Talk:Goodyear welt

by all means, with regard to footwear, goodyearwelt should be included

Following edit of main page from 14 August moved here: 'Surely though if a 'Goodyear' welt is named after the son of Charles Goodyear for the machinery used, this would be a ready to wear shoe, then on a benchmade, hand made to measure shoe, the welt would be put in by hand and NOT machine - The London Shoemaker' Yorkist (talk) 20:18, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Allow me to implore anyone who can contribute to this article to do so. "Goodyear Welt" is frequently mentioned in the description of shoes and boots, so it seems to be important. But even after reading this article, I still don't understand what the process is or why it's significant. 76.0.12.194 (talk) 15:11, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Picture or diagram would help
i need a picture !! 79.76.192.140 (talk) 19:57, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

A welt (Other medieval spellings include: Waltys, Waltt, Walte Latin: Intercucium, Intercutium,) is a strip of leather used in shoemaking. Welts were originally used to protect the stitching holding a single sole (i.e. no separate insole and outsole) to a shoe and to extend that sole out past the inseam. By the mid 15th century, outsoles were used and were sewn to the welt.

Welted shoes have an upper, an insole, a welt, and an outsole. During construction, the insole is tacked to the bottom of the last. The insole has a "feather," which is the part the welt and upper are sewed on to. On a bespoke (handcrafted) shoe, the feather is cut into the insole, but on ready-to-wear shoes it is a fabric item that is glued to the insole (in which case, the insoles are manufactured with the feather pre-attached). After the insole with the feather attached or cut into it is tacked to the last, the upper is stretched over the last (this is called 'lasting'). When the upper has been shaped and trimmed, the shoe is welted. The welt is a strip of leather that is sewn to both the upper and to the feather. This leaves a shallow, empty section in the middle of the shoe into which is attached a shank, and then filled with cork, leather, or synthetic material. The outsole is glued on and then sewn to the welt, where it sticks out around the edges of the front and sides of the shoe. Finally, the heel is built up from layers of leather, or a pre-made heel is attached.

This entire procedure was done by hand long before Goodyear came along. His contribution was to mechanize the process, and most shoes are now made almost entirely by machine, except for those made by a handful of bespoke shoemakers, and many ready-to-wear shoes are not welted, but are made with a glued construction. A Goodyear welt is not exactly the same as a traditionally welted shoe, and to complicate matters further there are several variations on the way the welt is shaped and/or attached.

Welted shoes are durable and can be resoled easily. The heel and the stitching attaching the sole are removed and a new sole and heel are attached. This allows the shoe to be used for many years.

Marc Carlson has an illustration of welted construction here:  The joat (talk) 14:14, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

The fabric 'feather' material which is glued to the insole is called 'gemming' and the insole on a machine-made shoe is often made of fiberboard, rather than leather. Also, the Wikipedia article on Christian Dancel indicates that he actually invented the machines used for Goodyear welting while working for Goodyear.The joat (talk) 23:41, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

"Son of Charles Goodyear"
Is there any particular reason for mentioning and linking only to the inventor's father, and not to William Henry Goodyear himself? Brianetta Brian Ronald, UK. Talk here 00:45, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Goodyear welt should be moved to its own article
This article seem to talk almost entirely about the modern Goodyear welt process and not about what a welt actually is, what the different sorts of welted construction are, etc.

Calling the Goodyear process "traditional" is a bit of a stretch too, given that it's a totally modern industrial process that's replaced the traditional hand-sewn welt for factory made shoes.

I think the Goodyear welt deserves an article of its own, and that this article should deal more generally with welted shoe construction, including the history of its appearance in the late 15th century Amuckart (talk) 23:48, 17 May 2014 (UTC)


 * I agree. A general technique which, as the article itself mentions, dates back to the late middle ages has been taken over by a specific article about one entrepenur/company and his/its own implementation.  Nearly a puff and certainly not an appropriate article. ¬¬¬¬  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Itsbruce (talk • contribs) 08:42, 13 July 2015 (UTC)