Historical facts about shoes you should know

 10 Historical facts about the shoes we wear every day

Shoes appear in our lives mainly to protect our feet from the effects of the external environment. But then people began to use shoes to express themselves, as accessories to enhance themselves, their fashion to show their status, etc. So in the process of development throughout the long history of opinion about shoes that have changed over time and contain many interesting things. So, Here are 10 historical facts about shoes. Keep on reading to learn more about the history of shoes.

10) Shoe size was measured in Barley

In the past, various units of measurement have been used to describe the size or quantity of things. One of these units was the barleycorn, which was used to measure the length in many ancient societies. The size of a barleycorn was based on the size of a grain of barley, which was considered to be a reference point for other measurements. The length of a barleycorn was typically standardized within a given society and it was used as the basis for other units of measurement such as the inch and the foot. Almost until the end of the 19th century, there was no standard shoe size like there is today. Therefore, the ancients used to measure the length of the sole of a shoe with the grain of barley. This practice is so common that at one point the grain of barley became the basis for a unit of measure, like the inch measurement. Surprisingly, It is still an official unit of measure in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

9) Shoe shape depended on social class 

When the trend of wearing high heels reached the lower classes of society, the aristocracy responded by making their heels even taller. Even the shoes of nobles made them extremely difficult to move, which signified that they did not need the comfort to work like the lower classes.

During the Renaissance, the richer and more powerful the people, the wider the square toe while children mostly wore round-toe shoes.

8) High heels were originally for men

Originally high heels were made for men because it made it easier for them to ride horses. However in the eighteenth century, men gradually fell out of favor with high heels instead men's heels began to get lower, On the contrary, women began to wear high heels more often.

7) Red sole shoes are a symbol of wealth

Christian Louboutin’s signature red-soled shoes have become a luxury shoe brand with their expensive and sophisticated modern days. However, in the 17th century, men’s red high heels were a symbol of wealth. At one point, King Louis XIV even issued a law forbidding anyone who did not wear red-soled shoes into his court.

6) Men want their wives to wear high heels for a special reason

In the 15th century, men wanted their wives to wear shoes with very high soles, called chopines. But they want this not for the sake of beauty but for their wives not to run after other men.

Along with the popularity of high heels, which were popular for women at the time, the law in Venice (Italy) also banned women from wearing these shoes due to too many accidents caused by women being injured and reported falls.

5) The birth of “sneakers”

Sports shoes, also known as sneakers, an indispensable item for not only fashion lovers but also those who love comfort, were invented in the 19th century. At first, the shoes are worn by guards because they don’t make any noise thanks to the rubber soles underneath the shoes. Therefore, It was called “ sneaker” by prisoners.

4) Before the 19th century, we didn’t have left and right shoes

We often think that only children mistake the shoes for the left or the right but few people know that it was not until the 19th century that people divided the left and right shoes.

Accordingly, before the 19th century, shoes were made equally to fit both feet. Therefore, people who wear shoes do not need to distinguish left or right when walking, but it also makes moving a bit more inconvenient than now.

3) The first women’s boots worn by Queen Victoria

Joseph Sparkles designed the first women’s boots for Queen Victoria. He introduced shoes without buttons, without laces, or even shoes without heels. The idea of creating this simple patent was to bring comfort to the wearer and make it so popular that today, boots are still a favorite item of many people.

2) First-ever shoe brand

The earliest sports shoes were created by The Liverpool Rubber Company, founded by John Boyd Dunlop. In 1830, Dunlop was an innovator who discovered how to bond canvas uppers to rubber soles. These were known as sandshoes and were worn by Victorians on their beach excursions.

1) Most expensive shoe ever sold

Nowadays, many shoe brands try to release their most expensive and exclusive pair of shoes for VIP members and celebrities to hold their brand name, but Did you know that a pair of Ruby slippers from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz worn by actress Judy Garland sold for a whopping $660,000 in 2000. It was the most expensive shoe ever sold in the history of shoes.

Lost in the past

 Why do we always find the past better than the present?

We always look to the past and feel that the things that happened are better than the present, But is that really the case?

"I wish I could be like the good old days" is a saying that many of us not only mentioned once. And for whatever reason, we often think our past was better or more interesting than our present. But in reality, often the past isn't really better, or more interesting, just that we seem to remember it that way, and this happens for a variety of reasons.

Looking to the past with the certainty that the present cannot meet.

Do you ever remember the "good old days"?

Not only old people but people of all ages, often yearn for the past, believing it to be a better time. They think and feel that childhood, adolescence, and youth were wonderful times. A lot of people think and believe that everything in the past was better than it is now. This may be true sometimes, but not always. when you look back at your past, you look back with a sense of complete certainty about what will happen next. You can look back on some good times with friends, or accomplishments at work and reminisce about those good times. But in the present time, you cannot do this because life is full of uncertainties.

We crave a sense of certainty and security in our lives. we want to know that our partner will love us forever, that we will have the dream job we have always strived for, and that we will always have a home to return to. But unfortunately, no one can promise us with any certainty that any of this will happen 100%.

Why do people believe that the past is better than the present?

People often don't yearn for the past in light of the circumstances they've been through. They yearn for something else. They yearn for their childhood when they didn't have to worry about money, work, or life. They long for times when they don't have to worry about important things when adults already take care of everything. The past was a carefree time, and that's what they're missing now,

There was another thing they craved, though only unconsciously. Most people from the age of 16 to about 30 have dreams, expectations, passions, and energies. They are still young and the future is ahead.

At this age, there is usually a certain sense of euphoria and people are just starting to step into life, they can still think big, and do big before settling down and getting lost in the hustle and bustle of life. when they are young, people use their imagination and fantasize about a distant future, but as time goes on, they forget their dreams and don't use their imagination like before. when you think about the past, the feelings of you, happiness, and expectations associated with it awaken and you feel good. You will then associate those feelings with the past and get the impression that the past was a better time.

In fact, what we crave is the feeling of euphoria that we experienced when we were young.

When you are young, you will experience things for the first time with curiosity, and excitement. Those early experiences set the standard for your subsequent experiences. This can create expectations and can also lead you to inadvertently compare your current experience with the past ones. And it gets you caught up in the expectation gap or the comparison gap. 

Does this mean that the present moment is not happy and liveable? No, absolutely not. It just means that you are comparing the present moment with the past, ask yourself if you are enjoying the present moment. If not, find something that can help you answer yes to this question. we live in the age of social media, and although it is difficult to break a habit, you need to minimize your tendency to compare society because life is not a competition between people, but you need to compete with yourself.

As you get older and have more life experience, the way you view your past will change.

As you mature, you begin to realize the life lessons you have learned through your past and this can affect the way you look back on your past. It's very common for us to look back on previous difficulties and assume that it really wasn't so bad after all and have confidence that we can face them again. However that doesn't mean that you went through the past smoothly, it just means that you are more confident now if faced with the same difficult situations.

Often, past events are recalled with rose-tinted glasses making those events seem much better than whatever is happening in the present, when we look back on the past, we can remember many wonderful and brilliant things, with our broader experience as adults, we need more to truly be amazed and overwhelmed. So we decide that things are always better when we are young.