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One of likely the newest construction techniques in the world is called Reverse Goodyear, which essentially is a traditional turnshoe, but made using a Goodyear machine. The shoes become super flexible and comfortable, lightweight and neat, and has become a popular summer shoe. The Indian company Bridlen is world-leader in this method, learn more about how they make these shoes in this article.
The word “handmade” and what it means when it comes to footwear has been through quite a journey the past hundred years or so. From referring only to expensive often hand welted shoes that are built more or less without any machines involved back in the days, to now be used for relatively cheap shoes that have all main parts made by large machines, hands solely guide the shoes through them. Here’s the history of how handmade has been devaluated through the years.
A major advantage of welted shoes is that they can be easily resoled, but a worn-out sole is just one of many repairs that can be made to your shoes. Here we look at some of the most common types of wear and tear that occur and explain all the cases where it’s perfectly possible to repair your shoes – and the few cases where it’s not.
New podcast episode with the British-based bespoke shoemaker William Efe Laborde, in a talk where we focus on connecting historic shoemaking, materials and tools with today’s. Among many things you’ll learn which area of shoemaking that he thinks is at an all time high now in present time, why the tools never can be made as good as they were before the World War II again, and much more.
You might have experienced it yourself. Getting two pairs of shoes from the same brand, in the same size, made on the same last, yet one of the pairs are more loose than the other. Usually the reason is different leathers used, which preferences affect both how the shoes can be manufactured and the feel on the foot. Learn more in this article.
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In my social media recently when I wrote about Goodyear welted shoes made without gemming – the canvas rib glued onto the insole which the welt is attached to – several people were surprised that there was such a thing. Albeit standard on factory-made Goodyear welted shoes is the use of gemming, there’s still a bunch who do it the old-school way where a holdfast is carved from the leather insole.
Pie crust stitching. Skin stitching. Raised lake. Reverse skin stitching. Split and lift. Round closing. And so on. The terms surrounding apron stitching and split toes are many, and they are often confused and used wrong. Here everything is hopefully straightened out and clarified in a good way.
Most are aware of the rather extensive use of adhesives when making footwear, also for traditionally constructed shoes. What one don’t discuss as much is how this use affect form and function of the shoes, which it indeed can do in many ways. Here’s an hopefully enlightening article on the topic.
In the field of quality footwear, there are some terms that can be a bit confusing and unclear, especially for those who have recently become interested in the topic. Here I go through several of them and try to clarify and explain.
Many people think that a shoe’s toe spring, the height of the tip of the toe above the ground, and the heel height only affect how the shoe feels when walking and its appearance. But it also has a bearing on how much the shoe needs to be bent when walking, which can ultimately affect how prominent the creases becomes. I’ll explain this more in detail, and delve deeper into these topics.
