SHOES TALK

Shoes play an important role in fairy tales Cinderella and The Red Shoes. Former first lady Imelda Marcos loved to collect shoes.

Shoes vary in style, complexity and cost from the most basic sandal. The earliest known shoes date from about 8000 to 7000 BCE and were found in Oregon, USA in 1938. Shoes have traditionally been made from leather, woods or canvas. Leather has remained standard and expensive dress shoes. Since the mid-20^th century, advances in rubber, plastics, synthetic cloth, and industrial adhesives have allowed manufacturers to create shoes that stray considerably from traditional crafting techniques. Athletic shoes often have little or no real leather. Soles, which were once laboriously stitched on, are more often glued today.

Men’s shoes are more expensive than women’s. Men’s shoes can be categorized by how they are closed such as Balmorals, Bluchers, monk-straps and slip-ons. It can also be decorated in various ways that include plain-toes, cap-toes and brogues.