Flexiclogs
Hinged, segmented shoe soles. There must be a good reason why this innovation never caught on.
Pairs seem to come up for sale on eBay and Etsy if you want to give them a try.
Pairs seem to come up for sale on eBay and Etsy if you want to give them a try.
Comments
New Holstein is only 35 miles from my home, and I had two aunts and uncles and their families living there while I was growing up, so I visited it many times. During that era, there were several shoe manufacturers in our area, and some had plants operating near that small city. Flexiclogs were made by a company called A. L. Langenfeld, Inc. Here is a link to the patent for these clogs: https://www.google.com/patents/US2590648
Posted by Fritz G on 10/06/17 at 09:15 AM
I worked for a while at a factory making wooden-sole shoes, and we made something similar. Take a 3/4" pine board, use a bandsaw to cut it in the shape of a footprint, rout two wide grooves across the top, nail thick pieces of cowhide into the grooves, then back to the bandsaw to cut through the wood, leaving the cowhide as a hinge. Tack on some straps, and you had the perfect sandals for people working in steel mills where the floors got so hot, leather or rubber soles would melt. (They strapped these to the bottom of their work boots.)
The company's main line was orthopedic shoes, but those sandals were the major profit center.
The company's main line was orthopedic shoes, but those sandals were the major profit center.
Posted by Phideaux on 10/06/17 at 08:50 PM
Keeping dirt and grit out of the hinges would be a nightmare!
Posted by tadchem on 10/07/17 at 09:16 AM
Not to mention, they'd be fragile as anything. You're putting your weight on them and flexing them this way and that, all day long. That hinge had better be made of nanofibre.
Posted by Richard Bos on 10/08/17 at 04:09 AM
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Category: Fashion | Shoes | Technology | 1950s | Feet