Brothel Creepers

Creepers or brothel creepers are a type of shoe.

They found their beginnings in the years following the WWII: Soldiers based in the deserts in North Africa wore suede boots with hardwearing crepe soles because of the climate and environment. Having left the army, many of these ex-soldiers found their way to the disreputable nightspots of London (Kings Cross and Soho) wearing the same crepe soled shoes. Those became known as Brothel Creepers.

In the late 1950s, these shoes were taken up by the Teddy Boys along with drainpipe trousers, draped jackets, bolo ties, quiff and pompadour haircuts, and velvet or electric blue clothes. The brothel creeper was a hit throughout 50s and 60s.

They were invented in 1949 by George Cox and marketed under the Hamilton name, based on George Cox Jr.'s middle name. See the 50th anniversary Creeper marketed in 1999 to celebrate the first half-century of Cox's Creeper shoe.

The brothel creeper regained popularity in the early 70s when Malcolm McLaren sold them from his Let it Rock shop in London's Kings Road.

Teddy Boys were the obvious customer, but the brothel creeper still proved to be popular among regular customersSee also this site for a brief introduction to the history of Let it. when McLaren and his partner Vivienne Westwood changed the shop to more rocker-oriented fashion.

The shoe has since been adopted by subcultures such as ska, punk, new wavers, psychobilly, greasers and goth, Japanese Visual Kei, and was noted as the footwear of choice of Bananarama (their preference for the brothel creeper over prettier, girly footwear became emblematic of their tomboyish and rebellious nature).

The original George Cox creepers are hard to find, but British Boot Company has a large selection and is now the main agent in the United Kingdom for George Cox. See George Cox referring to British Boot Company on their website http://www.georgecox.co.uk.

Underground England shoes have been producing creepers since the 80s and continue to do so, creating new designs along the way.

In 2003 Osiris Shoes produced the Ali Boulala, a brothel creeper-influenced skateboarding shoe.