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Welcome to Becoming Sage, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary!
Welcome to Becoming Sage, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. My name is Elan Baumgarten. This is our fifth episode where we will look back onto the first treads of human apparel. Shoes play a very important role in the modern world, and many use them everyday, for almost all of the day. Today shoes come in all shapes and sizes from high heels, to sneakers, to dress shoes. It is believed that people have been protecting the bottoms of their feet for 50,000 years. We figured this out by studying the evolution of toe shape and strength, but the oldest example of actual footwear only dates back 9,000 years ago to what is now the western United States. These were a pair of fiber-based sandals. Leather shoes are a different story, the first known pair of those were uncovered in Armenia back in 2008. The fiber based sandals were thousands of years older than the leather shoes. These sandals are known as the Fort Rock Sandals. While these shoes may be the ancestors of our modern shoes, they barely resemble them. Let’s jump to the next stage of footwear: fashion. The early humans may have worn shoes out of the necessity of protecting their feet, but it didn’t take long for them to turn into the status symbol that they are today. Obviously different civilizations had different ideas about what kind of shoe they favored, and they also came to these conclusions at different times. For instance, in Ancient Egypt at around 1200 BCE, the ancient Egyptians with simple papyrus or leather straps were peasants, but larger pieces of leather might indicate royalty or priests. During the European middle ages, the Chopine came into the limelight. This was the first known platform shoe to denote the status of the bearer based on the height of the shoe; this is also likely the first iteration of the high heel. The Chopine was also mainly worn by Venetian women. Before mass-production of footwear, everything had to be constructed by hand. You had to find the leather yourself, as well as having to find an actual shoemaker. From there they have to take your measurements and construct the shoes. Before the 1800s, shoes were not made specifically for each foot. This means that until they formed to your feet from use, they could be worn, albeit uncomfortably and painfully, on either foot. The Industrial Revolution, which saw to the more efficient production of many consumables, also quickly found itself entertaining the first shoe factors. It could be found in Massachusetts during the 1760s. This factory, and many more that would follow it, paved the way for a wider variety of shoes available to the average middle-class person. A great example of the wide-variety in footwear that this industrialization helped to push out to the general public, boots. The first iteration of the boot was traced about three thousand years back. While these boots did not look anything like the boots of today, this progression has influenced many other kinds of shoes, like high heels. Henry Nelson McKinney is responsible for coining the term “sneaker” in 1917. This new name is attached to the sneakers ability to sneak around, because the rubber soles create less noise than the soles of almost any other material, and certainly any of the materials that were previously involved in the production of shoes. On the topic of materials, leathers have been the most important, and consistent, material to find its way into shoes. Several types of leather have been used - from reptile leathers like snake skins and alligator hides, to kid leather, from goatskin, not children, used in some men’s slippers. It is softer than hides and is also used in gloves. Cordovan on the other hand is a hard leather-made from horse hide-making it perfect for men’s work boots. For the first time since the introduction of leather in shoes thousands of years ago, they have started to fade out of the spotlight for most shoe styles. Today, composites and artificial materials are much more common construction materials for shoes. While sources vary, it is believed that the average American owns between 12 and 19 pairs of shoes depending on a variety of factors such as age, gender, and class. Despite the long history of footwear, the durability of these important, every day tools, is still lacking. Most actively worn shoes are due for replacement by 8 to 12 months in, or 350-500 miles for more active people. In kilometers it’s about 500-800 of those before a shoe is worn out. This large consumerism of shoes is seen in the absolutely absurd number that are produced each year, that being 24 billion pairs every year. With such a figure as that, you might be wondering about the footprint that's leaving, pun intended. Well, you’d be right to wonder. The footwear industry is responsible for about 1.4% of the total greenhouse gas emissions every year, that's huge! Not only do they contribute to greenhouse gasses, but breaking down the soles of shoes is one of the most impactful factors for microplastic pollution. So next time you go to buy a new pair of shoes, just think. Is this worth adding one more to the 20 billion pairs of footwear discarded every year? Whatever your decision may be, thank you for listening to Becoming Sage, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. This is Elan Baumgarten. Make sure to follow us on a podcast streaming program and download to be notified of each new release, and listen to the ordinary become extraordinary, anywhere in the world.