The History of Button Shoes

Efficient and cost-effective sewing machines specialized for button attachment brought button shoes into mass production in the 1880s. Elias Howe first patented a hand-cranked lockstitch sewing machine for cloth in 1845, leading to a proliferation of sewing devices designed for specific tasks. James Morley, a sewing machine salesman from Massachusetts, began to patent industrial button-sewing devices around 1880, after 10 years of development. Morley adapted an existing automated eyelet feeder to feed buttons into his stitcher. He manufactured his own buttons for uniform size. High-button shoes (ankle boots) became the fashion icon of the era and a hallmark of mass production.

The Factory

In 1885, "Harper's Magazine" published a complete overview of industrial shoe manufacture: "A Pair of Shoes." For "Harper's" ladies' kidskin high-button shoes were the most interesting shoes in the factory. The first step was an inspection of the goat skin by the cutter to decide where to position his cuts, since different parts of a skin "stretched" or were suitable for different parts of the shoe. Next, women in the stitching rooms ran their remarkable steam-powered machines at 600 stitches a minute, sewing and trimming all the pieces. The button sewing machines installed the closures. Each pair took about 15 minutes.

Queen Victoria Set the Pace

When Queen Victoria was crowned at age 18 in 1837, stylish American women were quick to adapt her preference for low-heeled ankle boots. By mid-century, the queen's tastes made boots the preferred footwear of both men and women. Ankle boots even replaced slippers for women's formal wear. The trade name for copies of Queen Victoria's favorite boot was Balmoral or The Bal, after a vacation home her husband, Prince Albert, purchased for her in Scotland. The Balmoral was a square-toed boot, laced at the front, with toe and ankle trim of a darker color than the vamp (upper). This image of being well-dressed in boots set the stage for high-button shoes.

The Coquette

As women's hemlines rose to the ankle, Queen Victoria's flat boots morphed into higher heels that thinned the appearance of the angle and raised the instep. With side buttons and overlapped or scalloped edges that obscured the actual closure, women could wear the smallest possible size, even if their flesh bulged over the tops of the boots under their skirt. High-button shoes were the mark of the "coquette." As hemlines continued to rise in the 20th century, boots and button shoes for women were replaced by Mary Janes or T-strap pumps.

Upscale Menswear

Just after the turn of the 20th century, advertisements for a wholesale direct distributor, the W. L. Douglas Company of Brockton, Massachusetts, advised purchasers that every gentleman required three pairs of shoes to "dress his feet properly on all occasions." He needed lace shoes for cold and rainy weather. He needed Oxfords for warm sunny days. For dress and street wear, he needed a pair of patent Corona button shoes. W. L. Douglas manufactured more than 10,000 pairs of shoes a day.

The End of High-Button Shoes

The September 25, 1933 issue of "Time" magazine published the death of the high-button shoe, as pronounced by President Roosevelt during his first year in office. The president had read through the Department of Labor's cost-of-living index, which was used to adjust federal employees' wages. Seeing high-button shoes among indexed items prompted the president to order the department's statisticians to revise the index's list to reflect a contemporary selection of consumer items. The high-button shoe was officially out.

Resources

• Shasta: Civil War Ladies Shoes
• Opportunities for the Employment of Handicapped Men in the Shoe Industry; Frederick J. Allen; 1922
• The Path to Mechanized Shoe Production; Ross Thomson; 1989