Answer: A German surgeon in World War II
It was 1945 and Doctor Klaus Maertens was in Munich, Germany, recovering from an ankle injury acquired from a skiing accident in the Bavarian Alps. He found that standard issue Army boots were very uncomfortable, so he created a boot with soft leather and air-padded soles made out of tires. In 1947 he partnered with an old friend and they went in business using discarded rubber from Luftwaffe airfields. After a decade of selling to mostly older women, the fame of his boot spread. In the late 1950's a company called Griggs acquired the license and, working with Dr. Maerten, they added a few more touches and the rest is history.
From Quiz: Regarding Shoes
Answer: Leather
Huaraches were being hand woven in Mexico before the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus! The name, originating with the Purépecha word "kwarachi", simply means "sandals". Originally made by peasant farmers, huaraches were also adopted as footwear by some religious communities. Today huaraches are also made into shoes - sandals leave some of the foot uncovered while shoes do not - and other materials, such as string and rubber, can be used to make them; traditional huaraches, however, are always handmade with braided leather.
From Quiz: Ho Chi Minh and Other Sandals - Part 2
Answer: Most of the foot is left uncovered
Shoes are defined as "footwear designed to protect and comfort the foot", while sandals are identified as "an open type of footwear". The distinction between the two may be a bit difficult to make in some instances, however, sandals do leave most or all of the foot uncovered. So, while all sandals are shoes, not all shoes are sandals! While all sandals have a sole, they do not necessarily have any other distinguishing characteristic in common. For example, they may have a heel - or not! They do have straps, of course, but there is no defining way the straps have to be arranged.
From Quiz: Ho Chi Minh and Other Sandals
Answer: stiletto
Coco Chanel designed her outfits from top to bottom, including handbags and shoes. She got her start in Paris in the 1920s. Chanel designed the court shoe (called a pump in North America) as a simple shape to complement the simple lines of her suits and dresses. Her iconic Chanel suit was not designed until 1954. Chanel passed away in 1971 at the age of 87, leaving an indelible legacy in both clothing and shoe design.
From Quiz: 20th Century Soles
Answer: China
Lotus shoes are the tiny shoes that are worn by Chinese women who have had their feet bound. The shoes are made of elaborately embroidered fabric, usually silk or cotton. These shoes are so small that they can fit in the average adult's hand. These shoes can be found in museums and private collections and are still made for the very few elderly Chinese women who still have bound feet.
From Quiz: Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!
Answer: Cobbler
A cobbler repairs shoes rather than making them from scratch as a cordwainer would. A milliner makes hats, a tinker is a traveling repairer of pots, kettles and the like, and a thatcher thatches roofs.
From Quiz: Shoe Business - The Sequel
Answer: Horses
A hipposandal was a flat piece of metal with hooks and rings. Ties were drawn through the hooks and rings enabling the hipposandal to be secured to the horse's hoof.
From Quiz: There's No Business Like Shoe Business!
Answer: ethylene vinyl acetate
Crocs' "crosslite" is ethylene vinyl acetate. This is described in US patent 6993858. Ethylene is the chemical compound C2H2. Ethylene glycol is an organic compound commonly used as a coolant, in antifreeze. Ethylene oxide is an intermediate in the production of several industrial chemicals.
From Quiz: Rock Around the Croc
Answer: 18th
During the 1700s, especially the 1740s to about 1790 shoes took on a life almost their own! Hair fashion during this time reached a peak of extragavance of style (think of Marie Antionette), and shoes followed suit. De rigeuer for the female were very high heels and brocaded or silk embroidered uppers, often complemented with a painted feather and almost always with a large showy buckle. The males, not to be outdone, wore mostly black, medium heeled, pointed shoes decorated by large shiny gold or silver buckles. After the start of the French Revolution, excesses in shoe fashion rapidly declined and more affordable styles with virtually no heel, and manufactured from more practical and affordable leathers became the fashion.
From Quiz: Shoes, Glorious Shoes!
Answer: Venice
The platforms were generally made of cork. The demand for cork for these shoes was so high at this time that Spanish sources were nearly tapped out. The tallest chopines were up to 30 inches high, so a servant had to walk beside the wearer to help the fashionista balance. The fad spread throughout Europe, although some governments outlawed them. Even Shakespeare mentioned chopines, in "Hamlet".
