Fun Shoe Facts!

         In most early civilizations sandals were more commonly worn. Shoe like covering date back to 3300 BCE. Shoe lasts were simply straight and flat and had no variance of contour between the right and left foot until around 1850. Until 1883 shoes were hand lasted, meaning a human being had to sew the upper to the sole of the shoe. On, average a person could hand last 50 pair of shoes in an 8-10 hour workday. The invention of a machine that would perform the task of sewing the upper to the sole by Dutch African-American Jan Ernest Matzeliger allowed 150-700 pairs of shoes to be made in a day. This slashed the price of shoes in half  and would forever change the shoe industry in the United States. Things have really come a long way in the shoe manufacturing industry. As a retailer known for comfort and quality we focus on providing our customers with a product that is most often lasted by hand with the finest materials. Many of these types of factories exist in European countries like Italy or Germany and we really do not see that many shoes, although they exist, that are hand-crafted in the United States. It will be interesting to see how the industry evolves in the next several decades.  

        Have you experienced the difference between a shoe made my machine and a shoe made by man?