William H. Dooley

“ In these days of the use of machinery in every process of their manufacture, shoes are made with the utmost exactness and precision, and it is easily possible to mate that remaining shoe with the greatest nicety in size, style, material, and finish.
Few people have feet exactly alike; commonly the left foot is larger than the right, so that one shoe may fit a little more snugly than the other. Commonly, however, people buy shoes in regularly matched pairs, the difference in their feet, if it is noticeable to them at all, not being enough to make any other course desirable. ”

“ As the cutting of the uppers and the stitching operations of a turn shoe are the same as the Goodyear and McKay, and have been explained, we will take up the forming of the sole, which is entirely different from either of the other two methods.
A turn shoe is put together wrong side out, and it is necessary, during the course of making, to turn it by rolling the sole up like a roll of carpet. It is evident, then, that nothing but good quality, pliable leather can be used satisfactorily, and great care is taken to include nothing but the best. ”

“ The shoemaker sat on his bench, and with scarcely any other instrument than a hammer, knife, and wooden shoulder stick, cut, stitched, hammered, and sewed until the shoe was completed. Previous to the year 1845, which marked the first successful application of machinery to American shoemaking, this industry was in the strictest sense a hand process, and the young man who chose it for his vocation was apprenticed for seven years, during which time he was taught every detail of the art. ”

“ A shoe manufacturer cutting his own soles and buying sole leather in sides, after sorting out the soles suited to his own requirements, will sell what he cannot use to remnant dealers, who in turn re-sell them to shoe manufacturers requiring that particular class of stock. The scrap leather, or remnant dealer, thus forms a useful link in the chain of distribution, furnishing a market where shoe and leather manufacturers may dispose of their surplus products to best advantage, and providing a source of supply for buyers who wish any particular article to suit their individual needs. ”

“ A mere glance at our bare foot will show conclusively that pointed-toe boots are false in the theory of design. The toes of a foot when off duty touch each other gently. When they are called on to assist us in walking or in supporting our body, they spread out—although not to any great extent. ”

“ Yet here is an industry in which the United States within a decade has come to lead the world, and there are many things about it which it would be worth while for every one to understand. It is worth while, for instance, to know that there is no important operation on a shoe which need be done by hand; that in the making of every good shoe no less than fifty-eight different machines, and sometimes twice that number, are brought into play ”

“ Each tanner uses the process that will help to give the leather the qualities that it should have, such as softness and pliability for shoe and glove leather, or firmness and solidity for sole and belting leather. This is one of the most important in the series of tannery processes, and if the hides are not unhaired properly and not prepared for tanning as they should be, the leather will not be right when it is tanned and finished. ”

“ In women’s factories where sole leather is not cut, they do not have a complete sole leather department. Instead, they have what is called a stock-fitting department. There are independent cut sole houses, etc., in the trade, which supply the soles to manufacturers. The same system of buying supplies also applies to many other parts of the shoe, as in the top lift, half sole, welt, rand, etc. In the upper leather department, manufacturers of both men’s and women’s shoes often buy trimmings and other parts of the upper all prepared. ”

“ Kid is a term applied to shoe leather made from the skins of mature goats. The skin of the young goat or kid is made into the thin, flexible leather used for kid gloves, which is too delicate for general use in shoes. The goats from which come the supply of leather used in this country for women’s and children’s fine shoes are not the common, domesticated kind known in this country, but are wild goats or allied species partially domesticated, and are found in the hill regions of India, the mountains of Europe, portions of South America, etc. ”

“ Much of the style of a shoe depends upon the wooden last over which the upper is shaped before being attached to the sole. To find a substitute for the human hand in fitting the shoe to the last and pulling the leather over its delicate lines and curves seemed for a long time impossible. ”

“ On account of the leather coming in different shapes, some skins perfect, others having imperfect spots, the cutter must place his patterns in such a way that certain parts of the shoe will use up all the perfect parts, and others, less important, will be composed of the weaker parts of the skin. This explains why you sometimes find the inside top part of a shoe made of flanky leather, while the vamp is made of a better grade.
There is a pattern for each and every size shoe, and each piece of leather is cut out separately on a block of wood. Nothing is wasted. ”

“ Counters and toe boxes (stiffening which is placed between the heel and toe cap and the vamp of shoe) are prepared in the same room with the heels. After they are made, they are sent to the making or bottoming room, where the shoe upper is awaiting them. As the counter is an important feature in the life of a shoe, much depends upon the quality of leather that goes into it.
The sole is next fed to a “splitting machine,” which reduces it to an absolutely even thickness. ”

“ The process of tanning is quicker than the tanning of heavier hides, and all varieties of tannage are used, the chrome methods having come into very general use. There are many kinds of finish given, such as glazed, dull, mat, patent, etc. One quality that distinguishes goat leather, the “kid” of shoemaking, is the fact that the fibers of the skin are interlaced and interlocked in all directions. The finished skins as they come from the tannery, by whatever process they may be put through, are sorted for size and quality, a number of grades [50] being made. ”

“ At the present time the genius of the American inventor has provided for every detail of shoemaking, even the smallest processes being performed by mechanical devices of some kind. This has naturally made the shoemaker of to-day a specialist, who very seldom knows anything of shoemaking apart from the particular process in the performance of shoemaking of which [269] he is an adept, and from which he earns a livelihood. ”

