Modern Marvels: How Shoes are Made (S18, E15) | Full Episode | History

from the moment we can walk our feet take us  everywhere but through the ages from size to size   it's shoes that propel us protect us and  take us places we could never go without   and this is a packet of fibers  that could literally stop a bullet   shoes may seem simple but don't be fooled  they're incredibly complex in design and   built with purpose from heavy combat boots  to the lightest track shoe in the world   we would not be where we are today without shoes  shoes definitely change what humans are capable of   slip into our shoes as we reveal  what makes them modern marvels here's an amazing fact in 2010 u.s consumers  purchased 2.27 billion pairs of shoes   that seven pairs for every person and the  number one selling sizes for men and women   for men it's a ten and a half women   size eight obviously shoes are a big part of  our lives bigger than most of us ever realize   the foot is really our interaction with our world  it's what contacts the world and interacts with it   the average person takes about 7 000 steps per day  and in all the environments where we live and work   we depend on shoes but there's one place  where the right shoe may matter most of all   in combat the fact our soldiers know all too well in the early 2000s when troops  first went to afghanistan   complaints spread about boots  wearing out within a few months although the conventional u.s army  desert boots held up well in the gulf war   in afghanistan they were falling apart the  problem the soles were designed for sand   but afghanistan's desert terrain is different  a rare blend of sand and sharp rocks to solve the problem the military turned to  vibram usa a master in rubber souling vibram   created a special recipe for a new type of  soul that could handle both types of terrain   and today these souls are being produced in bulk it's all thanks to vitale  brahmani an italian mountaineer   in 1936 he invented the  first ever rubber soled shoe it was a game changer that created endless  possibilities for what shoes could do today vitaly bermani's company vibram is the  largest rubber sole manufacturer in the u.s their factory in north brookfield massachusetts  makes more than 5 000 different styles from a logger soul that can withstand 18 000 volts to a firefighter soul that can brave  475 degrees fahrenheit without melting souls keep bill ells on his toes   it's a very complex process one we'd really  like to make simpler but this is the world   of rubber souling the process begins in the  mixing room just like the new military soul   each soul has its very own recipe a mix of raw  rubber polymers and a touch of secret additives all precisely measured for the demands of  each soul every batch makes about 500 souls   the ingredients are dumped into a massive  computer controlled mixing machine   preheated to about 300 degrees fahrenheit using  a 17 000 horsepower motor with two sets of teeth   it mixes each match in about six minutes  it's got a chamber in there and it's just   mashing these two things together once mixed the  rubber drops down onto heavy gauge steel rolls   like a dole roller on steroids it continues  to blend the ingredients until everything is   evenly dispersed we can't have a batch it's got  a little bit of this and a little bit of that it   needs to be even throughout the whole batch from  there the mixture moves to a modified gear pump   which shapes the rubber into rectangles called  preforms preforms are the soles in raw form inside the machine sheets of  rubber meet a rotating screw   the screw cuts up the rubber which fills the  void around it then gears using twenty thousand   pounds of pressure force the material through  an opening in the shape of the desired preform not only does every preform have its own  size but if it's a seven wide or seven narrow   that's got its own free form so  you can just do the multiplication to become an outsole every preform is  first pre-cooked in an industrial microwave   then it's placed in a mold and enters an  oven press where it cooks at 375 degrees 10 minutes later and hot off the press one of  the us military's latest and greatest souls for   afghanistan just a few final trimmings and it's  complete the fuel i'm holding in my hand is the   very first one of the very first production shoes  only made about 10 days ago specially designed for   traction and durability within weeks these souls  will be on the feet of u.s soldiers in afghanistan today vibram produces souls for just about every  job from different varieties of combat boots   to specialized work boats for  hundreds of demanding occupations   but none of this would have been possible  without one man's discovery that of charles   goodyear goodyear didn't invent rubber but  he figured out how to use it in a new way natural rubber was discovered by ancient  civilizations like the maya and the aztecs   they collected sap from rubber trees and used  it to create all sorts of products including   shoes but natural rubber has its limitations  it hardens in cold weather and melts in hot what charles goodyear did was discover a chemical  process which adds sulfur to natural rubber to   create a durable waterproof and flexible