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John Cusey
Shoe Construction
There is frequent mention about the
different methods of shoe construction, but there isn't always a
whole lot of explanation about what is actually going on with the
different methods and what their benefits and drawbacks are.
Goodyear welting.
The diagram above (from
La Botte Chantilly a French online shoe store) shows the basics
of Goodyear welting. With this method, there are four major parts of
the shoe: the upper (the portion of the shoe that forms the parts
normally observed when a shoe is being worn, including the basic
design of the shoe and the lacing), the insole (the piece of leather
at the bottom of the shoe that the foot comes into contact with when
the shoe is being worn), the outsole (the piece of leather that
forms the bottom of the shoe and that comes into contact with the
ground while the shoe is being worn), and the welt (a thin strip of
leather that runs around the perimeter of the outsole.
The first step in Goodyear welting is
to prepare the insole for stitching. This is done by creating a rib
perpendicular to the face of the insole through which shoemaker's
twine can be stitched. There are three major methods for doing this.
First, the rib can be carved out by hand from the face of the insole
using specialized shoemaker's cutting tools. To the best of my
knowledge, only makers who welt their shoes by hand use this method
anymore, and I'm not even sure if it's possible to machine-welt a
shoe with a carved insole. Second, a cut can be made into the edge
of the insole and the rib turned back and stabilized with linen tape
or other mechanisms. I believe that this was the original method for
rib creation used in machine-welted shoes; but today, the only
manufacturer that I know of that still uses it is JM Weston. Third,
a rib made of stiffened linen tape can be glued (gemmed) onto the
insole. This sounds like a shoddy procedure unlikely to produce a
quality shoe, but this is not the case. When done properly, the
gemming is extremely secure and long-lived, and the linen rib can
take as many reweltings as a cut-and-turned rib.
The second step is in lasting the shoe. This means that the upper
(with its lining) is pulled tightly over the last and secured to it,
along with the insole. Lasting can either be done by hand using
shoemaker's pliers and elbow grease, or it can be done by a machine.
Most ready-made welted shoes use the machine. The third step is the
actual welting. Here, shoemaker's twine is sewn through the welt
strip, the upper, and the rib of the insole. This is done with a
lockstitch, which means that all of the stitching won't unravel if
one stitch becomes abraded or comes undone. Finally, another row of
lockstitching connects the other side of the welt to the outsole.
Both rows of lockstitching can be either done by hand or by machine.
The machine is called a Goodyear welting machine and was invented by
Charles Goodyear, son of the man who invented the process for
vulcanizing rubber, in the 19th Century. His invention
revolutionized shoe construction because it made mass manufacturing
of shoes possible. Hand welting shoes is time-consuming,
back-breaking process that can take more than 20 hours per pair of
shoes [edit: shoefan points out below that the actual welting only
takes 1 to 2 hours. Attaching the welt to the sole takes more time,
of course. I stand by the description of the labor as
"back-breaking"]. Operating a Goodyear welting machine takes skill,
but a pair of shoes can be welted in minutes.
Today, very few ready-made shoes are still hand-welted (Vass is one
of these). Are hand-welted shoes superior to machine-welted ones?
Well, it depends on what you mean by superior. It is possible to
have a more sculpted, beveled, narrow waist with hand-welting than
it is with machine-welting. Waist appearance is important in shoes,
but it is only an aesthetic consideration, not functional. It's
doubtful that machine-welted shoes are any less durable than
hand-welted ones, and it is possible that the converse is true.
I see two principal advantages for Goodyear-welted shoes, both
emanating from the same aspect of construction. First, they are
relatively water-resistant. Because nothing goes through the face of
the insole of the shoe, groundwater doesn't have an easy path into
the interior of the shoe. In contrast, with Blake construction,
there is a row of stitching through the face of the insole
connecting it to the outsole, which allows groundwater to wick into
the interior of the shoe. Second, they are relatively comfortable
(assuming that the last fits the wearer's foot well) because there
isn't a row of stitching on the face of the insole to irritate the
bottom of the wearer's foot. In addition, most makers of ready-made
shoes put a layer of cork amalgam in the void between the ribs on
either side of the insole; and this cork amalgam molds to the bottom
of the foot, which sometimes enhances comfort.
