.

UPDATE:  I have heard from the great-great-grandson of the owner of Croyden:

Kroyden was a subsidiary of Kraueter & Company founded by Augustus Kraueter (who was my great great grandfather) in Newark NJ  ca 1860 and primarily manufactured small hand tools. They got into the golf business shortly after the First World War by forging the heads for irons and then developed steel shafts for clubs in lieu of hickory, The Kroyden factory was located in Maplewood, NJ as you stated in your post.