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Sole stitching done well is something that looks lovely, even more so if contrasting, so of course two rows of nice contrasting sole stitching looks marvellous. No wonder this became a thing on the posh spade sole shoes during the first half of the 1900’s. As often is the case though, the reason this type of construction appeared was from the beginning solely practical.
Shoes have gone from something that most ordered from a local cordwainer in versions of relatively standard styles, past a segment where styles were perhaps more limited but Ready to Wear shoes were kept in loads of different lasts and widths that customers could try on, up to today’s situation where there is a huge selection of styles but fit-wise more and more streamlined to fit the most common feet “ok”, instead of fitting some feet great. Here’s how it all evolved.
For the third time, I set the spotlight on some of the finest made shoes you can see today, a collection that Crockett & Jones made for a major international exhibition in 1911. Here I show off a number of models not displayed here before.
The upper leathers available in the first half of the 1900’s was in many ways far superior to what was around before that, and to what we have today, in terms of quality. Learn the complex reasons for this, in an odyssey through the history of leather tanning, with the main focus on the golden age.
Most rarely think about it, but in many cases there are practical, utilitarian reasons that shoes look the way they do nowadays, and we’ve been used to it and think it’s the right and beautiful way. Learn the historic functional reasons why we have derby shoes, a lot of brown shoes, built-up bevelled waists, natural sole edges on workwear boots and why rugged boots have high toe spring and sleek dress shoes low toe spring.
Articles continued:
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.
This is certainly a complicated topic. Few things in the shoe world are as confused as how the waist and its edges are to be addressed correctly, where what once were one thing have transformed into something else and switched meaning with something third, and so on. Here I try to clarify it all.
When the Goodyear welted construction method became established in the later part of the 19th century, it revolutionised the manufacture of welted shoes and brought welted construction into the era of industrialism. Here’s a look at the birth and rise of the construction.
The seamless wholecut is a model that spent decades in oblivion before a rather unknown British freelance bespoke shoemaker revived the model a bit over a decade ago, causing a boom in manufacturers who set out to make the model. Shoegazing tells the story of one of the most difficult shoe models to make.
Through history, few areas have had the same economical strengths as countries’ military, and with economical power comes the possibility to develop and produce things. That’s why the military greatly has affected development and innovation within the footwear industry through the centuries. Lots of classic shoe and boot models derive from the military, the military has played a vital role for many shoe factories through the years, some of the most effective shoe shining techniques were developed in the military, and so on. Learn more in this article.
