It’s a mantra heard in Maine almost year-round: “Take off those muddy [or snowy] boots!”

Now a Belfast architect has found a way to solve this age-old dilemma: the indoor overshoe called a Pushover.

What is a Pushover? No, it’s not the Democratic Congress. Instead, it’s a scuff, made of recycled, dense synthetic felt, which slips over a shoe worn outdoors, so that footwear doesn’t need to be removed.

Michael Thom explained that he’s just recycling an old concept for modern times.

He said that such shoes, made from rag wool, have been worn for decades in Eastern Europe and Russia. The story goes that one day all working people were invited to enter and enjoy a famous museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, with its gleaming marble inlaid floors. But museum officials looked askance at the workers’ muddy, hobnailed boots. So desperation became the mother of invention, or something like that.

Thom, 68, became aware of the shoes during travels overseas. The increasing use of pricey hard-surface flooring, such as wood and tile, combined with the fall from favor of galoshes and an increase in lace-up boots and shoes, led him to create “an indoor overshoe.”

Pushovers, sold by Thom’s Bigfoot Inc., are an open shoe with a flip-up heel. There is a double sole, sewn and cemented, to keep water from penetrating. The soft bottom slides across the floor without slipping.

A loop on the heel allows Pushovers to be hung on a peg rack. The dirt can be knocked out of them like a rug, and they can be washed by hand, with a hose, or in the washing machine, then air-dried.

Pushovers come in four styles and four sizes, ranging in price from $29 to $39.

Pushovers would seem a seasonal product, but Thom said, “people who buy into them wear them year-round.”

Surprisingly, he said his average customers aren’t those who work in muddy or dirty environments.

“The farmers won’t put them on,” said Thom, who splits time among Kingfield, Belfast and New Brunswick. “It’s upper-middle class women who buy them for their husbands, through catalogs or in gift shops. They buy them because they see the value in keeping their floors clean. Men generally aren’t thinking about those kinds of things.”

Pushovers are available in central Maine at Monroe Salt Works, Out of the Woods in Belfast and Grasshopper Shop in Searsport. They can be found on the Bigfoot Web site (www.pushoversofme.com) and ordered at orders@pushoversofme.com or by calling 1-877-778-4466 or 338-2207.

– Dale McGarrigle