material  his process called vulcanization forever changed   the quality of our souls our shoes and our lives  there's no way we could have gotten into many   environments and do many of the things that we  do without shoes but when did shoes first appear the romans were one of the earliest  cultures to create a variety of footwear from sandals with leather straps to  closed-toed hobnailed shoes for soldiers but the oldest evidence of shoes is a sagebrush  bark sandal found in fort rock cave oregon   it dates back to around 10 000 years ago but  another theory pushes the date back even further   early humans must have worn shoes  because humans were starting to populate   northern and eastern siberia and managed to cross  into alaska and populate the americas by at least   15 000 years ago and those people had to have  worn shoes in such a cold climate but dr richmond   believes shoes first appeared even earlier there's  some evidence just from the bones in the feet   that shoes go back to at least 30 000 years ago  the evidence lies in the bones of ancient toes analysis of human remains from 30 000 years ago  reveal that toe bones began to become thinner no other part of the skeleton showed  thinning bones it was only the toes   so that suggests that those early humans about  30 000 years ago started to grow slightly less   strong bones because they're wearing shoes so it  appears that wearing shoes throughout our lives   actually affects the growth of our bones shoes  protect our feet and enable us to enter a variety   of environments but as we saw with combat boots  purpose-built shoes make us capable of even more the entire shoe fits not just the foot  but the job construction is one of the   largest industries in the u.s it  employs about five million people   it's also one of the most dangerous in 2010  some 800 construction workers died on the job the number one cause falls slip  resistance is a great concern to us   crushed toes and electric shock also account for  thousands of construction injuries every year but the right shoe can change it all red wing  shoe company located in red wing minnesota   has been making shoes for  more than a hundred years   we build purpose-built functional quality work  shoes here there's a shoe fit for every job   red wing builds more than 20 000 different  combinations of styles sizes and widths no matter the style it all  begins in the cutting room   this is where the leather gets spliced and diced dave truline has been cutting  with the company for 43 years and when it comes to hives he's the expert  physically different parts of the shoe require   different physical properties of the leather like  wood leather has a grain to it but it varies it's   much tighter and firmer along the back compared to  the belly which is loose and soft from a leather   standpoint the most critical part of a shoe is the  toe that's because it often takes the most wear so the leather for the vamp is  cut from the back of the hide   while internal components of the shoe  like the tongue are cut from the belly using large cutters called dies  workers chop up the leather six key pieces will ultimately form a shoe from the cutting room it's  on to the pre-fit department   here the upper part of the  shoe starts to take shape seams are the weakest part of a boot to  combat the problem red wing turns to a   hearty workhorse the puritan stitch machine the  puritan stitch is one of the signature details   of the construction of our red wing bullet the  machine was invented in 1893 and it hasn't changed   a bit its secret weapon is a unique triple stitch  using thread that has been pre-dipped in wax   when the wax dries it locks the stitches tight  making the seam strong and durable this means when   you move in your shoes the stitches on the shoe  will hold strong regardless of your size or shape here's a surprise can you imagine not having  a right and left shoe that's how it used to   be before 1850 right and left shoes were both  the same and breaking them in to fit your feet   wasn't easy fortunately for  us that's not the case today   the forms that determine the size shape  and width of each shoe are called lasts   and today they come in both right and left shapes   lasts are company secrets shoe manufacturers  worldwide carefully guard their own   the next step in the process is to  attach the shoe's upper onto a last workers steam the leather into the  shapes of both right and left lasts then it's on to the next  step getting purpose built for steel toe boots the  worker peels back the leather   and with a little bit of glue heat  and pressure inserts the steel cap other styles get different forms of protection  just like the steel toe is protecting toes   the plate is protecting the bottom of the  workers feed the worker that's wearing it   is able to step on sharp objects and it's  going to protect the soles of their feet now it's time for bottoming the final step   a special slip-resistant mix  of urethane squirts into a mold then the worker attaches a completed upper  and sends it through the drying tunnel   within minutes the soul hardens a  robot lifts out the completed shoe and then it's off to inspection and packaging the boot is now ready to  wear and protect its