David Jenkins, age 9, of Bowling Green, Ohio, for his question:
FOR HOW LONG HAVE WE BEEN WEARING SHOES?
Man started wearing shoes back in prehistoric times. Very early he decided that shoes should be worn for protection. And not too much later he also decided that they should be worn for decoration and to indicate his social status.
The first foot coverings were probably baglike wrappings made of animal fur in the cold regions of the world. In the warm regions, sandals made of plant fibe k g `or leather came along early in time.
Ancient Egyptians wore sandals as early as 3700 B.C. and the ancient Greeks and Romans also wore sandals. Those three peoples also wore soft leather shoes occasionally. The Chinese wore wooden soled shoes and cloth shoes thousands of years ago.
All through the years various styles of shoe have gone in and out of fashion, just as they do today. In Western Europe, for example, people wore shoes with long, pointed toes for several centuries until the A.D. 1500s. Then that style went out of fashion.
The fashion in European women's shoes changed to rounded toes during the 1500s, to low heels by the late 1500s and to high heels in the 1600s.
When European settlers first arrived in the New World, they wore sturdy leather shoes most of the time. They found the Indians were wearing moccasins made of soft animal skins.
Until the middle of the 1800s, despite the many changes in shoe styles, shoemaking itself involved mainly the use of simple hand tools. Most people wore homemade shoes or bought shoes from a shoemaker who lived nearby or traveled from house to house.
Improved sewing machines were developed in the mid 1800s and after this shoemaking became a factory operation with ready made shoes than being available to many persons. In 1882, Jan Ernst Matzeliger, a worker in a Massachusetts shoe factory, invented the shoe lasting machine. This and other new shoemaking machines led to the mass production of shoes by 1900.
Mass production brought great reductions in shoe prices.
The American shoe industry today produces more than 500 million pairs of shoes each year, of which about 5 million pairs are exported. In addition, more than 300 million pairs of shoes annually are imported from Italy, Japan, Spain and other countries.
In a shoe factory, workers make a pattern of each shoe style. Using the pattern, other workers cut sections that will form the upper part of the shoe. The sections of the upper are then stitched together on a machine.
Another type of machine prepares the sole.
A shoe lasting machine molds the upper part on a "last," which is a wooden block shaped like a foot. On the last, the upper is fastened to the sole.
Finally, the heel and such decorations as bows and buttons are added.
Shoes have to be fitted properly or they can cause such problems as backaches, sore muscles and poor posture. Shoes that are too tight may result in bunions, corns, hammertoes and ingrown toenails. Such problems can be avoided by taking special care when buying shoes, especially children's shoes.