But there are people who buy shoes of different sizes or widths, in which case the dealer breaks two pairs for them, giving them, to fit their feet, one shoe from each. In such cases the dealer matches up the two remaining shoes, one from each of two pairs just as he would where he had broken one pair to sell one shoe to a one-legged man.
But a man does not have to be one-legged nor to have feet of uneven sizes or shapes to make him ask the dealer to break a pair of shoes for him. A man with two perfectly good feet came into the store where he was accustomed to buy and wanted one shoe. While traveling in a sleeping car, his shoes had been mixed up with others and he had received back one of his own and one of some other man’s; a fact which he had not discovered until he was too far away from train and station to set things right. So he came in to buy one shoe to match his own.
CHAPTER FIVE
HOW SHOE STYLES ARE MADE
If you examine the shoes worn by people in a large city, you will notice different styles. Shoe styles that were called grotesque a few seasons ago are comparatively usual to-day, for the new designs in women’s footwear, which manufacturers are now making, are the most varied that ever have been put on the market. Pink and green and blue are among the new colors in materials for footwear.
Some of the styles for the coming seasons are more lavish than have hitherto been seen in the women’s shoe trade of America. Coronation purple velvet boots look like an extravagant color for footwear, but they are now selling. Samples of pink, green, and blue shoes, both boots and pumps, are being made up, and they will soon be offered to buyers.
The style of the shoe is dominated by fashion. All styles are related, that is, every part of our dress is influenced by the prevailing fashion, ideas of color, fabric, or garment outline. To illustrate: when short skirts are stylish, women wear mannish shoes to harmonize with them; on the other hand, with long skirts they must have a shoe that is neat and small, hence, the short vamp. When women wear white in the summer, cool canvas shoes spring into favor; when gray and blue dress materials are to be used, a variety of tan shoes are worn to harmonize, etc.
After the style has been decided upon, it is necessary to work out an exact reproduction. An expert model maker, called a last maker, produces a last, a wooden model of the shoe. In order to do this, it is necessary to lay out certain plans or specifications for the details of the manufacturer of the shoe.
There are certain parts of all feet that have fixed measurements. To illustrate: the length of the shank, that part of the sole of the foot between the heel and ball, in every person’s foot is always the same. The part of the foot back of the ball or large toe joint conforms to certain fixed measurements. These definite measurements form a basis by which the last maker originates new styles by shortening, lengthening, widening, or narrowing the space in front of the toes, but always retaining the true and fixed measurements of the back part of the last.