Work Clogs

Clogs are shoes that have a rigid, wooden sole. They were initially used by factory workers, farmers, miners, and other types of peasants as protective footwear. They are most associated with Scandinavia, but were also very popular in the Netherlands in the beginning, where people would wear them in place of shoes completely and not as overshoes. The material of these first clogs consisted of mainly willow-wood, and served as an ample piece of footwear, providing warmth and safety.

Clogs are still worn today. "Cloggs" is a registered brandname for a particular brand of clogs. The two most basic classifications of clogs are the sabot, or wooden shoe clog and the more fashionable clog consisting of a wooden soled shoe with a leather upper.

Further History

The Klompen, or clog in Dutch, was a style also very popular in England, Belgium, northern France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, most commonly work as a work shoe during the Industrial Revolution. The shoes were considered easy to walk in - they had an upturned toe, and thick straw used to cushion the foot from the stiffness of the alder, birch, sycamore, willow, or beech wood. Clogs are worn barefoot. Despite the long history of the peasant use for harsh conditions, clog shoes have made it into a fashionable style footwear worn by consumers around the world today.

A peasant worn high wooden patterned shoe was called a "galoce", and it is believed that clog shoes originate from galoce shoes. They originated in Ardennes and were known in the Roman Times. Galoce shoes had a wooden sole, a leather top, and were worn by women who wanted to protect their shoes from muddy streets between the 16th and 18th centuries.

With the evolution of clogs, many styles have been incorporated into the design of the clog, from lacing to slip on. The overall construction of the shoe is similar to all shoes: treadline across the ball of the foot set to match the hell height with the toe spring, rigid but comfortable construction allowing the foot to be level during propulsion, and curved insoles to meet the natural contours of the sole and foot, reducing pressure across certain areas on foot. These same ideas were incorporated into exercise sandals, and became famous with the promotion of Dr. Scholl in the sixties and seventies. Many people believe that clogs do not provide the same protection or comfort as any other type of footwear, but as long as the clog a treadline and ball of foot in close approximation, they will provide the same quality as any other shoe out there.

Clog Dancing

In northern England during the Mid Victorian times, clog dancing became very popular. This was a result of the working class becoming aware of how the wood base knocked against the cobbled streets allowed the dancer to create rhythm between their toes and heels. The clogs were created lighter and lighter, as the uppers were cut lower at the ankle and made from ash wood. As the style of clog dancing became more complex, solo dancers generally danced on slabs of hardwearing wood that made a ringing sound: less advanced dancers heightened their performances by adding metal tags, nails to their soles, which in turn created sparks! This type of dancing was primarily a male activity, but female clog dancers were more abundant in music halls. In the 19th century, clog dancing was introduced in the US and gave way to tap dancing. Tap dancing swept its way across the country. The first tap shoe actually used a modified version of the clog but eventually replaced with tap shoes with metal jingles. Here again, tap dancing was generally a male hobby but later became more common with women and even chorus lines. Girls referred to their special tap shoes as "Mary Janes" that were kept on their feet with ankle straps. Mary Janes were often clogs, split with half a sole and the heel in wood. Jingles and other noise making devices were often added to the shoes to make the sounds of coins being struck together. Today, clog dancing is still seen as a traditional folk festival and in dance exhibitions all over the world.

Clogs and Fashion

Wartime deficiencies of leather in Europe made governments push people to turn to clogs as a particle style footwear. Even fashion magazines patriotically photographed their top models promoting clogs. But the clog wave never hit, as consumers still viewed them as a style of shoe worn by the working-class poverty. When wartime shortages became really bad, the middle class eventfully had no choice but to wear clogs. However, clogs did have a surge of fashion interest in the seventies when the Swedish pop group Abba (1973–81, one of the most successful groups in Europe during the 1970s), performed in platform boots and wooden clogs. Consumers could even purchase a popular line of clogs that had the Abba logo stamped on the outside of the soles.

Most clog wearers insist it is the comfort of the shoe itself that make them wear their clogs. However, there is a huge range of reasons why people prefer clogs - some say they love the sound and others say they appreciate the different materials they are made from. Clogs are shoes admired by both males and females, and it is believed that many clog wearers are attracted to the footwear due to to being associated with someone of the opposite sex wearing them. While most people consider clogs as a more mainstream fashionable shoe for females, they are still edgy and avant-garde for men.

Without a doubt, there is a great deal of history behind clog style shoes. They began as galoshes, and made their way into the fashionable US, despite the association with the poverty-stricken. Today, we are proud to sell Sven, the highest quality clogs available. Thanks for checking out SvenBeach.com!

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