From Quiz: History of Shoes
Answer: little dagger
The Italian stiletto had a strong period of popularity in the 1950s, replacing the chunky styles of the 1940s and complimenting the postwar "New Look" in clothes. Later problems with carpets and flooring in general brought the competition between common sense and fashion into a new arena.
From Quiz: Best Foot Forward for this Footwear
Answer: Klompen
Clogs are a type of footwear that are either made from wood or have some wood component. Through the ages they have been popular in many parts of the world in varying forms. The oldest remaining pair of Dutch clogs - or klompen - is believed to have been produced around 1230. Historians are fairly certain that they were around even before this - however since they were made entirely of wood, it is thought earlier versions would have rotted away.
Wooden clogs were designed as a practical foot covering which gave both protection and comfort from the harsh elements found in nature including snow, mud, manure and water. Because of their specifications, clogs have been officially accredited as a 'safety shoe'. They are generally made from poplar or willow.
Along with tulips and windmills, clogs they are considered to be a national symbol of the Netherlands. The Dutch produce around three million clogs a year which are sold either as souvenirs or as footwear.
From Quiz: A Collection of Shoes
Answer: They were made with jacked leather
Originally the term "jackboot" referred to the tall, flared cavalry boot that came up above the knee. The leather was "jacked", which means that chain mail was sewn into the lining of the leather to protect the cavalryman from sword blows to the legs and knee joint. The term derives from the French word "Jacque", which means "mail". Now, the term "jackboot" is used to refer to any boot that comes up above the knee. It has acquired a negative connotation because of their use by Nazis in World War II. It is also used to refer to military boots that come up to mid-calf, usually with nails in the sole to increase durability and are designed for marching.
From Quiz: Regarding Shoes
Answer: Neolithic Age
During the Neolithic Age - or Revolution as some sources use - which dates to about 10,000 years ago, man learned to domesticate plants and animals. There was no longer a need to continuously search for food; people were able to settle down and create other things. Baskets were made to hold agricultural goods, and it is believed that weaving sandals as a type of footwear developed from basket weaving; many times the same materials, grasses or other plants, were used for both.
From Quiz: Ho Chi Minh and Other Sandals
Answer: Persia
Persia is now known as Iran. Cyrus the Great (circa 599-530 BC) founded the Medo-Persian empire in the sixth century BC. It was in Persia in the ninth century that a bowl depicting male horse riders in high heels was created. Unearthed many centuries later, this vase is held at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada. This doesn't mean that men weren't wearing high heels much earlier than that time, but that, by 2015, this ninth century bowl was the earliest known depiction of them doing so.
From Quiz: Hell on High Heels
Answer: 1920s-1930s
Perugia was a French shoe design innovator, born in Nice, France. He began working with fashion designer Paul Poiret in 1914, just as WWI began. Perugia's open-toed shoes were considered scandalous as a woman's feet were supposed to be covered by her shoes. As hemlines rose after WWI, women's shoes by every shoe designer became even more daring and eye-catching.
From Quiz: 20th Century Soles
Answer: When someone is leaving to go on a journey
According to old English folklore when a person leaves home on a journey, throw an old shoe after him to bring him good luck. Some sources state it should be thrown after the person and other variations say to throw it in the direction of the journey.
From Quiz: Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!
Answer: carrying out a process or activity without outside help
Bootstrapping is a self-sustaining process. This term has been applied in the fields of computer science, business, finance, biology, and statistics.
From Quiz: Mad About Shoe
Answer: Klaus
Klaus Märtens was a doctor in the German army. After hurting his ankle he couldn't wear regulation boots. This led him to design the boots bearing his name today.
From Quiz: Shoe Business - The Sequel
Answer: Duke of Wellington
The Duke of Wellington asked his shoemaker to alter the Hessian boot and create something practical and stylish. The original Wellington boot he created was made of calf-skin leather and he most likely used wax to provide waterproofing.
From Quiz: There's No Business Like Shoe Business!
Answer: Beach
The first style was the Crocs beach. It was unveiled at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show in 2002.
