Footwear Definitions — shoes, boots and footwear terms from Apparel Search
Shoemaking is a traditional handicraft profession, which has now been largely superseded by industrial manufacture of footwear. Shoemakers or cordwainers may produce a range of footwear items, including shoes, boots, sandals, clogs and moccasins, generally made of leather, wood, rubber, plastic, jute or other plant material.
Shoemaking is a traditional handicraft profession, which has now been largely superseded by industrial manufacture of footwear.
Shoemakers or cordwainers may produce a range of footwear items, including shoes, boots, sandals, clogs and moccasins. Such items are generally made of leather, wood, rubber, plastic, jute or other plant material, and often consist of multiple parts for better durability of the sole, stitched to a leather upper.
Most shoemakers use a last made traditionally of iron or wood, but now often of plastic on which to form the shoe. Some lasts are straight, while curved lasts come in pairs: one for left shoes, the other for right shoes.
The shoemaking profession makes a number of appearances in popular culture, such as in stories about shoemaker's elves, and the proverb "The shoemaker's children are often shoeless". The patron saint of shoemakers is Saint Crispin.
Some types of ancient and traditionally-made shoes include:
The Society for Creative Anachronism offers some advice about making period shoes.
Current crafters may use used car tire tread as a cheap alternative to creating soles.
Chefs and cooks sometimes use the term "shoemaker" as an insult, implying that the chef in question has made his food as tough as shoe leather.
Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar, a famous sage of the Third Century AD, might have earned his living as a sandal maker, though the nickname might also indicate that he was a native of Alexandria.
Pope Urban IV, born Jacques
Pantal
on, was the son of a cobbler
of Troyes, France.
Learn more about shoes.
Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, an American labor union of 50,000 shoemakers c. 1870
Shoemaker's Workshop - The Canadian Museum of Civilization
"Bespoke Shoemaking a guide to handmade shoemaking", a book teaching traditional hand shoemaking.
Nike| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/shoemaking) 7/4/09 Modified by Apparel Search. |
Hand shoemaking builds a shoe from parts around the last. The upper, usually leather, is cut, stitched and stretched over the form so the finished shoe holds the shape of a foot, then joined to a sole built from multiple parts for better durability, stitched to the leather upper rather than simply glued. Materials reach well beyond leather: wood for clog soles, rubber and plastic for modern soles and lasts, jute and other plant material for sandals and espadrille-style work. Ancient and traditionally made shoes show how wide the craft's range is, from furs wrapped around the feet with sandals wrapped over them, used by Romans fighting in northern Europe, to clogs filled with straw to warm the feet, to moccasins, simple shoes whose wear depends on the leather chosen. Present-day crafters still improvise in the same spirit, sometimes using used car tyre tread as a cheap alternative for soles.
Shoemaking carried a public standing few trades match. Pope Urban IV, born Jacques Pantaléon, was the son of a cobbler of Troyes, France, and Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar, a famous sage of the third century AD, may have earned his living as a sandal maker. In America the trade organised early and in force: the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin was an American labour union of some 50,000 shoemakers around 1870, named for the craft's patron saint. The workshop stayed in the language, too. Chefs and cooks sometimes use shoemaker as an insult, implying the cook in question has made food as tough as shoe leather, and the elves who finished the shoemaker's work overnight remain a staple children's story. Industrial manufacture has superseded the handicraft for everyday footwear, but bespoke makers still teach and practise the hand methods, and the repair bench, the cobbler's modern home, keeps the trade visible on every high street.
Historically in the United Kingdom, cobblers were intended to only repair shoes and had not been permitted to produce new shoes, because there was both a cobbler guild and a separate cordwainer guild. Cordwainers made new shoes; cobblers mended worn ones.
Most shoemakers use a last, a foot-shaped form made traditionally of iron or wood, but now often of plastic, on which to form the shoe. Some lasts are straight, while curved lasts come in pairs: one for left shoes, the other for right shoes.
The patron saint of shoemakers is Saint Crispin. The craft also appears across popular culture, in stories about the shoemaker's elves and in the proverb that the shoemaker's children are often shoeless.