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

evolution' has presented new questions for the paradigm of the British industrial
revolution.
It is not surprising that the role of the shoemaking sector within the French
economy is much more characteristic of the entire economy than for Britain.
While in Britain the shoemaking sector was considered backward because of its
low level of mechanisation and industrialisation, in France it represented a
national concern for quality and taste within artisanal and industrial production.6
Chapter 6 has examined how next to differences in production and products,
marketing practices assumed an important role in explaining the development of
the sector. Issues such as technological complexity or productivity rates have to
be combined with considerations on structural and strategic aspects of business
practices.
7.3 Parisian shoemaking in the early nineteenth century
From a technological point of view France and Britain did not present
significant differences in the shoemaking sector. The same can not be said about
the structure of business. While in Britain by the mid-eighteenth century the
distributive structure had already achieved a high degree of sophistication, in
France the presence of wholesalers was extremely restricted before the French
Revolution.7 The Almanac des marchands of 1770 reported only a certain
Bonnecase, a 'pelletier-fureur' who "envois en Provinces chez 1 'Etranger" boots
and shoes. 8 On the other hand, as in the case of London, a certain number of
retailers operated on a relatively large scale. An anonymous Parisian shoemaker,
for instance, was able to supply in October 1758, 36 pairs of shoes to another
shoemaker and another 50 pairs in February 1759. By 1765 we find that his
activity included orders for 200 to 300 pairs of boots and shoes from various
6 J.V. Nye, 'Firm size and economic backwardness: a new look at the French industrialization
debate', Journal of Economic History, XLVII —3 (1987), pp. 649-69.
An exception can be Pierre Antoine Voltrin, a Parisian bootmaker whose business failed in
1768. He had bebts for 19,574 livres and he owed 1,400 !ivres to a currier in rue de la Boucherie
and more than 3,000 livres to a bootmaker in rue Dauphine. His business was therefore based
partially on production, but also on retailing, being supplied from other bootmakers. AP, D4 B6
1795: 'Voltrin, bonier a Paris, 1768'.
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