Afford
The last is a molded piece made of wood, plastic or metal that is modeled on the shape of a foot and is used to build a shoe . The word, which originally meant track and footprint , is related to the verb perform ( create ), but not with bar . Craftsmen who made moldings were known as molders .
Meaning of form, function, types
Before a new shoe is mass-produced, the last is first made from wood using two-dimensional so-called shape templates (on sheets of paper). Such a wooden model is also used for the series production of shoes as a basis for copying the plastic lasts used in mass production and also as a basis for grading into other shoe lengths and widths .
The shoe (more precisely the shoe upper, in the technical language called "upper") receives its final shape through the last. Thus, the last is on the one hand a simplified representation of the foot and is responsible for the fit , but at the same time offers design options that stand out on the design of the shoe. For example, the toe of the shoe can vary greatly, provided that the area of the toe in which the toes are located takes into account the anatomical conditions (height, width and length). When changing shoe fashion, the preferred shape of the last also changes, especially the last tips are very variable. With the so-called heel drop , the shape of the last also determines the later heel height of the shoe.
The leather upper section of the shoe model and the strips must be coordinated, because the shoe is built around the last: Only the insole (will insole ) then the shoe upper (fixed the shoe under the rails, shaft ) pulled over the last ( "tweaked" ) and attached to the insole before the actual outsole is attached. In this respect, the last is the decisive shape to give the shoe its later appearance.
The lasts are removed from the molded shoe after this work is completed. Many strips can be dismantled or folded for this purpose. Lasts can be used multiple times to make shoes.
A distinction is made between the last for the ready-made shoe or boot from that of the orthopedic shoe and that of the custom-made shoe. In the case of made-to-measure shoes and orthopedic shoes, the measurements of the feet are recorded (lengths, widths, heights, circumferences). The last is then carefully adapted to the shape of the foot or, in the case of made-to-measure boots , also partially to the shape of the calf . If necessary, the wooden strip is reduced in size by rasping and filing or enlarged by means of glued-on leather pads. The orthopedic shoe or boot is individually made by the orthopedic shoemaker according to a doctor's prescription for the patient's foot in question . This requires a plaster model and a specially shaped last.
Phrase
There is a saying in German : cobbler, stick to your last. This idiom is probably the free transfer of a sentence from an anecdote handed down by Pliny the Elder about the ancient painter Apelles , who is said to have said to a shoemaker who, in addition to the sandal he painted, also criticized the anatomy of the person depicted: “What about the shoe cannot be judged by the cobbler ”. This expression is an invitation to stick to what you can and understand and not to comment on things about which you do not have sufficient (specialist) knowledge.
See also
Web links
literature
- Alois Schlachter: shoes, leather and shoe accessories . [First edition 1981]. 2nd Edition. Stam, Cologne, Munich 1991. ISBN 3-8237-0707-8
- Specialist and sales customer for shoe production and shoe sales
- Helge Sternke: Everything about men's shoes. Nicolai, Berlin 2006. ISBN 3-89479-252-3
- With a detailed chapter on shoe production and last construction
Individual evidence
- ↑ Duden Newsletter of May 2, 2008
- ^ Johann Christoph Adelung : Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect , 2nd edition, Leipzig 1793-1801. Digitized at Trier University [1] .
- ↑ "[...] ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret [...]", see Pliny the Elder : Naturalis historia , book 35, section 85: [2] , [3] , [4]