From Quiz: Rock Around the Croc
Answer: platform shoes
Remember "Saturday Night Fever" or any of Elton John's 1970s film clips? The chunkier and higher, the more sought after they were! Cork and solid wooden soles abounded. While we might like to believe they are a 20th century creation, the reality is that the Ancient Greeks and Romans wore elevated shoes and in 16th century Venice they were worn by "ladies of the night". Japanese geishas also favoured the style as a height increasing accessory. Everything old is new again!
From Quiz: Shoes, Glorious Shoes!
Answer: lotus shoes
The binding began around age 4-5. The bandages were 10 feet long and about 2 inches wide. The ideal was to have the length of the foot restricted to 3-4 inches. Luckily this practice died out in the 20th century.
From Quiz: History of Shoes
Answer: Oxford
A dictionary definition of an "Oxford shoe" is merely "a low shoe laced over the instep". There is no exact date for its introduction but it developed in popularity during the first two decades of the 20th century. A style of trousers which was very wide at the ankles became fashionable in the 1920s and was known as "Oxford bags".
From Quiz: Best Foot Forward for this Footwear
Answer: Decorative perforations or holes
Broguing is essentially the ornamentation of shoes with heavy perforations or holes. It describes the pattern of holes that are on the outer leather of a pair of shoes. These perforations were originally seen on outdoor Scottish and Irish boots. They were there to allow water to escape the leather so the shoe or boot could dry more quickly. Today, brogues are worn indoors or out, and the perforations are purely decorative.
There are different levels of brogues, and it is how much perforation that is on the leather pieces that determines the level of brogue. Also, broguing more or less out-trumps other descriptions - I.e. any shoe with broguing is called a brogue, even if it's an Oxford.
From Quiz: A Collection of Shoes
Answer: Wooden sole
Although the English Oxford Dictionary says that a clog is a "shoe with a thick wooden sole", it is important to remember that a sandal is a type of shoe. It is unknown where this type of footwear originated as clogs do not preserve well over time. Unsurprisingly, the oldest surviving clogs dating to the 1200s have been found in the region that made wooden shoes famous - the Netherlands. Many different cultures, however, made clogs with designs unique to the area where they were manufactured.
From Quiz: Ho Chi Minh and Other Sandals - Part 2
Answer: Oregon
Archaeologists have determined that Fort Rock Cave was inhabited over 13,000 years ago. The sandals uncovered there in 1938 were made in a style called "Fort Rock". They are flats and have twined soles, enclosed toes, and a thong to hold the sandal in place. Sometimes they were embellished with rabbit fur or pine needles. Made from sagebrush bark, there was quite a variety of these sandals from different time periods found in the cave; subsequent discoveries have revealed the same style of sandal at other sites in Oregon, as well as newer styles that began to emerge about 7500 years ago.
From Quiz: Ho Chi Minh and Other Sandals
Answer: Pattens
The Middle Ages lasted from approximately the fifth century to the 15th century AD. This was an era of history when paved roads were the exception rather than the rule. Most centres of smaller populations had to be content with plain old dirt roads instead, dusty in summer and a horror in rainy weather. To protect the reasonably expensive normal footwear of individuals, and the hemlines of the ladies, wooden pattens were designed to be worn over the top of ordinary footwear when venturing outside. These lifted the wearer up by a couple of inches above the muck and the mud. Both the front and the back of the patten was elevated, with the back slightly higher than the front. Believe it or not, women were still wearing these wooden overshoes well into the late 19th century, and, even in some cases, early into the 20th century.
Well off gentlemen wore high riding boots during this period. It was usually only women and labouring men who wore pattens. Not everyone approved of them, however. Because they were rather noisy, they were forbidden to be worn inside a church, for example, and the famous writers Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) and Jane Austen (1775-1813) were just plain irritated by them, Austen because of their noise, and Pepys because they slowed his wife down when she was walking with him outside.
From Quiz: Hell on High Heels
Answer: The Ten Commandments
Salvatore Ferragamo opened his first shoe workshop in Bonito, Italy, at age 14. In 1923, Ferragamo designed and manufactured the 12,000 pairs of sandals for the cast of The Ten Commandments in two months! Contracts like this enabled him to become a "shoemaker to the stars" such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson. In the 1930s he returned to Italy, where he could have greater control over the craftsmanship of his shoes. He first introduced a wedge-heeled fashion shoe in 1938, and Italian women went wild over them.