“ Representatives of large leather firms claim that the methods of tanning sole leather have radically changed during the last few years, and that the small quantity of glucose and epsom salts that is used to-day in finishing sole leather is absolutely necessary to its value, and is in no sense an adulterant or weighting material. Shoe manufacturers, on the other hand, claim that in some cases larger amounts of glucose, salt, etc., have been added to the soft leather from the belly of the animal, in order to give it the desired stiffness. ”

“ The American shoe of to-day is the standard production of the world. It is in demand wherever shoes are worn.
In the year 1874 there had been perfected not only the machines which Colonel McKay and Mr. Goodyear had been instrumental in building, but other inventors had introduced similar machines for doing similar work. This brought about the most acute business competition, and finally resulted in many cases where one machine manufacturer alleged that the other machine infringed his rights of patent, and in many other cases the fiercest kind of litigation was established. ”

“ It was soon found that the master workman could largely increase his income by employing other men to do the work while he directed their efforts, and this gradually led to a division of the labor: the shoe uppers, which had prior to this time been sewed by men using waxed thread with bristles, now were done by women, who often took the work home.
One workman cut the leather, others sewed the uppers, and still others fastened uppers to soles, each workman handling only one part in the process of manufacture. ”

“ When dry hides have become soft enough to bend without cracking, they are put into a machine and beaten and rolled, then soaked again until they are soft and pliable. It is very important that all the salt and dirt are removed during the process of soaking, as they injure the quality of the leather if they are not removed before the hides are unhaired. When the soaking process is completed, the lumps of fat and flesh that may have been left on by the butcher are removed by hand or by a machine, and the hides are then in condition to be passed along into the next process. ”

“ Great care must be exercised in resewing patent leather shoes that have been exposed during the cold weather, as the cold has a tendency to freeze the finish. Patent leather, like all varnished coatings, is liable to crack. No one can guarantee it not to do so. The kid patent leather is more elastic [44] and porous than other kinds. The serious objection to the use of patent leather for a shoe is its air-tightness. This makes it both unhygienic and uncomfortable. The kid patent leather is the only patent leather that has not this objection. ”

“ The abundance of flesh on the outer side of the foot is to protect or act as a shield against danger. The inside of the foot is not exposed as much as the outside.
The foot is divided into three parts, the toes, the waist and instep, and the heel and ankle. The largest bone of the foot is the heel bone (called calcaneum) . It is the bone that projects backward from the principal joint and forms the main portion of the heel. When a person is flat-footed, this bone is thrust farther backward than nature intended to have it. ”

“ Most manufacturers of women’s shoes do not cut sole leather, but buy outsoles, insoles, counters, and heels, all cut or prepared. These soles are in blocked form and large enough so that they can be cut or rounded by the manufacturers to fit their lasts. The counters, when bought, are all ready to put in the uppers, while the heels are ready to put on the shoes. Whenever a manufacturer of women’s shoes cuts his sole leather, he has the same system as that in the men’s factories. ”

“ The McKay shoe displaced only the coarser grades. The hand-sewed shoe remained the favorite of wealth and fashion, and was worn [264] exclusively by those who cared for comfort and could afford the price. In sewing a shoe by hand, a thin and narrow strip of leather, called a welt, is first sewed to the insole and upper, and the heavy outsole is sewed to this welt, so that the stitches come outside and do not touch the foot, the insole being left entirely smooth. It is a delicate operation by hand, and many years elapsed before a machine was contrived by which it could be done. ”

“ A hard corn is formed more by friction than pressure. It is produced by the constant rubbing of a tight or small shoe against the projecting parts of some prominent bony part, as the last joints on the third, fourth, and little toe. When this action continues, it produces inflammation. Rest—as relieving the feet of the friction—decreases this inflammation, leaving a layer of hardened flesh. Renewed action reproduces the same effects, leaving behind a second layer of hardened flesh. This continued action and reaction brings on a callus, rising above the surface of the skin. ”

“ In the United States the manufacturer makes a certain line of shoes in one factory, and no other kind. If he has more than one line, he has more than one factory, and each factory turns out a distinct shoe for a distinct purpose. The manufacturer has his salesmen to sell these shoes. ”

“ Hot irons are often used on black shanks and bottoms to give added hardness and luster to the finish.
The turned or turn shoe is a woman’s fine shoe that is made wrong side out, then turned right side out. The sole is fastened to the last, and the upper is twisted over, the wrong side out. Then the two are sewed together, the thread catching through a channel or shoulder cut in the edge of the sole. The seam does not come through to the bottom of the sole, nor to any part inside where it would chafe the foot. ”

“ The simplest and the clearest way of showing how the various kinds of shoes are made is to explain the manufacture of a Goodyear welt and afterwards bring out the points in which this method of shoemaking differs from the others.
Shoes are manufactured in up-to-date factories, employing hundreds of operatives. The modern shoe factory of to-day is divided into six general departments: the sole leather department, upper leather department, stitching department, making department, [104] finishing department, and the treeing, packing, and shipping departments. ”

“ The American people spend more than three hundred million dollars every year in buying shoes, and average three pairs apiece, and yet few ever think about their shoes so long as they do not look clumsy, or wear out too quickly, or hurt the foot. Every one likes to buy good shoes as cheaply as he can, and every one likes to feel that shoe manufacturers are independent and successful, and that workmen get good wages, because these things help along prosperity ”