How far back in human history do shoes go?

Anthropologists estimate that humans first began wearing

some form of sturdy foot covering at least 40,000 years ago, based on changes in toe bones. The oldest
surviving pair of shoes is what’s referred to as the Fort Rock sandals, woven sagebrush bark sandals
made by Indigenous people in what’s now southeast Oregon and northern Nevada about 10,200 to
9,300 years ago (according to radiocarbon dating). Similar variants of these sandals were made by the
Klamath Tribes up until the 20th century.As for fully enclosed shoes, archaeologists made a surprising
discovery during a 2010 dig in an Armenian cave: well-preserved shoes made from tanned cowhide that
date back 5,500 years. In other words, the world’s oldest leather shoes. Aside from being made of a
familiar modern material, the shoes were also laced along a center seam. Renowned designer Manolo
Blahnik commented, “It is astonishing how much this shoe resembles a modern shoe!”

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From Sandals to Pointed Toes

Throughout antiquity, footwear refinements were made as new materials were harvested and traded.
Sandals that adorned the feet of Egyptian royalty were sleek and look strikingly like flip-flop prequels, as
do Japanese geta. Quilted hemp sandals emerged from China and traveled the Silk Road. Roman sandals
were made lighter with cork soles and may have been the first footwear built in accordance with the
shape of the foot and toes, as well as the first that differentiated between right and left. By the year
1305, King Edward I’s decree that an inch should equate to three dried barleycorns became the basis for
English shoe sizing. That reference standard soon became relevant beyond the size of the whole shoe, as
a fashion craze for shoes with exaggeratedly long points gripped 14th-century Europe. Known as
poulaines, or crakows, the shoes were a status symbol in the truest sense; the impracticality of the
design and its prevention of the wearer engaging in any kind of labor was the, well, point. The longer the
poulaine, the more prosperity the shoe conveyed. Perhaps not surprisingly, poulaines also came to be
considered racy, and clergymen disdained them as “claws of devils.” By 1463, English King Edward IV
passed a sumptuary law limiting toe length to 2 inches (or, six dried barleycorns). This law, combined
with the changing tides of fashion, caused late-15th-century shoe style preferences to veer toward a
wide-toe shoe (and yes, eventually the width of the shoe was restricted, too). But even as shoe designs
changed, a link between footwear and status remained.

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Who Wears the Heels?

The high heel was originally a type of riding footwear worn for centuries by the Persian military, but in
1599, when Shah Abbas I sent a diplomatic envoy to the courts of Spain, Russia, and Germany, the heel
caught on with nobility throughout Western Europe. Echoing the message conveyed in the past by the
poulaine, the impractical (for anything other than gripping stirrups) design of the heel was an indication
of the wearer’s leisurely lifestyle. In 1670, French King Louis XIV codified the status of the heel in an
official capacity, declaring in edict that high heels were to be worn by noblemen only. Yes, men.It was
during the Enlightenment of the 18th century that the gendering of the high heel shifted. Individualism
and ideas of merit and hard work rendered the idle aristocrat unfashionable. Productivity became
intertwined with masculinity, and the symbol of leisure that was the high heel was then considered
unmanly. As men adopted lower heels, heel heights for women increased, and the function shifted. For
women, high heels were intended to conceal the wearer’s feet beneath her dress, to make the feet
appear smaller and dainty.

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A Shoe for Every Use

The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century changed the course of design and function for shoes (like it
did for nearly every material thing). Factories sped up manufacturing, sewing machines allowed for
more embroidery and canvas work, and new processes (such as vulcanization) and dyes allowed for a
greater variety of materials to be used in shoemaking. The North British Rubber Company (now Hunter)
formed in 1856 and began making rubberized versions of Wellington boots that were eminently
waterproof. Pumps emerged as fashionable women’s shoes in the 1870s. The 20th century saw the
creation of shoe brands and styles that are staples today, many originally intended for specific sports.
Canvas and rubber-soled Keds were created by U.S. Rubber in 1916 and soon marketed toward tennis
players. The Converse All Star emerged the following year for basketball. The B.F. Goodrich company
tapped Jack Purcell to design his namesake shoe for badminton, a design that was acquired by Converse
in 1972. Paul Sperry created the Sperry Top-Sider in 1935. Adidas grew as a soccer shoe company in the
’50s, while Nike famously began as a running-shoe company in 1964. The 21st century is still young, but
dare we say the controversial Crocs (perhaps the shoe world’s version of pineapple on pizza) have
earned a place in history since their inception in 2002? Or perhaps the equally polarizing “minimalist
shoe”? Both designs are unconventional, arguably ostentatious, and seem to communicate something
about the priorities of the wearer — a tale as old as a poulaine.

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AUTHOR MARK DEJOY

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