From Quiz: 20th Century Soles
Answer: Mary Jane
The Mary Jane has been taken from the rank of a casual woman's shoe and into a dressier market. The strap has been incorporated into some very sophisticated and expensive designs.
From Quiz: Shoe Business - The Sequel
Answer: $35
After working for Nike after college, she left in 1983. A lunch in 1984 with Nike executives saw Carolyn presented with a gold ring with the logo and a diamond, and an amount of Nike stocks that can only be speculated about.
From Quiz: There's No Business Like Shoe Business!
Answer: CROX
The NASDAQ symbol is CROX. On October 31, 2007 the stock dropped from $75 a share to slightly under $40 a share.
From Quiz: Rock Around the Croc
Answer: Brothel Creepers
How shocking! "Teddy Boys" originated in Britain and wore their shoes with drainpipe trousers which had four inch cuffs. They wore their thick, suede shoes with vivid socks and mothers around the nation were scandalised!
From Quiz: Shoes, Glorious Shoes!
Answer: Chelsea Boots
The boots had in fact been invented over 125 years earlier. Amongst other things that made them popular again in the 1960s was the fact that the Beatles were sometimes known to wear them.
From Quiz: Best Foot Forward for this Footwear
Answer: Doc Martens
'Bovver boots' was British slang for boots (often that were steel-toed) that were perceived to be worn by people looking for a fight, or a bit of 'bovver' (or 'bother'). When Dr Martens, which have been around since 1947, became the shoe of choice for the rebellious, including skinheads in the 1960s, they became associated with violence and were often referred to as bovver boots. The skinheads though generally called them simply 'Docs' or 'DMs'.
Doc Martens are still hugely popular and in the past have been worn by The Cure, The Clash, Madonna, Madness, the Sex Pistols, the Spice Girls, Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani.
Dr. Martens was listed on the London Stock Exchange in January 2021 at a value of £3.7bn.
From Quiz: A Collection of Shoes
Answer: Flip flops
We don't know what the ancient Egyptians called them, but murals on Egyptian tombs show them being worn well over two thousand years ago. They became popular after World War II when returning soldiers brought them back from Japan. The reason they're called "flip flops" is because that's a close approximation of the sound they make slapping against your feet as you walk in them.
From Quiz: Regarding Shoes
Answer: Otzi
The remains of Otzi have been dated to c 3400-3100 BC, and belong to the stage of cultural development which is known as the Copper Age, as evidenced by the presence of his copper axe. There have been several interpretations of what archaeologists believe his shoes looked like - some are sandals, some would be classified as shoes - and the discussion continues to this day. Many interpretations, however, show the shoe as a type of sandal that had a toe covering. It has been determined that the sandals were constructed of bearskin soles, with a toe covering made of deerskin. There are some who believe that the use of leather at this point was to give the owner of the sandal the swiftness or other characteristics of the animal from which the leather was made. The remainder of the shoe was constructed of loosely woven grass. But wait! Wasn't Otzi found on a glacier? Sandals wouldn't have provided much protection for his feet in such an environment! Otzi's sandals were stuffed with hay; in addition, he wore goat skin leggings that were presumably attached to his sandals with leather straps made from calfskin. His feet showed no sign of frostbite!
From Quiz: Ho Chi Minh and Other Sandals
Answer: Roger Vivier
Vivier modeled the platform soled shoe on an orthopedic shoe shape in the 1930s. He designed the first stilettos for Christian Dior in the early 1950s, to complement Dior's "New Look" postwar fashions. Elsa Schiaparelli, an Italian fashion designer, helped popularize Vivier's shoe designs in the 1940s.
From Quiz: 20th Century Soles
Answer: A cane
This trend became fashionable when Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, began wearing high heels to increase her stature. She was less than five feet tall! This trend setter continues to make her mark today with the popularity of high-heeled shoes.
From Quiz: Mad About Shoe
Answer: Forehead
Author Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was born in Pennsylvania. Ginger Rogers starred in a movie adaptation of his 1939 novel "Kitty Foyle".
From Quiz: There's No Business Like Shoe Business!
