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

d'être déjà si diverses par la grande variété de pieds ed des accidents qui
pouvent leur arriver.24
As in Britain, the productive system was based on a complex combination of
subcontracting, indoor production and chamber and garret work. If on the one
hand the factory represented the future, with un-skilled workers, not at all
dissimilar to the chamber system, old distinctions and denominations remained.
There was the coupeur or the cambreur "qui donne au cuir la forme de botte,
bottine ou de soulier" 25 and the cordonnier proprement dir. Next to the ouvrier,
able to produce a shoe in all its parts, survived specialised journeymen who had
to be able to "prendre les mesures, preparer la forine, tailler le cuir ou 1 'ettoffe,
pisquer, coudre, en un mot faire Ia chaussure entière dans de conditions de
solidité er elegance".26
One of the most important elements in the 'modernisation' of French
shoemaking was the new role played by exportation. Similarly to the effects
produced in the British market a century earlier, nineteenth-century French
export expansion had important consequences on the traditional structure of
production. This is linked to the role played by Paris. The Metropolis was at the
centre not only of home consumption, but also of the export market. In 1859 five
Parisian maisons sold more than 5 million francs (2OO,OOO) worth of boots and
shoes a year to foreign markets. Nantua, Langwy, Stenay and the area of Ivry-la-
Bataille specialised in the production of women's wear for export. 27 Low-quality
production was directed towards Brazil, Chile, Martinique and Guadaloupe. The
high-quality production was sold in Rio de Janeiro, England and the British
colonies where they could "rivaliser avec les belles chaussures parisiennes".28
These market changes had a profound impact on the productive structure of
the sector. If on the one hand a modest shoemaker could set up his own business
with just a few hundred francs, on the other hand the scale of production -
especially in Paris - was expressed by larger units. In this case "l'outillage,
1 'approvisionnement des matières premieres et les produits fabriques peuvent
Ibid.
M.E. Charton, Dictionaire des professios ou guide pour le choix d'un êtat (Paris, 1880), p.
186.
Ibid.
27 Dictionaire universel theorique etpratique, vol. i, cit., p. 843
298