wearer   we put a lot into a workbook and and  we try to build a perfect workbook red wing knows that workers lives depend  on the boots they make but there's also   another line of defense meet pam kovaleski  she holds manufacturer's feet to the fire   as a personal protective equipment engineer  at intertech testing in cortland new york   it's her job to confirm purpose-built shoes hold  up to their claims and meet industry standards   people might be surprised that so much testing  goes into shoes but you have to think about the   life of a firefighter or any first responder  and the hazards that they see every day   every month pam tests 30 industry  shoes she cuts them burns them   and beats them to the point of breaking today's  victim for the torture tests a firefighter's boot on the front lines firefighters need  protection and historically they didn't have it protective gear used to be so minimal that it was  virtually impossible to enter burning buildings as a result fires were often  fought solely from the outside   and many structures burned to the ground it wasn't until after world war ii that  standards for firefighting gear were developed   today's firefighter boots are required to  protect on the job both near a fire and in it and that's what pam is about to test   so what we have here is what's known as the  tpp apparatus and the tpp stands for thermal   protective performance that means how well a  material can protect against blistering heat   the tpp rating is based on the amount of time  before a person would receive second-degree   burns this is an important test for firefighters  because you want to keep their core temperature as   low as possible so you want a very high tpp rating  to keep the heat out of the garment to test the   firefighter boot pam places a piece of the upper  part of the boot in the machine and puts a copper   calorimeter on top this monitors the heat of the  material when placed in the flame it simulates   what firefighters face every time they battle  a blaze so let's see what the sample looks like you can see some of the char marks on the outer  shell this would be the moisture barrier and   this is the thermal liner the computer analyzes  the data and gives it a tpp time rating of 21.9 which means a fireman wearing this  boot would have about 22 seconds   before getting second-degree burns the 22 seconds  for this particular composite means that the   firefighter would have enough chance that they  could escape safely and not suffer severe burns   burns aren't the only hazard firefighters face  falling objects rusty nails collapsed structures   the list goes on and the last thing you want  is your toes to end up looking like this   steel toe boots are designed to prevent  that if they pass the impact test   so the idea behind the test is that you  would put a cylinder of clay plasticine   inside the steel toe come down with an impactor  which is 50 pounds and then after the test we'll   pull out the plasticine to see if it is shrunk  down to at least a half an inch if it's lower   than a half an inch it would fail the test  pam saws off the front of a steel toe boot and inserts a clay cylinder to simulate toes then using a 50 pound weight she smashes  a steel dumbbell straight down on the toe   the toe looks to be in great  shape no visible damage   and now we'll measure the height of the  plasticine cylinder it passes with flying colors   so modern marvels decides to up the attic  could a boot actually protect an egg   we're gonna find out in a non-steel toe boot  there's no chance the egg splatters everywhere   but the steel toe boot i i don't  know if this gonna work or not   pam inserts the egg readies the level and releases   whoa surprisingly the egg survives with  just a slight crack i am very impressed   i would feel safe in this shoe the technology  has changed so much throughout the years that   now this allows a firefighter to be  safer than what we had in the past purpose-built shoes are carefully  designed and tested to the max   but the true worth of a shoe is not how  it performs in the lab but on the job no worker is more defined by shoes than the cowboy  from wrangling herds to racing over harsh terrain   cowboy boots get a workout and though  today we may think of them as high style   to a cowboy they're nearly as important as his  horse for cowboy a pair of boots is another part   of his tools everything that we have is we use for  protection farming and ranching currently ranks   number four as the most dangerous job in the  u.s it's not easy herding cattle if the cowboy   falls off his horse he risks getting trampled or  even killed that's where the cowboy boot comes in every single feature of its construction is  designed to help the cowboy do his job safely   a tall heel prevents the foot from sliding through  the stirrup and helps keep the rider on the horse   smooth leather soles ensure easy mounting  and dismounting in and out of the stirrup   we use a leather sole on ours and it's  smoother slides in a little easier   and it doesn't have that sticking effect  as you're going in and out of the stirrups   tall shaft protect the lower leg  from rubbing on the saddle leathers   and guard against brush and thorns  lips on the heel keep