Footwear
The shoes is the part of the clothing used to protect the feet. It takes many forms, such as shoes, sandals, espadrilles, boots or sports shoes.
Shoes are worn for a variety of reasons, including foot protection, hygiene, or simple adornment. Stockings or socks are often used when wearing footwear.
Manufacturing
The manufacture of footwear as such, had been carried out in an artisanal way since the historical beginnings. And although an enormous amount of footwear was already produced in Roman times, the processes were handmade, therefore, the mass production process could be said to have not appeared until the time of the Industrial Revolution.
In both procedures, although in a different way, some elementary steps are followed:
- Selection of skins or materials.
- Design, modeling and patronage. It is the first phase of the manufacture or manufacture of the shoes, in it the model is drawn to manufacture, is adjusted to obtain the base pattern and the patterns are scaled to proceed to the cut of the pieces.
- Cut. According to the contour you must purchase the pieces. In this section the pieces that make up the cutting and lining material are cut in addition to their classification.
- Preparation for the stand. Sale and split of the pieces, mainly of skin; trims of ornament; folding of skin parts, as well as other works prior to assembly of the pieces.
- Guaranda (also called aparado or pespunte). Cosy of cut parts.
- Mounted (also called focused). Using an ant, which serves as a stand model, when fitting the parts of the shoe (snare or shovel, heel, sole, etc.).
- Packaging. Introduction of shoes in cardboard boxes.
Artisan process
The handmade process is an eminently manual process in which sophisticated technology is not used. Made in a small family workshop or in a native community, high quality natural materials are generally used, also using in some cases chemicals and industrial processes of all kinds to make them.
Industrial process
Within the various sections of making a shoe, as seen above, cutting is done in three different ways or methods, such as hand cutting, using a hand tool to cut the leather using a pattern (normally hard cardboard, or sheet steel). Even so, there are automatic cutting machines, die-cutting, especially used for cutting the inner lining of the shoe, which is usually made of lower quality leather, false or between soles, and leather for the upper; Another current and modern method is computerized cutting which uses software for the configuration and location of the pieces on the skin, the order is given just as we give the order to print, only instead of placing paint dots it makes stitches of cutting with a knife or laser, this last method has advantages over the previous ones, it does not require an investment in dies for each design, cuts can be made with more details than if it were cut by hand in less time, if synthetic leather is used the Configuration is done in less time and with fewer configuration cycles. Water jet cutting is also a technique used especially for cutting soles.
The trim is made with sewing machines, similar to those used in the textile industry, but specially designed to make resistant seams and that require more drilling power because they are leathers or materials of greater hardness and consistency.
Assembly is perhaps the most mechanized part of the footwear industry. In fact, this section is also often called via, because the shoes are moved through some boxes that circulate on an iron track (at the height of the worker) and each worker goes doing each part of the work in this section using a machine. The exact assembly process (union of the leather part of the shoe with the sole) is done with a machine called an "assembly machine". In reality, "mounted" refers to the set of operations that prepare the shoe for the placement of the sole or gluing, among them we highlight: The placement of the sole; the ramming or placement of the butt reinforcements in the toe and buttress in the heel; centered and mounted toes, fringes (laterals) and heels; rebated, steamed mounted, sanded mounted and floors.
There are two methods of putting the sole of the footwear: pneumatically and injection to the upper when the sole is injected separately, this is manually glued by an operator and glued pneumatically, the second method is when the sole is injected directly on the cut with a mold, this is called injection to the cut. Another system is the sewing of the sole, a very old and safe procedure that was carried out manually and is currently carried out by specialized machines, these are the so-called Goodyear assembly systems. The placement of heels can be done before the placement of the sole, in the case of bottier-type women's shoes, or after the placement of the sole, in the case of Cuban-type heeled shoes or low heels and heels for men's shoes.
Formerly, the soles followed a semi-artisan manual process that consisted of honing and sanding them to later dye them and remove the shine, but these processes have now been modernized with the so-called prefabricated floors.
Prior to packaging, the shoes undergo a series of processes to clean the residues of the previous phases, they are also shaped (shape and close the holes), eyelets and laces are placed, depending on the case, areas are polished or blurred of chopped and a series of minor operations according to the type of model manufactured (placement of ornaments, templates and interior stamping, etc.). The packaging in paper boxes is also manual. The shoe is introduced in pairs in cardboard boxes. Regulatory labels, barcodes are included to facilitate sales in shops, etc. Various shoe boxes (6, 10, 12, 24, etc.) are placed in cardboard packaging to facilitate transport to the customer.
Types of footwear
- Albarca
- Alpargata
- Babucha
- Dancer
- Boots
- Water boots
- Bulletin
- Protection shoes
- Chancla
- Chancleta/Hawaiana
- Escarpin
- Huarache
- Manoletina
- Moccasin
- Nautical
- Pantufla
- Sandalia
- Sport shoes
- Shoes
- Platform Shoe
- Heel shoe
- Zueco
Legend
The ancient Egyptians used for footwear a kind of espadrilles made with palm or papyrus bark.
The Greeks used to wear the high bustiers, which reached the calf and were later adapted by the Romans. A specific variant of this footwear was the one used in the theater, with very thick soles, made of cork, which enhanced the stature of the tragic actors. As it is associated with a prestigious literary genre, it has given rise to the lexicalized phrase “high coturno”, which can be applied to people or things and means, according to María Moliner, “of high category”.
Pythagoras forced his disciples to wear footwear similar to that of the Egyptians and to which he owed the name baxea. In the low reliefs of Persepolis the Persians are represented with a kind of sandals and in other Greek monuments, the barbarians are with a shoe that the Romans called aluta luxior. In heroic times, the Greeks only wore footwear when they went out into the fields: the men's was a kind of leather boot and the women's consisted of sandals that they used to decorate with plates of ivory, silver, gold and precious stones in times more advanced than the heroic.