Prominent makers of Goodyear-welted shoes include Alden,
Allen-Edmonds, Edward Green, Gaziano & Girling, Vass, Grenson,
Tricker's, JM Weston, and Alfred Sargent. In addition, many Italian
manufacturers can do Goodyear-welted shoes, although they can also
use many other construction techniques.
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Blake construction.
Blake construction is the bread and butter of the Italian shoe
industry. Although Italian shoe manufacturers use a dizzying array
of construction techniques, probably more good-quality shoes are
made using Blake construction than all of the other methods
combined.
The diagram above (again lifted from the
La Botte Chantilly website) shows what is involved with Blake
construction, and it should be immediately clear why it is so
popular: it's a lot simpler than Goodyear welting. There is a single
row of stitching that attaches the insole to the upper (turned under
the insole) and the outsole. Obviously, since the stitching runs
inside of the shoe, it's not possible for a Blake-constructed shoe
to be stitched together by hand; so this construction technique is a
child of the Industrial Revolution. It's named for Lyman Reed Blake,
and American inventor who patented the machine to accomplish this in
1856. He later sold the patent to a man named Gordon McKay, and one
consequently sees this construction method referred to as McKay
construction.
Blake construction has two principal advantages. First, because it
requires no stitching on the sole edges outside the shoe, it is
possible to get extremely close-cut soles with it, much more closely
cut than would ever be possible with a Goodyear-welted shoe. Second,
because Blake-constructed shoes have fewer layers in the sole, they
tend to be more flexible than Goodyear -welted shoes. The principal
disadvantages are all outgrowths of the stitching along the insole.
This row of stitching can irritate some feet, especially when it is
not covered by a sock liner. More seriously, it can wick moisture
from the ground into the inside of the shoe. Unless they have rubber
soles, Blake-constructed shoes will always be less waterproof than
Goodyear-welted shoes, all other things being equal.
Shoe snobs tend to disparage Blake-constructed shoes, and I think
that this tendency is unfortunate. It is true that Italy turns out a
lot of cheap, junky Blake-constructed shoes, but I would put a
Blake-constructed shoe from an excellent maker like Gravati up
against any comparably-priced footwear, regardless of construction.
They're better-made and better-finished than any of the English-made
Goodyear-welted shoes that I have seen at a similar price point.
And, despite what you might hear from salesmen pushing Allen-Edmonds
or other Goodyear-welted shoes, Blake shoes can be resoled. The
cobbler just needs a Blake soling machine, which are admittedly less
common than Goodyear welting machines, at least in the United
States.
Blake/Rapid.
As the name suggests, Blake/Rapid construction is a whole lot like
Blake construction. There is a row of Blake stitching along the
insole; but instead of attaching the insole to the outsole, it
attaches the insole to a midsole. The midsole is attached to the
outsole by a row of stitching (that's the Rapid part of the
combination) running outside the shoe. Conceptually, it's a bit like
a combination of Goodyear welting and Blake construction. Because
the row of Blake stitching doesn't go all the way from the interior
of the sole to the outsole, it doesn't have the problem with ground
moisture that Blake-constructed shoes; but this increased degree of
waterproofing comes at a price. The presence of the midsole and the
necessity for a row of stitching on the outside of the shoe
attaching the midsole to the outsole mean that Blake/Rapid shoes can
neither be as flexible nor have soles that are as close-cut as
Blake-constructed shoes. In addition, all other things being equal,
Blake/Rapid shoes will have a more rugged appearance than equivalent
shoes made with Blake construction. This can either be an advantage
or a disadvantage, depending on the look that you're seeking.
Like Blake construction, Blake/Rapid construction is a mainstay for
most Italian manufacturers. Most manufacturers who do Blake also do
Blake/Rapid and will switch between the two depending on the shoes
that they are making. The diagram above is courtesy of
Ron Rider, who is the US agent for
Romano Martegani, a prominent manufacturer in Tradate in Italy
that is something of a Blake/Rapid specialist.
