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

The real or apparent difference between left and right provided an important
competitive advantage for French shoes especially in the upper market. A
second important innovation introduced in the British market from France was
the 'branding' of shoes. Before 1815 a only few British producers were able to
achieve notoriety for their high quality products. A very early example of label
can be found in a shoe preserved at the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto). It
was produced in the mid-eighteenth century by William Cooper, a shoemaker
in Chancery Lane (illustration 6.4). Most producers, however, were more or
less anonymous.
In contrast, French shoes were not an undifferentiated category. Most of
them were products of a particular 'atelier' The use of labels on the instep of
the left shoe highlighted a particular producer and his individuality. A famous
example is Melnotte: a pair of shoes produced by him presents an inside label
marked 'Melnotte, rue de Capucinnes, Paris, 1827'. The shoes are accompanied
by a shoe-bag, the eldest preserved in England (illustration 6.5). This tradition
in distinguishing one producer from anther can be considered the positive effect
of an otherwise negative guild influence. Regulations in the Compagnie de
Cordonniers in the eighteenth century imposed that every producer had to mark
his own products with a distinctive label. This rule - conceived to avoid the
commercialisation of products by unregulated producers - had a positive effect
in creating a modern notion of branding. Another important factor affecting
British and French shoemaking was the difference in their retailing systems.78
London shoemakers complained that a very high percentage of the production
costs was due to the credit given to customers. It was a tradition preserved in
the sector from the times of bespoke into the 'mass production' of ready-to-
wear shoes and boots.
J. Morin, Manuel du bottier et du cordonnier, cit., p. 15.
78 Barry Ratcliffe believes that the Parisian shoemaking market was smaller than the London
one, but export led. See B.M. Ratcliffe, 'Manufacturing in the metropolis: the dynamism and
dynamics of Parisian industry at the mid-nineteenth century', Journal of European Economic
History, XXIII -2 (1992), pp. 292-8.
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