Licurgus only allowed footwear to be worn in war, hunting, and when traveling at night. The Spartans used a flat shoe that wrapped the entire foot made of red leather. That of the maidens was very tall, and that of the matrons of medium height. The Athenians came to know different kinds of footwear in the form of black leather boots and shoes.
The Romans did not wear shoes at first but then it was introduced with fashion and in Cicero we read that in his time dissolute youths wore a shoe called sicyonium. Different species of footwear were known, namely: the calceus, the muleus, the phaecasium, for whole footwear made of a leather called aluta; the caliga, the crepida, the baxea, the sandalium, the coturno were simple soles tied on the foot with ribbons or straps. They were of different colors although generally black. Emperors and winners wore them red. In their houses, the Romans used the solea that served as slippers. Women's footwear used to be white. The senators wore black half boots carrying a kind of buckle on the ankle, called luna or tintilla which had the shape of a "C" to indicate that in the beginning the patrician senators numbered no more than a hundred. The ancients used to leave their shoes to eat so as not to dirty the cushions on which they reclined, and the slaves in charge of removing shoes and putting on shoes for the lords are called sandaligeruli.
Since men knew how to prepare leather, footwear was generally made of this material, undergoing sometimes very strange modifications in its shapes, since there have been times when ankle boots ending in extremely curved toes and raised high were worn. There are still countries where special footwear is used, such as wooden clogs and our hemp espadrilles.
The history of footwear accompanies the human being from the moment they feel the need to cover their feet to protect themselves from the weather and terrain. Throughout the centuries and each era, footwear takes on different shapes and is also made with a wide variety of materials, almost always advised by prevailing customs or fashion.
World production
| Main shoe producers (2016) (millions of pairs) | |
|---|---|
 China | 11 110 |
 India | 2790 |
 Vietnam | 971 |
 Brazil | 899 |
 Indonesia | |
| World | 21 400 |
Source
| Main shoe consumers (2016) (millions of pairs) | |
|---|---|
| China | 3200 |
| India | 2680 |
 United States | 2340 |
| Brazil | 796 |
| World | 19 600 |
Source
| Main footwear exporters (2016) (millions of pairs) | |
|---|---|
| China | 8000 |
| Vietnam | 654 |
| Indonesia | 387 |
 Germany | 252 |
| Brazil | 126 |
Source
Some manufacturing areas
Spain
The main shoe manufacturing area in Spain is the Alicante Valley of Vinalopó (Villena, Elda, Elche, Pinoso, etc.), which can also include the nearby city of Almansa, as well as not naming a World reference in the manufacture of boots and boots from Valverde del Camino, a town in the province of Huelva. Other important nuclei are Fuensalida in Toledo, Arnedo in La Rioja and the Balearic Islands, especially the Majorcan city of Inca, and the populations of Menorca.
Mexico
As for Mexico, the industrial manufacture of high-quality footwear is concentrated in León (Guanajuato), Guadalajara and Mexico City. For their part, San Mateo Atenco, State of Mexico and Naolinco, Veracruz, stand out as artisan footwear producers. The manufacture of footwear in Mexico has been so important for the economic development of the country, that even in Mexico City there is the Museo del Calzado de El Borceguí, the oldest shoe store in this city.
Peru
In Peru, the manufacture of high-quality footwear is concentrated in the city of Trujillo, department of La Libertad. Variety in models and textures that make Trujillo (the capital of spring) also Capital of Footwear.
Columbia
As for Colombia, footwear manufacturing is concentrated in Bucaramanga and Bogotá, which concentrate the most important clusters of this industry in the country; there is also a significant production in cities like Cali and Medellín.
Guatemala
As for Guatemala, the manufacture of leather footwear is concentrated in Pastores, Antigua Guatemala, since this region is where a strong point of production of leather footwear is concentrated, such as cowboy boots for men and women.
Sizes
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Since the 18th century, the footwear industry has used its own unit: the point. Thus, to determine the length of the foot, the Paris point, the Berlin point, the Vienna point, etc., could be used, which the masters of different regions had fixed as a result of different agreements. In any case, the numberings to determine the length of the shoe did not have much importance until the end of the 19th century, when mass production began to develop.
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There are four main types of numbering:
European numbering
During the time of Napoleon (beginning of the XIX century), the use of the Paris period, equivalent to to ⅔ cm, that is to say 6,667 mm. Since this measure was too large, half measures were introduced: the number 40.5 is approximately equivalent to 27 cm.
English numbering
The English system was established by order of King Edward II of England. He determined that three grains of barley together made one inch (1 inch = 2.54 cm) and that 12 inches made one foot (1 foot = 30.48 cm). The English shoe unit is equal to the length of a grain of barley, that is, 1⁄3 of an inch or 8.46mm. In this case, too, the unit turned out to be too large, so half numbers were introduced: 1/2 = 4.23 mm.
The English numbering system starts with an adult length of about 22 cm (number 1, equivalent to French 33). To these 22 cm or 8.66 inches is added 1⁄3 of an inch per number. The French number 42 corresponds to the number 28 of the metric sizes and to the 8 of the English numerals —22 cm + (8 × 0.846) = 28.77 cm—. The most common numbering among gentlemen ranges from number 5.5 (number 39 in the French system) to 11 (number 46 in the French system).
US numbering
This is basically the English unit. The difference lies in the starting point. In the American system, the scale is 1,116 mm forward, so compared to the English system, each number starts a little earlier.
Metric numbering
Metric numbering allows you to measure both foot and shoe length, and has a similar scale. In practice, it has not been imposed for shoe numbering.
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