Bologna.
Bologna construction is another Italian specialty; and on initial
examination, it may look somewhat similar to Blake construction
because of the row of stitching going from the inside of the shoe
through to the outsole. However, the two construction methods really
are very different. Bologna construction is sometimes called bag
construction or tubular construction because the leather forming the
upper goes all the way around the shoe, being sewn into a bag or a
tube. The upper part of this leather is lined with normal lining
leather. The lower part of this leather, where the foot will rest in
the finished shoe, is lined with a soft leather insole much less
stout than the kind of insole that you would find in a Goodyear or a
Blake shoe. The upper lining is connected to the soft insole via a
row of stitching on the underside of the both, so that you'll see a
trench on the inside of a Bologna shoe. The row of stitching
connecting the upper to the outsole is closer to the wall of the
upper than it is on a Blake shoe, and its much less likely to come
into contact with the wearer's toes.
As with Blake construction, one of the benefits of Bologna
construction is that it's possible for the sole to be extremely
close-cut, if that's aesthetically important. Bologna construction
also makes for an extremely flexible shoe. Blake shoes are usually
flexible, but they can't compare to the flexibility of Bologna
shoes, all other things being equal, because of the thinness and
pliability of the soft insole in Bologna shoes. The principal reason
that Bologna construction exists is to produce extremely soft,
slipper-comfortable shoes. That, of course, is one of the
limitations of the construction method, too. Bologna constructed
shoes aren't the most durable, and they don't provide the same
degree of support to the foot while walking that Goodyear, Blake, or
Blake/Rapid shoes do. Because Bologna construction has that row of
stitching going from the inside of the shoe all the way through the
outsole, Bologna shoes have the same moisture-wicking problem that
Blake shoes do. And, for some reason, the outsoles of Bologna
constructed shoes tend to be slightly convex, meaning that they wear
more rapidly at the center of the sole than toward the edges.
The two most prominent practitioners of Bologna construction in
Italy are A. Testoni and Artioli, although there are many other
manufacturers who use it for at least some of their shoes. Gravati
and Santoni both make excellent Bologna constructed shoes, and the
diagram above was taken from the
Santoni USA website.
Norwegian (also called Norvegese).
Despite the name, it's a specialty of a relatively small number
of Italian shoemakers. It was originally conceived as a way to make
shoes more waterproof, but the Italians who specialize it today do
it mostly for aesthetics and to illustrate their shoemaking
virtuosity.
The diagram above (again from
La Botte Chantilly) shows the basics. With Goodyear
construction, the leather for the upper runs parallel to the feather
(the ridge in the insole); and it, the feather, and the welt are
stitched together. With Norwegian construction, the upper is turned
outward to sit on top of and parallel to the outsole. Two rows of
stitching connect it to the feather of the insole and the outsole,
respectively. Although the diagram above shows a welt, most
Norwegian-constructed shoes don't have one. Goodyear welted shoes
are water resistant because this channel doesn't lead to the inside
of the shoe, but Norwegian construction takes this one step further
by turning out the upper. Doing that instead of running it parallel
to the feather denies a channel for water to get into the shoe at
all, not just to get to the inside of the shoe. Technically, only a
single row of stitching connecting the upper to the feather is
required, but many shoemakers choose to have two or more braided
rows of stitching to decorate the shoe.
Sutor Mantellassi is the maker of the mostly widely-distributed
Norwegian-constructed shoes in the United States (they use a single
row of stitching, not a braided double row), but they're hardly the
only one. Santoni, A. Testoni, Lattanzi, and others all produce some
Norwegian shoes, many of them simply superlative. If you can find
them, Norwegian shoes made by Borgioli represent an excellent value.
Beware of Blake-constructed shoes that have the same braided
stitching at the base of the uppers -- if the shoe is
Blake-constructed, that braiding is completely decorative. It
doesn't hurt anything, but manufacturers and retailers often think
that its presence justifies a much higher price. If it's not a
legitimate Norwegian-constructed shoe, then it doesn't.
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