The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

French producers were therefore very "concerned not only with the actual
process of production in which they engaged, but also with the quality and
value of the products they produced". 72 In Britain instead shoemakers decided
to compete on prices rather than on quality. The result had been a general
decrease in the productive standards of British shoemakers. As a shoemaker of
Doncaster sadly reported in 1830, the public was aware that "it is too often the
case that shoes are made explicitly for sale, and not for the general utility when
sold! When later in the 1830s British shoemakers realised that price was
not the only variable making the difference between British and French
products, they started considering a more complex system of factors. The price
difference between London and Paris ware was actually decreasing during the
1830s. In 1837 the prices in London and in Paris were similar, with 25 to 30
francs paid for a pair of boots, 35 francs for a Cocanon pair and up to 60 francs
for a pair of fancy boots with coloured morocco legs. This was partially due to
a decrease on London wages and to an increase of French prices, deriving from
its competitive advantage (premium price). 74 However, French competition was
still very strong. French shoes, if not cheaper, were surely more fashionable.75
A very important feature of French shoes was the distinction between the
left and right shoe. Even if the shape of the two shoes was not yet different a
label inside marked gauche and droite distinguished the two sides once they
were worn for a while (illustration 6.2).76 It was only during the 1830s that the
distinction between left and right shoe had an impact on production. Shoes
started to be produced with two different lasts, instead of being 'straight'
(illustration 6.3).
72 L.S. Weissbach, 'Artisanal responses to artistic decline: the cabinetmakers of Paris in the
era of industrialization', Journal of Social History, XVI —2 (1982), p. 68.
The Times, 30th August 1830, p. 6, cot. a.
74 J.D. Dacres, The boot and shoe trade of France, cit., p. 16-7.
Ibid., pp. 9-10.
76 All the shoes I examined distinguishing right and left present labels in French. The oldest
pair of right vs. left shoes (with labels) surviving in Britain was produced by Thomas Harrison
of Kirby in 1796. The fact that they are already in French style suggests that they could be
imported. Left vs. right was used until the early seventeenth century when the adoption of round
toes shoes made the distinction between left and right shoe not necessary. On the subject see
J.H. Thornton, 'Left -right-left', Journal of the British Boot and Shoe Institutions, VII - 4
(1956), pp. 164-70. See also R.E. Rexford, Women's shoes, cit., p. 13.
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