History of Footwear

No one knows when people first began to wear shoes.

The early form of footwear was probably a single piece of row hide often with the hair attached and facing outwards. According to climate terrain and the way of life of the people three types of footwear evolved in different parts of the world. The first known footwear used in warm climates was sandal. It was a piece of material cut in the form of the foot. Boots were customary in cold mountainous regions as well as the open steppes and hot sandy desert conditions. The shoe developed in colder regions. The Romans left for us more than 130 drawings of their footwear. The better quality Roman shoes were made in leather or cloth, dyed in various colors and with gilt and embroidery. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Roman styles of shoes continued to be worn for many centuries. Better class shoes were shaped to the foot and were made of leather a fabric in all colors. Shoes were fastened with lacks, buttons or buckles and pattern protected delicate designs out-of-doors. Pointe-for shoe was introduced in the late eleventh century and for time this was cut and shaped in the form of a scorpion’s fail of ram’s horns. They were made of leather, velvet or satin in all colors. The heel was established and grew in height from one inch to or two and half inches. During the eighteenth century women’s shoes were made of many different materials: kid, satin, brocade, velvet. Until the wid-1800s, most people wore homemade shoes or bought shoes front a shoe maker who lived nearby or travelled from house to house. In 1882 the shoe-lasting machine was invented by an American wafer, Ernst Mate liger by name. Today many shoe-manufacturing operations are automated. For example, shoes may be designer on a computer. In addition, components may be cut by a facer and stitched by computer-controlled slithers such improvements enable many factures to respond to style change quickly and with reduced costs.