[2] The Hush Puppies brand was founded in 1958 following extensive work to develop a practical method of pigskin tanning for the US military to use in gloves and other protective materials.

[3] Hush Puppies claimed their rubber soles saved the life of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards when he accidentally touched his guitar against an ungrounded microphone at a 1965 concert in Sacramento, California.

Richards was knocked unconscious, but medics believed that the crepe-soled Hush Puppies shoes he was wearing insulated him and saved his life.

[4] In 1994, when sales were down to 30,000 pairs a year, Hush Puppies suddenly became hip in the clubs and bars of downtown Manhattan where young people were buying them at small shoe stores.

[5] Fashion designers John Bartlett, Anna Sui, and Joel Fitzpatrick began featuring them in their collections; the shoes were soon worn by celebrities such as Kenneth Clarke, Princess Diana, Jim Carrey, Sharon Stone, David Bowie, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres and Sylvester Stallone.