To talk about the stitching of a shoe, you first need to be able to identify its various parts:
- The part of the shoe that covers the foot is known as the upper.
- The outsole or outer sole is the part that’s in contact with the ground.
- The insole or sock is the part of the shoe that is in contact with the foot.
- The welt is the strip of leather that connects the two soles together with two seams: the first one connects the upper, insole and welt and the second one connects the welt to the outsole.
Goodyear stitching, also known as welt stitching, refers to the construction of the shoe, i.e. the way the various components of the shoe are joined together.
The welt of our boots
The main feature of Goodyear stitching is that the outsole is connected to the upper of the shoe with an inlay called a welt (a piece of leather, rubber or plastic) which is itself sewn to the upper and insole. Another seam called the lock-stitch seam, visible all around the shoe, joins the outer sole to the rest of the shoe.
In order to fill the gap that will be created naturally between the inner and outer soles, natural cork will be projected and spread hot on the surface to be filled, hence its name: the filling.
Goodyear, designed to last
For the record, it was a certain Charles Goodyear Jr. who, in the mid-19th century, financed research into the mechanisation of the ‘Goodyear’ process. The spread of this technique through its industrialisation in 1869 revolutionised the shoe sector and is still a distinctive quality mark of top-of-the-range shoes today. It allows the shoe to be resoled without any alteration to the upper and ensures unparalleled longevity.
No compromise on quality!
Most OODOO models are made with Goodyear stitching, apart from models with a slim and slender design and when we went to make supple models, which Goodyear makes more difficult to produce. For PURE last models, OODOO has therefore chosen to opt for Blake stitching, the precursor of the Goodyear method, which is also renowned for its quality and appreciated for the thinness of its sole. A quarter of the steps required to produce a shoe with Goodyear stitching are required to complete a shoe with Blake stitching.