spurs in place   even the decorative stitching has a purpose the  stitches hold the boot up and prevent the leather   from collapsing without the cowboy boots it  would make my job a little more difficult hey come on girls come on cowboy boots go  back to the 16th century and the first cowboys   the spanish vaqueros originally the boots were  handmade with plain brown or black leather it wasn't until the era of the great cattle  drives of the 1870s and 80s that boots went big   cowboys fresh off the trail would roll  into town with hot money in their pockets new boots became a stannis symbol so unique   designs and topstitching  evolved to meet the market today no one knows the trends like tony llama  booths lama himself founded the company in 1911 in   el paso texas he ran it for 63 years and today his  tradition of quality handcrafted boots lives on to celebrate their 100th anniversary the firm  recently made the most expensive boots ever a fifty thousand dollar pair of american  alligator belly boots each set with a   hundred diamonds and four ounces of gold most  of the boots however range from 150 to 1200   and there's big demand every year this factory  makes about a hundred thousand pairs of boots   each of which requires about  20 square feet of leather and if you want to take a walk on the wild side  here you can get just about any kind of leather   here are all our exotic leathers that  we use here there's ostrich elephant   shark we have lizard python cayman and stingray but it's gonna cost you whether  it's the quill on the ostrich   or the scales on the python the  parts need to be mirror images   and it takes time these exotic skins are difficult  to match it's really an art to be an exotic cutter   and the reason it is because you have to  go through three or four hundred pair of   skins to match them exactly most boots  however are made of plain old cowhides but getting leather in a workable  form is a process in and of itself   called tanning sb foot tanning company in red  wing minnesota is the largest tannery in the u.s   20 million square feet of leather  run through here every year the hinds come in is what's called wet blues  which means they've already been de-haired and   treated with chromium to prevent against bacterial  infection now they've got to be dyed and dried   first up the color melts 17 massive drums soak  the hides in a mix of dyes and chemicals depending   on the color the drums run anywhere from 6 to 16  hours the blue goes in it comes out whatever color   we wanted to make a yellow blues brown blacks we  make almost every color under the rainbow here   the sopping wet hides then move to a massive  vacuum dryer that sucks out most of the water while air takes care of the rest enhance the final  colors the heights go through a waterfall of oil then a spray booth applies a top coat  and infrared heaters set the finish   this is what we have for a final product a nice  durable strong piece of leather these finely   tanned leather hides will ship all over the  u.s to high-end shoemakers just like tony lama whether it's exotic leather or plain cowhide   this company can make your  boots as elaborate as you want   for special orders workers hand cut and stitch  and hand thread the designs it's a tedious process   most stitch patterns require five  thousand to sixteen 000 stitches per upper   to meet the high demand the company  relies on automated embroidery machines these machines have revolutionized  the stitching part of our business   about 90 percent of their boots  are now stitched by machine   each station has 24 heads and a needle that  can operate at 1500 stitches per minute with the help of these machines the average  cowboy boot can be made in just three weeks   which is a lot faster than the two months  that it takes to make most special order boots perhaps one day these boots will  protect a cowboy herding cattle   or maybe they'll just be worn for fashion but no matter what you can take  cowboy boots out of the wild west   but you can't take the wild  west out of cowboy boots shoes can open the door to new environments  protect on the job and further our performance   but only if the shoe fits there's nothing  worse than an ill-fitting pair of shoes that's why you've got to get your feet measured  on that little silver thingamajig you know the   one you see in every shoe store you may not  have realized it has a name the branic device it was invented in 1927 by charles brannick not only does the device measure  length it also accounts for width   and arch length in computing the proper size it can fit the foot to within 95 accuracy  before the braddock device people just used   plain wooden rulers to measure feet the  device was a huge step forward and the   shoe industry took notice within 10 years branagh  had sold more than 30 thousand of his inventions the device became so hot that the u.s army  commissioned the brana company to properly size   soldiers during world war ii today more than 1.5  million braddock devices have been sold worldwide   and it continues to be the standard  measuring tool in the shoe industry   but now there's new competition the istep  it's the latest innovation in foot measuring   developed by aatrex using state-of-the-art  