Exhibit 31.1

I, David M. Chamberlain, certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending
      March 4, 2005 of The Stride Rite Corporation;

2.    Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this quarterly report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
      material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
      flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
      quarterly report;

4.    The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
      control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
      13a-15(f) and 15d - 15(f)) for the registrant and we have:

      a. designed such disclosure controls and procedures or caused such
         disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision
         to ensure that material information relating to the registrant,
         including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
         within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
         quarterly report is being prepared;
      b. designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such
         internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
         supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability
         of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for
         external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
         principles;
      c. evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
         procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
         effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
         of the period covered by this report based on such evaluations; and
      d. disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
         control over financial reporting that occurred during the period
         covered by this quarterly report that has materially affected, or is
         reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
         control over financial reporting;

5.    The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on
      our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
      to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board
      of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      a. all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
         operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are
         reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
         record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
      b. any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
         employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal
         control over financial reporting.

Date:  April 13, 2005                    /s/ David M. Chamberlain
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                                         David M. Chamberlain,
                                         Chairman and CEO