Footwear Definitions — shoes, boots and footwear terms from Apparel Search
A cordwainer is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The trade is distinct from the cobbler's trade in the historic London guild system, where cordwainers made new shoes and cobblers were forbidden from working in new leather and restricted to repairing shoes.
Have you ever heard the term "cordwainer"? This is not the type of work you hear everyday. However, it does have significance in the footwear industry.
A cordwainer is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather.
Is that any different than a shoe cobbler?
Originally the concept was the cordwainer would make new shoes & a cobbler would repair shoes. However, cobblers actually make shoes as well as repair them.
In the historic London guild system, the cobblers and cordwainers were separate guilds, and the cobblers were forbidden from working in new leather.
The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is not universally observed, as the word cobbler is widely used for tradespersons who make or repair shoes.
United Kingdom Cordwainer: In London, the occupation of cordwainer was historically controlled by the guild of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. They were granted a royal charter of incorporation in 1439, but had received their first ordinance in 1272. The ward of the City of London named Cordwainer is historically where most cordwainers lived and worked.
United States Cordwainer: Cordwainers were among those who sailed to Virginia in 1607 to settle in Jamestown.
Canada Cordwainer: Cordwainers were also among the early settlers of Canada. On 14 June 1749, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis, arrived off Chebucto Head, Nova Scotia in the sloop-of-war HMS Sphinx with the objective of establishing what is now Halifax. By 27 June, the thirteen transport ships following the Sphinx reached the harbour with the initial 2576 British settlers; among them were nineteen cordwainers.
The word cordwainer is possibly becoming a bit too outdated. The term shoe cobbler is more commonly used.
The distinction at the heart of the word is about materials and permission. A cordwainer worked in new leather and delivered a new shoe; a cobbler, under the British tradition, worked on shoes that already existed, resoling, patching and repairing. The separation was enforced, not merely polite: in the historic London guild system the cobblers and cordwainers were separate guilds, and cobblers were forbidden from working in new leather, which kept the valuable new-shoe trade in cordwainer hands. Everyday language has since blurred the line, since the word cobbler is widely used for tradespeople who make or repair shoes, and the distinction is not universally observed. Even so, cordwainer remains the precise term inside the footwear industry for the maker of new shoes, and bespoke shoemakers who hand-make footwear from new leather are the trade's direct modern heirs.
Few trade names are written into geography as deeply as this one. In London the cordwainers organised early, receiving their first ordinance in 1272, and the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers was granted a royal charter of incorporation in 1439; the Cordwainer ward of the City still carries the name of the streets where most of them lived and worked. Across the Atlantic the trade travelled with the first settlers, because a new colony needed shoes as urgently as it needed houses. Cordwainers sailed to Virginia in 1607 to settle Jamestown, and in Canada they were present at a founding: on 14 June 1749 Lieutenant Governor Edward Cornwallis arrived off Chebucto Head, Nova Scotia, in the sloop-of-war HMS Sphinx to establish what is now Halifax, and when the thirteen transport ships reached the harbour by 27 June with the initial 2,576 British settlers, nineteen cordwainers were among them. The word itself is heard less often now, and the term shoe cobbler is more commonly used in everyday speech, but in guild records, London street names and the history of two settlements, cordwainer is the name that survives.
A cordwainer makes new shoes from new leather. The word names the making side of the shoemaking trade, as opposed to the cobbler, whose historic role was repairing shoes that were already worn.
The ward of the City of London named Cordwainer is historically where most cordwainers lived and worked. Their guild, the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, received its first ordinance in 1272 and a royal charter of incorporation in 1439.
Cordwainers were among those who sailed to Virginia in 1607 to settle Jamestown, and they were among the early settlers of Canada: nineteen cordwainers arrived with the 2,576 British settlers who founded Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June 1749.