1943 Red shoes
| ||||||||||||||||||
1942-1949 A pair of red leather shoes
-
The sole of the left shoe showing the utility mark
-
Insie the left shoe showing the label on the sock
-
The back of the shoes
Description
The shoes are Derbys, and the leather is quite stiff with a textured surface. They would probably have been quite uncomfortable to wear.
The curved side edges of the latchets are pinked and have a row of tiny punched holes between two rows of stitching ¼" apart. They are extensions of the quarters and are stitched on top of the vamps. There are four pairs of eyelets for lacing with the matching laces, over the tongue which is unlined.
The quarters are lined with pale grey leather and the vamps with natural cotton; the sock is taupe leather.
The shoes have walled toes where the vamp rises straight up at the toe and turns at a sharp angle to cover the instep. The backstraps are ⅝" wide at the top, narrowing to ⅜" in the middle and widening to ¾" where they meet the heel.
The thick soles are caramel colour leather, the edges coloured brown to match the brown stacked leather heel, 1⅛" high.
The shoes were made by Bata, and the label is printed on the sock, saying Bata Roamers Made in England. They were made under the Utility Scheme, and the utility mark is imprinted on the soles with the symbol itself coloured gold, visible as the shoes are unworn
Contemporary illustrations
-
Detail from an advertisement in Vogue, February 1941
-
Betty Gray, 1940-1945
History
In 1894 Tomáš Bat’a opened his shoe factory in Zlin, Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic, and built a town around it to house the workers. The business expanded to many other countries, including England, where a Bata town was built in Tilbury, Essex, in 1932. There is a Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada.
The Utility scheme was set up in 1942 during the second world war after clothes rationing was introduced in 1941. It ensured that good quality clothing was available to everyone at affordable prices, and garments in the scheme all carried labels with the Utility Mark.
Contemporary items
More shoes from the Hopkins Collection can be seen in Footwear, published by The School of Historical Dress and available from the Hopkins Costume Trust bookshop.