By If you are old enough to remember the Bee Gees’ debut on the American music scene, you probably remember your parents or grandparents wearing galoshes on rainy days. In fact, you probably wore them to school every now and again. You might even have memories of a school coatroom full of dripping raincoats hung on hooks and galoshes lining the floor.
Galoshes seemingly went out of style beginning in the mid-80s. By the time the late 90s rolled around, the only ones wearing galoshes were attorneys, schoolteachers, and business executives. Now they are suddenly making a comeback. Interestingly enough, they are a lot like sweaters these days.
How so? Let us take a look.
1. You Wear Them When Mom Is Concerned About Her Shoes
You’ve heard it said that a sweater is something you wear when your mother is cold. Indeed, how many mothers bundle up their young children in multiple layers of clothing under the assumption that the little ones are cold? In reality, it’s mom who is cold. She is translating her discomfort into similar discomfort for her child.
This is why moms wrap the kids in so many winter layers that there is no possible way the kids can enjoy playing in the snow. They can’t even move. Along the same lines, galoshes are something children wear when their mothers are concerned about their own shoes.
Let’s face it, adults wear galoshes to protect their shoes against rain and snow. It is not actually a bad idea. However, your average kid doesn’t care if his shoes get wet. He doesn’t care if they are dirty or grimy. He only wears galoshes because mom said so.
2. Some Galoshes Are Butt Ugly
Another way galoshes are like sweaters is observed simply by looking at them. In plain English, some galoshes are butt ugly. They are so ugly that they can be worn with the ugliest of sweaters at Christmas time, without nary a snide remark or under-the-breath giggle.
One wonders about the motivation behind designing such ugly galoshes. Thank goodness that not all of them are so visually unattractive. For example, consider the zip and slip-on galoshes from GC Tech. They look quite sleek and professional. By contrast, you can find galoshes on Amazon that not even your mother would wear. They are too ugly, even for her!
Pair the ugliest galoshes with an equally abhorrent sweater and you win the ugly sweater contest at the office Christmas party. But in any other setting, don’t do it. Leave the ugly at home whenever you can. And when you do have to wear ugly sweaters and galoshes, never wear them together.
3. They Do the Job
All kidding aside, sweaters and galoshes are similar in that they both do the job. You wear a sweater to keep warm, right? Few articles of clothing will keep you as warm as a nice, knit sweater. There is no denying that. That’s why sweaters are the hottest article of clothing from late fall through early spring.
Likewise, galoshes do an excellent job of protecting your shoes. Most are made with rubber, so they are waterproof and impervious to road salt. Nothing is better for protecting a pair of dress shoes on a rainy or snowy day than a good pair of galoshes.
Whether you call them galoshes, shoe covers or overshoes, the pieces of rubber that protect your dress shoes are a lot like the sweaters in your closet. Now you know why. If you don’t own a pair, maybe it’s time to change that.
