Footwear » The Story of Shoes

Humans are the "tenderfeet" among the animals. Nature does not protect human feet from burning sands and stony ground with soft cushions like those of the cat or with horny hoofs like those of the horse. So the earliest footwear was undoubtedly born of the necessity to provide some protection when moving over rough terrain in varying weather conditions.

In very ancient times, people used as foot coverings the closest available materials: bark, woven grass, leaves, or animal skins. These crude coverings were held to the feet with thongs. From these primitive beginnings developed the 3 standard kinds of footwear we have today: the sandal, the shoe, and the boot.

Egyptian sandals made about 2000 BC from plaited papyrus leaves are still preserved today. Wanting the tragic heroes in his plays to loom larger than life, the dramatist Aeschylus required that his actors all done shoes with thick cork soles. The craftsmen of ancient Greece created artistic sandals, and the Romans considered their footgear to be a badge of rank. Romans devised military style thongs, which enabled their legions to march across Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. The "caligae" was a sturdy thick-soled heavy leather sandal with an upper that reached the instep. When victorious soldiers returned from war they frequently substituted the bronze nails, which held the caligae together with gold and silver tacks. They were hardwearing platforms of 3 or 4 layers of vegetable-tanned cattle hide strapped around the foot and ankle. Both the Egyptians and Romans drew their enemies’ faces on the soles of their sandals so they could literally step on them.

According to ancient Jewish custom, an unmarried brother-in-law of a childless widow was obliged to marry her. Since the sandal was given as a sign of an oath, in the halizah ritual, by publicly untying and removing his shoe, she could release him from that duty.

Whereas the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans displayed the body, the Christians of the early Middle Ages concealed it, including the foot. Plus, the weather could be much less comfortable than the weather found in Mediterranean areas. Among the most sought-after gifts of the time were shoes. Costs were so prohibitive that people bequeathed their footwear to family and loved ones, hence the saying "following in your father's footsteps. Then in the 11th century the Crusades began, and contact with the Orient influenced a change in shoe styles to more flowing and decorative lines. Shoemakers formed guilds to promote quality work.

Thanks to a stray comment by Confucius, mothers in 10th century China bound their daughters’ feet, hoping to achieve a “golden lotus,” a foot measuring just 3 inches. The "lotus" feet looked like tiny hooves and almost immobilized a woman. A symbol of high status, they were also considered powerfully erotic. In 1911 the practice was banned, and in 1949 Mao made it a penal offense to bind girls' feet, which was out of favor by then anyway.

Edward II originated shoe sizes in 1324. He decreed that 3 barleycorns, placed end to end, equaled one inch. 36 barleycorns, end to end, were the actual length of his own foot. Each barleycorn was one third on an inch, which added up to 12 inches or one "foot." The longest normal foot measured 39 barleycorns, or 13 inches, and was called size 13. Smaller sizes were graded down from this number, each by a third of an inch.

Even suits of armor followed the fashion for long pointed toes and were worn over soft cordwain leather shoes. Foot soldiers went without the protection of armor and only had shoes like flimsy slippers rather than the sturdy walking and fighting shoes of the Roman soldiers of days gone by.