technology this new device precisely measures   a foot based on three key elements foot  length arch type and pressure distribution   37 gold-plated barometric sensors  calculate how your foot carries weight   while 1300 led lights size the foot it allows us  to look at this scan and directly correlate it   to particular footwear that might be appropriate  for that person's foot type but there's more by   analyzing the pressure distribution on the readout  sales people can individualize insoles for shoes   where the readout indicates increased pressure the  device recommends removing certain gel pods from   the insoles this creates a cavity and offloads  the pressure every insole can be made just for you   it really allows us to make every shoe  unique to that particular customer insoles   are typically generic these now are specific to  a particular person's foot and pressure point   using technology to properly fit shoes is  nothing new but it wasn't always good for you in the 1940s x-rays were the common approach  donning new shoes people would step into the   machine and see a fluorescent image of their bones  compared to the outline of their shoes but because   of radiation this type of fitting faded fast  by the 1970s most states had banned the devices it's a far cry from the days of measuring feet  with barley coins yes we said barley coins   during medieval times an inch  was defined as three barley corns   and believe it or not that's what became  the basis for our current sizing system   the difference between one shoe  size and the next hole size   is one barley coin or one third of an inch  while the half size is one-sixth of an inch however you measure your  feet it pays to do it often   many people think that once you're an  adult your feet stay the same size for life   that's not true as feet age tendons and ligaments  stretch out arch is lower and fat padding dwindles   resulting in longer and wider feet they can  also change size as you gain and lose weight but a good lace-up shoe can help  you go with the ebb and flow   a shoe is only as good as it fits  and laces can make it just right   hickory brands incorporated is one of the largest  shoelace manufacturers in the us producing   more than 60 million laces every year that's  enough to go around the earth almost two times we have round laces boot laces totally flat laces  we have oval laces we have what we call bubble   laces which is shaped like a sausage making  a shoelace begins in the braiding department   here some 800 machines equipped with bobbins  move about to weave the laces together   depending on the desired thickness machines  operate with anywhere from 8 to 44 spools of yarn like a maypole dance the  spindles constantly rotate   producing 12 to 15 inches of lace per minute   there's an even faster method called weaving  weaving machines output 36 to 40 inches per minute yarn flows from large looms into the weaver   which interlaces them back and  forth in the blink of an eye here's a good question have you ever  wondered what the end of a shoelace is called   drum roll please the technical term is  aglet which comes from the latin word   akus for needle a simple little  thing that makes a big difference   the aglet is very important when it comes to  lacing up a shoe it's really difficult to get   it through the eyelet without the acting to form  the aglets workers feed the lace into a machine   then at precisely measured intervals a  plastic strip of acetate encases the lace   and a heat press seals it and cuts it  in half the shoelace is now complete   ready to find a home in a  new shoe ready to be tied whether you're in the military working on a  construction site or riding horses there's   a shoe built for you but now a new movement is  challenging the very idea of shoes is it possible   that shoes are actually bad for our feet there's a  huge debate right now about whether shoes are even   good for us because we know that over millions of  years our foot has evolved in a barefoot setting   in response a different type of  shoe emerged on the market in 2005.   it's called five fingers the shoes are  designed for your feet and all 10 of your toes   they're based on the belief that your  foot should move in a more natural way   almost as if it were barefoot  it's all about how our feet move our feet are designed to walk in a very efficient  manner 26 bones 33 joints and countless muscles   tendons and ligaments make up the foot  during a step the foot lands on the heel   rolls along the outside and then pushes off on  the big toe this puts a lot of strain on our   feet it's also a lot of work for our toes brian  richmond is studying how shoes affect our feet   he and his colleague are setting up a 25 000  specialized pressure pad to compare shoes to   bare feet the first thing we do is calibrate the  pressure pad first up barefoot using 4000 sensors   the pad measures what happens to a foot during  a step so what you're able to see is the path of   that pressure so at the heel strikes the pad then  all the pressure goes onto the outside of the foot   and you can see how the pressure then  zooms over to the big toe right at toe off walking barefoot creates defined localized stress  but that's not the case when you wear