Vintage Footwear


Figure 1.-- Here we have a vintage pair of American high-top two-tone shoes for a very young child. We believe these could have been worn by both boys and girls. We are unsure about the dates for this vintage childs high top button shoes.

Often in old photographs we can not make out the details of footwear the children are wearing. Thus vitage footwear helps us see the details of the footwear. This is especially important in assessing 19th century footwear as the photographs are all black and white and we do not have the detailed catalogs that we have in the 20th century. These vintages pages provide useful details on color, construction, and material. We also see close-up details on closure arrangements such as buckles, buttons, and laces. We have quite a few examples of vintage footwear archived on HBC. Many have been added before we made the vintage clothing page. Thus the links still need to be made.

White Button Baby Boots

Here we have a pair of high top, three button, white kid leather baby shoes. They are often called baby boots or booties. They would hve been for an infant. These measure 3-3/4" long x 2" across widest spot, and 2-1/2" tall. Leather is very soft and supple. Each is marked "0 0136 Wash. Kid" inside. They could have been worn by a boy or girl. We do not know when they were made, but would guess about the turn of the 20th century.

American Three Strap Shoes

Strap shoes were more varied in the 19th century than the modern one and two strap options. We have noted shoes with not only three, but multiple straps. Here we have a pair of high top, three strap and button, brown leather baby shoes. They measure 4-3/4" long x 1-7/8" across widest spot, and 3-1/2" tall. Inner and outer leather is very soft and supple, not at all brittle. There are steel shank buttons. The top two buttons on both shoes have been moved and re-sewn to allow for a larger leg, few tiny holes where buttons were originally. The soles have the number "2" impressed into them.

American High-top Two-tone Button Shoes

Here we have a vintage pair of American high-top two-tone shoes for a very young child. We believe these could have been worn by both boys and girls. We are unsure about the dates for this vintage childs high top button shoes. We would guess about the turn of the 20th century. The shoes each measure 6 1/2" long and 4" tall. There are 7 buttons on each shoe. The top part was white, but look yellow here because they have yellowed with age. I'm not sure if they originally had a heel, I think probably not.

American High-top Button Shoes

Here we have a pair of American high-top shoes for children. They are button high-top leather shoes. We are unsure about the date for the shoes , bu look like turn of thge 20thg century footwear. They show how colors was used in period footwear. They were done in brown and red. I was surprised at the bright red. This of course does not show in the vintage black and white photography. We believe these could have been worn by both boys and girls, although we are less sure about the gender conventions for red shoes. I don't think school age boys would have worn these, but we have noted both pink and red sailor suits for boys.

English School Sandals

We do not have much unformation on brands and companies that mde shool sandals at this time. Many of our English readers remember the Clark's schools sandals they wore as children. Several British readers when describing theit sandals, specifically mentioned Clark's. They mention this company more than any other company. There were other companies. One such compny is Harrison.

Saddle Shoes


Loafers


Sneakers










HBC




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Created: 10:11 PM 9/7/2005
Last updated: 10:11 PM 9/7/2005