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Clog

Clogs are often associated with whole foot style clogs from the Netherlands

A clog is a type of footwear made in part or completely from wood. Clogs are used worldwide and although the form may vary by culture, within a culture the form often remained unchanged for centuries.

Traditional clogs were often worn in heavy labor. Today they remain in use as protective clothing in agriculture and in some factories and mines. Although clogs are sometimes negatively associated with cheap and folkloric footwear of farmers and the working class, some types of clogs are considered as fashion wear today, such as Swedish clogs or Japanese geta.

Clogs are also used in several different styles of dance. When worn for dancing an important feature is the sound of the clog against the floor. This is one of the fundamental roots of tap, but with the tap shoes the taps are free to click against each other and produce different sound to clogs.

Types of clog

Wooden soled clogs (English)

Overshoes (pattens) with leather shoes (German), reconstruction of the Middle Ages

The Oxford English Dictionary[1] defines a clog as a "thick piece of wood", and later as a "wooden soled overshoe" and a "shoe with a thick wooden sole".

Clogs are found in three main varieties: whole foot, wooden soled and overshoes (see illustrations on the right for typical forms).

  • Whole foot clogs make the complete shoe out of wood, such as the familiar Dutch klomp. They are also known as "wooden shoes". Whole foot clogs can give sufficient protection to be used without additional reinforcements.
  • Wooden soled clogs use wood for the sole only. Wooden soled clogs come with a variety of uppers:
    • complete uppers made from leather or similar material (see English clogs). For more protection, they may have steel toecaps and/or steel reinforcing inserts in the undersides of the soles
    • open sandal type fitting (see Japanese geta)
    • toe peg styles (see Indian paduka)
  • Overshoes are wooden soles with straps designed to be worn over other footwear for protection, commonly known as pattens. Patten style clogs are not used anymore.

These divisions are not fixed: some overshoes look more like whole foot clogs (see Spanish albarca) whilst other wooden soled clogs raise and protect clothing in the way that overshoes do, see Japanese geta.

The type of upper determines how the clogs are worn. Whole foot clogs need to be close fitting and can be secured by curling the toes. In contrast wooden soled clogs are fastened by laces or buckles on the welt and therefore the toes are relaxed as in shoes. Some sandal types, and in particular toe peg styles, are worn more like "flip-flops" and rely on the grip between the big and next toe.

Being wood, clogs cannot flex under the ball of the foot as softer shoes do. To allow the foot to roll forward most clogs have the bottom of the toe curved up, known as the cast.[2] Some styles of clogs have "feet" (see Spanish albarca), the clog rotates around the front edge of the front "feet". Japanese and Indian clogs may have "teeth" or very high pegs attached to the soles. The clog can rotate around the front edge of the front "tooth" as the wearer strides forward. Some medieval pattens were in two pieces, heel through to ball and ball to toes. Joining the two was a leather strip forming a hinge, thus allowing the shoe above to flex.[3]

Traditional clogs in Europe

Introduction

The origin of wooden footwear in Europe is not precisely known. De Boer-Olij reference to the high, thick-soled boots of the Greek tragedy actors in Antiquity (the buskin) and to the shoes worn by Roman soldiers (the caligae).[4] However, there is a possibility that the Celtic and Germanic peoples from Southern- and Northern Europe were familiar with some sort of wooden foot covering. Archeological finds of these are not known. Wooden footwear often ended up as firewood and, because of its nature, wood will rot away in the long run. The oldest surviving wooden footwear in Europe is found in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and dates from 1230 and 1280.[5] These finds look very similar to the wooden shoes as they are still worn in The Netherlands.

Since wooden footwear was a hand-made product, the shape of the footwear, as well as its production process showed great local and regional diversity in style. At the beginning of the 20th century machine-made wooden footwear was introduced. After WW2, in particular, wooden shoes disappeared from sight. They were replaced by more fashionable all-leather and synthetic footwear. At present, only the so-called Swedish clogs (wooden bottom and leather top) is still seen as a trendy fashion item, often as ladies’ high-heeled boots. Nevertheless, traditional wooden footwear is still popular in several regions in Europe and in some occupations, for its practical use. Some historic local variations have recently been replaced by uniform national models.

Gallery traditional European clogs

Traditional clogs in Asia

Gallery traditional Asian clogs

  • Tai-Ping boots from China

Fashion clogs

In the 1970s and 1980s, Swedish clogs became popular fashion accessories for both sexes. They were usually worn without socks and were considered suitable attire for the avant-garde man.

In the 1980s and 1990s clogs based on Swedish clogs returned in fashion for women. Platform clogs or sandals, often raised as high as 6 or even 8 inches right through between sole and insole, were worn in many western countries. The large mid layer was often made of solid cork, although some were merely of plastic with a cork covering. The sole, more often than not, was made of a light sandy-colored rubber. Some of the platforms of these clogs were encompassed about with a string-laced effect.

In 2007 Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf introduced high heeled Dutch clogs on the catwalk, with their winter collection of 2007/08.[6][7] In 2010, Swedish clogs for women returned again in Chanel's and Louis Vuitton's Spring / Summer 2010 collection.[8]

Museum

Notes

  1. ^ "clog". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2001. http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=clog.
  2. ^ Note that some thick-soled women's shoes (stilleto or wedge), which while not wooden soled, are as rigid as clogs. They likewise have to have a noticable cast.
  3. ^ Grew and De Neergaard, chapter on pattens
  4. ^ De Boer-Olij p. 13
  5. ^ Wiedijk p.2
  6. ^ De Greef
  7. ^ Every Clog has its Day
  8. ^ Dykes

References

External links
Men's dress shoes
Women's dress shoes
Other shoes
Wooden footwear
Military footwear
Sport-related footwear
Fashion boots
Work boots/shoes
Other boots
Traditional footwear
Historical footwear

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