Engineer boot
Engineer boots, also known as engineer's boots or engineering boots, are an American type of traditional leather work-
Description
Engineer boots are typically made from thick, stiff, full-grain bull hide.[1] The leather is often oiled to add durability and flexibility, and may be brown or black in color.[2] The double-layered shafts may be anywhere between 7 inches to 17 inches in height, and are gusseted at the top and relatively loose, though they can be tightened by a steel-buckled strap. Another steel-buckled strap is placed at the instep of each boot. As per their rugged construction, the footwear is relatively heavy.[1][2]
Original engineer boots were almost always black in color. The toes were bulbous and the soles were made of thick leather. The heels were about one-and-three-quarter inches in height with a slight forward slant, with the edges being concave. Some were customized with studded straps or with
History
Origins
During the 1930s, the
Widespread use
Both Chippewa and Wesco heavily increased sales of engineer boots in the late 1940s. There was a post-war production boom for the boots, with high demand coming from returning veterans and bikers.[4] The latter adopted engineer boots because the laceless design would not interfere with motorcycle drive belts, the shafts were well insulated from heat, and they provided full lower leg protection in case of an accident.[2] The footwear's popularity was furthered by its use by celebrities such as Marlon Brando and James Dean in their respective films The Wild One (1953) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955).[1]
The boots would become heavily associated with the American
See also
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Boyer 2015, Chapter 2: Boots.
- ^ a b c d e f g h MacRae, Michael (August 2015). "Engineers Get the Boot". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- ^ "ENGINEER STYLE NO. 2991". Red Wing Shoes. Red Wing Brands of America, Inc. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
- ^ a b c d Old, Forrest (16 March 2015). "The History of Engineer Boots with John Lofgren". Heddels. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- ^ Blanco F. 2015, p. 137.
- ^ Stanfield 2015, Chapter 3: Got-to-see : Teenpix and the Social Problem Picture.
- ^ Cole 2000, p. 111.
- ^ White 2014, p. 46.
- ^ Wolf 2007, p. 125.
- ^ Sklar 2013, Shoes and Boots.
- ^ Wolf 2007, pp. 125, 127, 293, 328.
References
- Blanco F., José (23 November 2015). Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from Head to Toe (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610693103.
- Boyer, G. (8 September 2015). True Style: The History and Principles of Classic Menswear. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465061594.
- Cole, Shaun (2000). 'Don We Now Our Gay Apparel: Gay Men's Dress in the Twentieth Century (illustrated ed.). Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781859734155.
- Sklar, Monica (2013). Punk Style. Subcultural Style. A&C Black. ISBN 9780857853059.
- Stanfield, Peter (2015). The Cool and the Crazy: Pop Fifties Cinema. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813573007.
- White, Edmund (2014). States of Desire Revisited: Travels in Gay America (reprint ed.). University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299302641.
- Wolf, Mary Montgomery (2007). "We Accept You, One of Us?": Punk Rock, Community, and Individualism in an Uncertain Era, 1974-1985 (Thesis). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
