The Goodyear Welted process
is mostly used for men's high-end footwear. How are Goodyear Welted shoes made??
1. Cutting
This is where they start to make the top part of the shoe, which we call the
upper. The clicking operative is issued with a number of skins of leather,
mostly from calf, although leather can be made from almost all animal skins and
with the use of metal strip knives he/she cut out various shaped pieces that
will eventually make up the upper. This is a very skilled job because the
leather is very expensive so waste must be kept to a minimum. Leather will have
varying amounts of flaws on the surface such as barbed wire scratches, and these
need to be avoided so that they are not used for the upper pieces. To interlock
the irregular shaped pieces and avoid the surface flaws, keeping the waste to a
minimum demands high skill levels.
2. Closing
The component pieces are hand sewn together by highly skilled shoemakers to
produce the completed upper. Then the upper becomes three-dimensional. They also
complete various edge treatments to the leather to produce a more attractive
look to the finished upper. Also, at the final stage the eyelets are inserted to
accommodate the laces in the finished shoes.
3. Lasting & Making
The completed uppers now need to be molded into a foot shape and for this
purpose we use what is called a last. This is a wooden shape that simulates the
foot shape which, when removed from the finished shoe can be used continually to
produce more shoes. The first operation is to attach what is called an insole to
the bottom of the last but this must be only a temporary attachment to allow the
last to be removed at the end of the process. The upper is stretched and molded
over the last and attached to the insole. When this is complete you now have
what is known a "lasted shoe". A strip of leather called the welt is sewn onto
the shoe through the rib and upper and all the surplus material is trimmed off
the seam. The sole is then attached to the welt and the two are stitched
together. After this the heel is attached which completes the making of the
shoe.
4. Finishing
At this stage, the leather welt and leather sole edge and heel are trimmed and
buffed to give them a smooth finish. They are then stained, polished and waxed
to give them an attractive finish and to ensure the edge is waterproof. The
bottom of the sole is often lightly buffed, stained and polished and various
types of patterns are marked on the surface to give it a craft finished look. We
now have a finished shoe and we now need to shoeroom the uppers. Firstly an
internal sock is fitted into shoe which can be full, half or quarter and these
will usually have the customer’s details if applicable. The uppers will be
cleaned, polished and sprayed, plus laces and any tags that may be attached to
the shoes (such as shoe care instructions) The shoes will then go on to be boxed
and packaged ready for dispatching to the customer.
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