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Shoemaking

 
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Shoemaking is a traditional handicraft
Handicraft

Handicraft, also known as craftwork or simply craft, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or using only simple tools....
 profession, which has now been largely superseded by industrial
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
 manufacture of footwear
Footwear

Footwear consists of garments worn on the foot, for protective clothing against the environment, and adornment. Socks and other hosiery are worn between the feet and the footwear, except for Sandal s and flip flops ....
.

Shoemakers or cordwainer
Cordwainer

A cordwainer is somebody who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather. The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the leather produced in C?rdoba, Spain....
s (cobblers being, historically, those that repair shoes) may produce a range of footwear items, including shoe
Shoe

A shoe is an item of footwear evolved at first to protect the human foot and later, additionally, as an item of decoration in itself. The foot contains more bones than any other single part of the human body, and has human evolution over hundreds of thousands of years in relation to vastly varied terrain and climate....
s, boot
Boot

A boot is a type of shoe that covers at least the foot and the ankle and sometimes extends up to the knee or even the hip. Most have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....
s, sandal
Sandal (footwear)

Sandals are an open type of footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs passing over the instep and around the ankle....
s, clogs and moccasin
Moccasin (footwear)

A Moccasin is a shoe made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp ....
s. Such items are generally made of leather
Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of rawhides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material for various uses....
, wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
, rubber
Rubber

Natural rubber is an elastomer?an Elasticity_ hydrocarbon polymer?that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex , found in the sap of some plants....
, plastic
Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
, jute
Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae....
 or other plant material, and often consist of multiple parts for better durability of the sole
Sole

Sole may refer to:* Sole , the bottom of the foot* Sole , the bottom supporting member of the shoe* Sole , several species and groups of flatfishes:...
, stitched to a leather upper.

Most shoemakers use a last
Last

A last is the form used in shoemaking to shape a shoe in the rough form of a human foot. It is used by cordwainers or shoemakers in the manufacture or repair of shoes....
—made traditionally of iron or wood, but now often of plastic—on which to form the shoe.






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Shoemaking is a traditional handicraft
Handicraft

Handicraft, also known as craftwork or simply craft, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or using only simple tools....
 profession, which has now been largely superseded by industrial
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
 manufacture of footwear
Footwear

Footwear consists of garments worn on the foot, for protective clothing against the environment, and adornment. Socks and other hosiery are worn between the feet and the footwear, except for Sandal s and flip flops ....
.

Shoemakers or cordwainer
Cordwainer

A cordwainer is somebody who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather. The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the leather produced in C?rdoba, Spain....
s (cobblers being, historically, those that repair shoes) may produce a range of footwear items, including shoe
Shoe

A shoe is an item of footwear evolved at first to protect the human foot and later, additionally, as an item of decoration in itself. The foot contains more bones than any other single part of the human body, and has human evolution over hundreds of thousands of years in relation to vastly varied terrain and climate....
s, boot
Boot

A boot is a type of shoe that covers at least the foot and the ankle and sometimes extends up to the knee or even the hip. Most have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....
s, sandal
Sandal (footwear)

Sandals are an open type of footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs passing over the instep and around the ankle....
s, clogs and moccasin
Moccasin (footwear)

A Moccasin is a shoe made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp ....
s. Such items are generally made of leather
Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of rawhides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material for various uses....
, wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
, rubber
Rubber

Natural rubber is an elastomer?an Elasticity_ hydrocarbon polymer?that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex , found in the sap of some plants....
, plastic
Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
, jute
Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae....
 or other plant material, and often consist of multiple parts for better durability of the sole
Sole

Sole may refer to:* Sole , the bottom of the foot* Sole , the bottom supporting member of the shoe* Sole , several species and groups of flatfishes:...
, stitched to a leather upper.

Most shoemakers use a last
Last

A last is the form used in shoemaking to shape a shoe in the rough form of a human foot. It is used by cordwainers or shoemakers in the manufacture or repair of shoes....
—made traditionally of iron or wood, but now often of plastic—on which to form the shoe. Some lasts are straight, while curved lasts come in pairs: one for left shoes, the other for right shoes.

The shoemaking profession makes a number of appearances in popular culture, such as in stories about shoemaker's elves
The Elves and the Shoemaker

The Elves and the Shoemaker, or conversely The Shoemaker and the Elves is an often copied and re-made story about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from brownie ....
, and the proverb
Proverb

A proverb , also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity....
 "The shoemaker's children are often shoeless". The patron saint
Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges....
 of shoemakers is Saint Crispin.

Some types of ancient and traditionally-made shoes include:
  • Furs wrapped around feet, and sandals wrapped over them: used by Romans
    Ancient Rome

    Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
     fighting in northern Europe.
  • Clogs: wooden shoes, often filled with straw to warm the feet.
  • Moccasins
    Moccasin (footwear)

    A Moccasin is a shoe made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp ....
    : simple shoes, often without the durability of joined shoes (although different types of leather have different wear characteristics).


The Society for Creative Anachronism
Society for Creative Anachronism

The Society for Creative Anachronism , is a historical reenactment and living history group founded in 1966, which endeavors to promote the study and recreation of mainly pre-17th century Western European cultures and their histories....
 offers some advice about making period shoes.

Current crafters may use used car tire
Tire

Tires, or tyres , are ring-shaped parts, either pneumatic or solid , that fit around wheels to protect them and enhance their function....
 tread as a cheap alternative to creating soles.

Chefs and cooks sometimes use the term "shoemaker" as an insult, implying that the chef in question has made his food as tough as shoe leather.

Cobbler can also be used to identify a person with large hips that breaks shoes regularly.

See also

  • Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, an American labor union of 50,000 shoemakers c. 1870
  • Cordwainer
    Cordwainer

    A cordwainer is somebody who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather. The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the leather produced in C?rdoba, Spain....


External links

  • , a book teaching traditional hand shoemaking.