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The Blake-stitched construction, or McKay as it’s also called, is the first construction method that seriously made it possible to industrialise shoe manufacturing. Here is the story of its emergence and development.
We live in an age where soft sneakers is the norm on people’s feet, and unfortunately this cushioning slowly seem to gain traction also in the classic shoe world. The problem is that our feet are not built to be walking around in that environment, and this risk leading to serious feet health issues.
From time to time I see big misconceptions on the waterproofing preferences of welted shoes, like how stitched rubber soles lead to water coming into the shoe or how closed channel leather soles are much more waterproof than open channel soles, and similar. This is wrong – here I explain why.
It’s one of the most common misconceptions in the world of quality footwear: that creases on the toe cap means something is wrong. That the shoes doesn’t fit, or are badly made, or other various explanations. In reality, it’s most likely nothing that’s wrong at all, just perfectly normal. Here I explain more.
Few things say so much about the actual quality of the making on a pair of welted shoes as the work on the sole and heel edges. In this article I go through a number of details on the construction and finishing of welts, heels and sole edges and explain levels of difficulty, the difference between various solutions, if practical function or solely aesthetic, and so on.
Articles continued:
One thing that more or less all types of classic or traditionally constructed shoes have in common is the use of toe stiffeners to retain the shape of the toe and to protect the foot. The use of stiffeners have come and gone through the centuries, depending on what types of shoes that has been in fashion at the time.
It is easy to think that all shoe models made on one and the same last will always fit the same. It doesn’t necessarily have to be true, since the model’s pattern can affect how the shoes fit on the foot.
Traditionally constructed shoes, not least stitched ones, are almost always marketed with emphasis on the possibilities of resoling and repairing them. It often appears that they can be resoled forever. It’s not that simple, though. Here I go through the possibilities and shortcomings of the most common construction methods, as well as the conditions for re-heeling and resoling.
It is among the finest made shoes you can see today, a collection that Crockett & Jones made for a major international exhibition in 1911. Here’s a close look at some of these masterpieces.
30 black oxfords, made by shoemakers from all over the world. Here’s a substantial review of all the competition shoes that entered the World Championships in Shoemaking. Info, comments, pictures of the shoes and in some cases also the manufacturing process.
