Brief History of Shoes: From 40,000 BCE to Today 👠 🏀 🦶 🌴 👞 👟

Shoes. Now they have been on a journey. The earliest shoes were probably made of plant materials that rotted away ages ago, but archaeologists have found changes in the shape of toe bones that indicate our earliest ancestors were wearing some kind of foot covering around 40,000 years ago. In ancient Greece and Rome, leather sandals were the number one shoe style. Sandals were worn by everyone in society, but the styles varied to show their status. Romans in colder parts of Europe wore socks called udonis with their sandals. Trendy. And Roman soldiers wore lace-up boot-shaped leather sandals called caligae, which had soles covered in nails to make them more hard-wearing and grippy. Trendy and smart. Open sandals became enclosed leather shoes in the early Middle Ages. But just like in ancient Rome, medieval shoes were a clear way to show off your status. In fact, the most fashionable shoes had a pointy toe, and the pointier, the better. A type of shoe called poulains, or krakows, had such ridiculously long points that they made it difficult to walk. The points were stuffed with moss, hair, or wool to stop them from getting droopy, and they sometimes had to be tied to the wearer's leg with a piece of string. They also made it impossible to work. And that was the point. Get it? Point. Sorry. Because they showed that the wearer of these shoes didn't need to have a job. In the 17th century, the high heel was brought to Europe by Persian cavalry soldiers, who wore them to keep their feet in their stirrups. They immediately became fashionable. And although Isaac Newton would soon discover the theory of gravity, rich men were already defying it by adding heels to their shoes. Again, these additions were flashy, impractical, and proved that they were from higher classes. The shoes of some rich women at this time also started to get higher, and platform shoes called chopines had enormous soles made from wood or cork. While all this fancy shoe stuff was going on with the wealthy people, many members of the working classes were wearing shoes made from wood. Plogs were hard-wearing and protected the workers' feet from the dangerous parts of their jobs like operating heavy machinery or large livestock. Another huge shift in shoe design happened at the beginning of the 19th century, when Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber. Not only was this used for car tires, but it was the perfect material for making flexible and comfortable soles for shoes. In 1908, the Converse Rubber Shoe Company started to make sneakers with rubber soles, and a few years later, they created a shoe for playing basketball. The All-Star By the 1930s, brothers Rudy and Adi Dazzler made sport shoes that were used by Olympic athletes. But the brothers fell out and formed rival companies. Rudy named his company Rudy, but it later became known as Puma, and Adi's company, you guessed it, was eventually called Adidas. Throughout the 20th century, the trainer market continued to boom, and brands including Nike, Vans, and New Balance became popular with athletes and fashion fans all over the world. And in 1984, the legendary American basketball player Michael Jordan signed a sponsorship deal with Nike that led to the creation of the Air Jordans. Today's shoes continue to be a part of the practical, impractical, beautiful, uncomfortable, fashionable, and fascinating story of how we keep our feet dry and show off.