shoes   you can see that the pressure is  distributed across the heel more evenly than   when someone strikes with their barefoot heel  then the forefoot of the shoe hits and here   you also see the pressure distribution is much  more evenly distributed across the forefoot and   the toes than what you see in a barefoot walker  shoes distribute the stresses across the foot   so what does that mean for you if you wear shoes  that means that your foot also doesn't have to   work as hard your toes don't have to grip as  much and they don't have as much work to do   there's no doubt that wearing shoes protects  your feet so in that sense shoes are good for you   but there is some debate about whether our  feet might grow more naturally and stronger   if we were barefoot when we were growing up  minimalist shoes allow the muscles in your   feet to be more stimulated so experts think  they're the next best thing to bare feet   some shoes however go beyond what our feet can do  and they're setting new standards it all started   in 1936 at the summer olympics in berlin when u.s  athlete jesse owens took home four gold medals owens was wearing a new type of shoe with spikes   which gave him better traction and enabled  him to run faster adi dossler was the   ingenious inventor of these spike shoes  and the man that went on to form adidas today it's one of the world's  leading sportswear manufacturers   in the years since runners have gotten faster  and faster and some believe it's because of shoe   technology but adidas isn't satisfied yet it's  focusing on bringing down the weight of spikes   which until recently weighed as much as 250 grams  or 8.8 ounces so this is the adizero prime sprint   this is the fastest and latest product ever  created by adidas weighing in at only 99 grams   or 3.5 ounces the audi zero prime  is the lightest track shoe ever made   so how did they get from this to this 75 years  of experience and a three-year project led by   innovation director mick lucier we were trying to  do two things when we started this project we were   trying to make the lightest sprint spike in the  world and we also tried to make the fastest one   a challenge this big requires starting in the lab sports researcher janet griffin uses multiple  technologies to analyze a shoe's performance high-speed video cameras and retro-reflective  markers attached to the athlete   allow janet to study movement high-tech scales along the track measure  directional forces we can measure anything   pushing from this side we can see a horizontal  load as well as pushing forward and backward   janet wants to make sure the  shoes propel the athlete forward and so far the forces are with them so the  red arrows that come out of these plates are   the force vectors and the magnitude how large  of a force is the height of the vector this   is exactly what tana has been looking for and  finally specialized insoles measure the pressure   within the actual shoe so throughout here are  99 sensors you can kind of see the the cabling   of the sensors throughout the insole insole data  reveals where the athlete needs traction support   these areas have the highest pressure and so those  are where we would want to put spikes in the shoe with this new design the team  creates another prototype   and the entire process is done over  and over until they get it just right all this work just to design the bottom of a shoe at the same time designer gabe la  oh faces the challenge of the upper   or top of the shoe for this shoe since we're going  so lightweight you know you're trying to think of   supporting the foot as best as you can with  reducing materials gaped solution thinner laces   shorter aglets perforated material and reduced  collar height all to reduce weight every detail   that goes into the design of this shoe is very  thought out everything on the shoe has a reason   to be there hottie zero prime a state-of-the-art  shoe tested and designed to the max at this level   of product even a couple gram could make the  difference between winning gold or being last already the results speak for themselves in 2011 athletes won two world  championships wearing this spike wherever you step shoes have changed the course  of history we've managed to construct an amazing   variety of shoes that uh allow us to do an amazing  variety of things that we couldn't do otherwise   designed and built with purpose they  protect and enable us in ways not   possible by the bare foot alone no  matter the type no matter the size   every day shoes continue to shape  our lives making them a modern marvel you

Channel: HISTORY

Views: 274,435

Rating: 4.8590732 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, h2, h2 channel, history channel shows, h2 shows, modern marvels, modern marvels full episodes, modern marvels clips, watch modern marvels, history channel modern marvels, full episodes, episode 15, history full episodes, Modern Marvels season 18, Modern Marvels season 18 Episode 15, Modern Marvels s18 e15, modern Marvel 18X15, Modern Marvels se18 e15, full episode clips, How Shoes are Made, shoe made, footwear, leather moccasins, environment, tread

Id: npwi9K0ncEg

Length: 42min 15sec (2535 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020