Footrests
Footcloths are rarely used footwear that is mainly worn in boots to prevent chafing , to provide additional support and to bind sweat . They consist of two pieces of cloth, each folded around a foot. Foot rags were in use until stockings became common.
history
The production of stockings was relatively complicated compared to foot rags, as a tube had to be made for them. Until the immigration of the Huguenots , the machine production of stockings was unknown in Germany, and stockings were only available to the upper class. Instead, they wore footcloths and hand-knitted stockings.
In Germany, foot rags were still used until the Second World War . B. common for soldiers . In the National People's Army of the GDR they were common - at least until 1968. In the Russian Empire , the use of foot rags (portyanki, портянки) was adopted by the Dutch army and introduced for the Imperial Russian Army . For more than 300 years, footcloths remained common footwear for soldiers in the armies of Russia and some subsequent states of the Soviet Union ( Belarus , Ukraine ) and were only replaced by stockings at the beginning of the 21st century. The widespread use in the Russian army has led to the French term "Chaussette russe" (German: "Russian stockings").
In Eastern Europe , foot rags are still used today. B. used by miners .
properties
A typical dimension for foot rags is e.g. B. 40 cm × 80 cm or 40 cm × 40 cm. Flannel is used as a material nowadays . There are summer and winter footrests. While the summer footrests are usually made of linen or cotton , the winter footrests are made of a kind of cotton or a wool- cotton mixture (50:50). The foot flaps should not have a seam that could rub and press, which is why they cannot be sewn together from several pieces and are not sewn around the edges.
Improper folding can cause friction and pressure points and thus blisters on the foot. In the military, for example, there were precise regulations on how to wear footrests.
Advantages and disadvantages
advantages
- they dry faster
- they are easier to make from pieces of fabric or to improvise
- they wear out less than socks (worn areas on the foot flap can easily be replaced by other areas of the foot flap by turning)
- they better compensate for a shoe that is too big and still fits snugly
disadvantage
- they are more difficult to put on than stockings
- they are bigger than stockings
- Inaccurately wound footcloths can lead to chafed areas and skin wounds if worn for long periods.
- they don't hold tight without shoes
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schwabendorf and the stocking knitting ( German ) In: Quartalsblatt 2002-II . Working group for Huguenot and Waldensian history Schwabendorf e. V .. June 4, 2003. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
- ↑ a b Wrapping instructions from Dt. Wehrmacht 1944 for foot rags
- ↑ Война в портянках ( Russian ) Interfax. March 3, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
- ↑ Russian army introduces stockings after 300 years ( German ) DRadio Wissen. January 15, 2013. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved on January 15, 2013.