Question for the GenX’ers who grew up poor

When did you learn that Pro Wings were not “brand name” shoes? I believed in Pro Wings much longer than I did Santa Claus. During summer after 8th grade, Chuck Taylor’s were on sale at Montgomery Wards for $19.99 so my mom went nuts and bought me a pair. That summer while skateboarding with a former classmate, the first thing he said after seeing me was “ ‘my name’ finally got brand name shoes!” My life up until that moment all finally made sense.

Edit: Pro Wings were one of the Payless Shoe Source brands.