Shoe Knowledge

Shoe Selection

The Role of the Shoe

A shoe is much more than a foot covering.  Among the many roles it fills are:

Protection - The shoe protects the foot against cold, heat, abrasion and injury.

Functional Performance – The shoe is designed and constructed to assist the foot in walking, running, climbing, jumping, and other physical activities.  Assistance can be provided via cushioning, giving stability, or making other changes or additions during the design, manufacture or wearing stages.

Comfort and Foot Health – Shoes should be more than comfortable.  They can and should aid in keeping the foot healthy.

Fashion – The shoe can be a decorative accessory, complementing the wearer’s clothing and overall appearance.

The Parts of a Shoe

The shoe is made up of many parts, the basic ones include:

Bal & Blucher Oxford – the two types or methods of constructing a lace style shoe.

Collar or top line – the top rim of a shoe.

Inlay – a prefabricated removable material upon which the foot directly rests inside the shoe.

Insole – an integral component of the shoe that is the shoe’s structural anchor, to which the upper, toe box, hell counter, linings, and/or welting are attached.

Lining – the material that covers the inner part of the shoe between the upper material and the foot.

Outsole – that part of the shoe that hits the ground.

Shank – the center section or “bridge” between the ball line of the sole and the front of the heel.  Because this bridge has a mild spring effect on weight bearing, it needs reinforcement.  So a finger-length slab of material, such as wood, plastic, fiberboard, or metal, is placed inside the shank between the outsole and insole.  This is called the shankpiece, one of the most important components of the shoe.

Sock lining – the material which lines the inside of the shoe.

Throat – in a pump, the front top line; in a tie shoe, where the tongue meets the vamp.

Toe box – the part of the upper of a shoe that covers the toes.

Tongue – the part of a tie shoe that is behind the laces and on the instep of the foot.

Vamp – the forepart of a shoe’s upper, generally from the instep to the toe box.

In addition to basic sections, shoes can have many additional parts, especially athletic shoes.  A great variety of materials are used in shoemaking.  Since this is an introductory course, not all of them can be covered, but they are generally divided into two categories: materials used to make shoe uppers and materials used to make shoe soles.

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