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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.
One of several Japanese manufacturers of really nice midrange welted shoes is the Vinaseiko factory, with their main brand Perfetto plus Kanpekina and Fugashin. It’s one example of a company working successfully with a joint factory in Southeast Asia to produce shoes with a great quality-price ratio. Shoegazing has paid it a visit.
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.
Japanese MTO and bespoke makers Siroeno Yosui has made lovely film thoroughly showcasing all steps of making a pair of fully handmade shoes. With high quality footage and a great production, this can be one of the better films available for those who want to understand all the steps that goes into making handmade shoes.
Articles continued:
My latest acquisition is rather different from what I mostly wear, yet something rather intriguing, if you ask me. A pair of bespoke side seamed Wellington boots in Horween Chromexcel leather, where Swedish bespoke shoemaker Janne Melkersson of Melker Shoes & Boots have added a Scandinavian touch to a very traditional British model, and created a quite spectacular pair. Here’s lots of photos of both making and final pair.
The tougher the competition gets – the more doubtful the marketing gets. One of the things that brands tend to use more and more in this day and age is dropping numbers on how long it takes to make the shoes, how long time that have been spent to develop new models, and similar. Numbers that are extremely exaggerated compared to reality.
One of the oldest still remaining manufacturers of welted shoes in Japan is Central Shoes. Founded in 1949, and still located in the same building in the middle of Asakusa, the shoemaking district of Tokyo. Shoegazing got a tour around the premises.
In old industrial neighbourhoods in the slightly rough town of Kettering in eastern Northamptonshire, one of England’s largest manufacturers of Goodyear welted shoes, Loake Shoemaker, houses. Around 4,000 pairs of shoes are produced here each week.
If you visit shoe factories today, it varies greatly between older and more modern machinery parks, not infrequently also within each factory. However, it’s not very common to use as old machines as the one in the picture above. This lasting machine dates from the first half of the 20th century, and is located in Gaziano & Girlings factory in Kettering, Northamptonshire.
