The shoemaking trade in the ninetheenth century

 The shoemaking trade was different depending on the type of shoes made: men’s, women’s, and shoes for workers. There were different operations performed by different people: cutting leathers, sewing uppers, and joining heel and sole. And there were production sites, such as shop masters, cellar and garret. Shoe masters were only 600 or 700 but over 30,000 individuals worked as journeymen, apprentices and cheap garret masters.

By the 18 ^th and 19^th centuries, most boot and shoemakers barely made a subsistence wage. The majority of individuals who made shoes worked for very low wages, about 9s or 10 s a week. Many could barely afford their own lodging, and if they did, the accommodations were mean and poor.  The wages were lower for women than men. She worked in shoe closing and shoe binding.

Many of the 18th and 19th century shoes and boots were produced on straight lasts.  They “molded” the foot of the person who was going to wear the shoes

Tools used by bootmakers and cobblers included: awls for punching holes in leather; hot burnishers that rubbed soles and heels to a shine; sole knives that shaped soles; stretching pliers which stretched the leather upppers; marking wheels to mark where the needle should go throught the sole, and size sticks to measure the foot.