It has to be said that I used to do an awful lot of thinking about shoes – not to mention an awful lot of buying!
I had a hip operation a few years ago, and ever since I’ve had to be a bit more sensible about these things. I wear orthotics inside all my shoes, and I am now the proud (if rather financially-challenged) owner of four pairs of MBTs. They may be expensive, but they are absolutely the best shoes that I’ve ever bought.
However, MBTs are only available in a limited range of styles, and most of them are, let’s face it, not what I would be looking for in terms of a funky or indeed a fashionable shoe.
Being the sort of person who follows a train of thought to its logical if ridiculous conclusion, I’ve spent a while this year investigating the possibilities of designing and making my own shoes.
I’ve got as far as making a few pairs of funky slippers (guess what everyone’s getting for Christmas?!), but sadly not a great deal further.
The sticking point is turning out to be the soles.
The uppers can be made from pretty much anything that can be wrapped around your foot. The soles, on the other hand… they need to cushion your entire skeleton, protect you from the cold and wet, preferably be light and flexible… and this is something which is apparently quite difficult to accomplish without access to a convenient shoe factory.
I’ve started to do a little bit of research into how shoes were made in pre-industrial societies, and the answer mostly seems to be, “using skills and tools which nobody has access to any more”. I’m not about to take up wood carving in order to develop a pair of clogs, and I don’t fancy weaving myself a new pair of papyrus sandals every time it rains. In terms of something hard-wearing, I think the Romans had the right idea with their hobnailed soles – the entire underside of the shoe was covered in short metal nails, hammered directly into thick leather.
I’m not certain I want to be clip-clopping about on hobnailed sandals though, so I’m currently investigating cork and rubber soling. Because I’m doing this on a very small scale, I was thinking of buying some rubber floor tiles to go with the cork ones that I have already.
At the moment I have no idea how I’m going to fix these layers to the bottom of my shoes, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out…
You might want to check this site out. She sells a book about making shoes but she also had a lot of tips on there.
http://www.marywalesloomis.com/
Thank you!
I do have Mary Wales Loomis’ book, and the construction techniques are brilliant, but I still have a problem with the soles. I can’t find anywhere to buy shoe findings in the UK, and I don’t want to make new shoes to sell using recycled soles. The rest of it is really useful though. 🙂
I think Spidosaur ran into the same sort of problems with soles – ended up diong a lot of construction and carving and so on, and he wasn’t trying to do bouncy flexible things so much as big platformy things.
I must admit I was thinking about Spidosaur a lot yesterday. I remember he had a lot of trouble with toxic glues as well, I think? It’s all very complicated!
I’ve often thought about making shoes, too. And I wear orthotics! I get tired of tennis shoes and ugly shoes, but so far my inventive thought processes haven’t come up with a good shoe technique. Oh well, think I’ll go back to knitting and drinking my homemade latte’!
Hi Marty – isn’t it frustrating? I keep coming back to the idea that there must be something I can do… I just ned to keep thinking until I figure it out!