| Some countries have customs regarding shoe | | | | Americans look not unlike the loafer that any |
| removal when entering a house. Sometimes it is done | | | | business man might wear on a weekend. Even |
| to avoid bringing dirt and foreign materials into the | | | | platform soles, which seemed so outlandish when |
| house and sometimes it is done out of respect for | | | | they were first introduced have a relative in the |
| the house. It is customary to remove shoes when | | | | chopine, a shoe from the 16th century with a raised |
| entering a home in Asia, Easter Europe, and part of | | | | sole, made of wood, and reaching up to 30 inches |
| the Middle East, Africa, Northern Europe, Canada and | | | | high. Also similar to the platform shoe was the |
| Alaska. Other matters of shoe etiquette include not | | | | Japanese geta. So, the basic shape of shoes has not |
| showing the soles of your shoes in the Middle East, | | | | changed that drastically over time. We have changed |
| Africa, Korean or Thailand. If member of different | | | | the materials but not the general idea of what a |
| countries all entered a room and removed their | | | | shoe is. |
| shoes, depending on the time period, you may be | | | | A shoe is made up of several basic parts, regardless |
| able to tell what countries are represented just by | | | | of the time period or culture it emerges from. The |
| looking at the footwear. | | | | only difference is that some of these parts are |
| Shoes have come in many different shapes and | | | | skipped when making certain kinds of shoes. First and |
| sizes, from many different countries and many | | | | most well know the shoe has a sole; this is defined |
| different times. There are drawings in a cave in Spain | | | | only as the part of the shoe that makes contact |
| that date back to more than 15,000 years ago. In | | | | with the ground. In addition to the sole, most shoes |
| these drawings, human are depicted wearing animal | | | | have some kind of shank, a piece of material that is |
| skins and furs wrapped around their feet. We have | | | | placed between the sole and the insole. The basic |
| covered our feet with leather, wood and straw over | | | | shoe also has other less know parts: the breast, the |
| the years and as we discover more materials the | | | | cap, the counter, the feather, the puff, the quarter, |
| shoes grow more interesting and advanced. Sandals | | | | the seat, the stiffener, the throat, the top piece, the |
| are the oldest kind of shoe and they still exist today. | | | | topline, the upper, the vamp and the waist. |
| Furthermore moccasins, the traditional shoe of Native | | | | |