Hi there, students of the shoe encyclopedia class. It looks like you're here and eager to learn again. Let's begin with a quick review of what we learned in the last shoe encyclopedia lesson. We covered the stability web in New Balance shoes, bespoke shoes, a special feature in children's footwear called adiFit and a shoe feature called Heel ProGrid. Today, we'll discuss opanka construction, the jellies some of you may remember from the 80's, the ANSI and fisherman sandals.

Opanka
Shoes designed with opanka construction are made to be very durable. The heavy threads allow for durable attachment of the shoe's upper and lower. While durable, opanka construction also ensures the shoe also is flexible. Opanka construction can be seen in sandals, boots, moccasins and more. Opanka construction generally is seen in casual footwear with a purpose.

Jellies
Jellies, also called jelly shoes are not as sticky as they may sound. Jellies were ultra-popular in the 80's and seem to be making a comeback. Jelly shoes are made mostly or totally of PVC plastic. They generally have a web-like woven design. Some jellies now are made with a little added support or extra features, but many are not. These are casual shoes and are popular in children, due to the shiny look, as well as ease of use. Jelly shoes have no laces. They are slip-ons.

ANSI
ANSI is an abbreviation for the American National Standards Institute. This organization exists to assist various aspects surrounding educational guidelines for many different types of businesses. It actually oversees all marketplace aspects including the creation and use of guidelines followed directly by businesses in the United States. ANSI also accredits programs used for these purposes.

Fisherman Sandals
A fisherman sandal is a shoe with vertical and horizontal straps which are woven together. Though this is an open design, the toe is generally closed. However, the toe also can be open. The shoes are secured to the foot, usually with a strap that comes around the heel and attaches like a belt buckle or with Velcro. Fisherman sandals generally are made of leather or imitation leather.

Source:
http://www.ansi.org/about_ansi/overview/overview.aspx?menuid=1

Shoe fashion in the United States hit a sweet spot in the Big Band era, which stretched between 1935 and 1945. During this era, shoe fashion was big with both men and women. The explosion of the popularity of American cinema brought shoe fashion to the foreground of American popular culture and made having the right shoes as important as wearing the right dress or suit. This change in style awareness affected the way that people looked at the shoes they bought and how they coordinated their outfits.

Shoe Fashion Changes During the Big Band Era
One of the biggest changes in shoe fashion during the Big Band Era was that there were a lot more shoes to choose between. Not only did the number of available shoe designs explode, but so did the number of sizes and fitting options. In fact, there were more sizes and fitting options during this historical era in America than there are now. The importance of having a well-fitted shoe that looked good was a change in American fashion sense, and it was created by the popularity of American cinema, which played up the appeal of having a great pair of shoes that fit your feet properly.

Shoe Designs That Were Popular During the Big Band Era
Many of the shoe designs that were popular during the Big Band Era are still around today. A few of the styles that were popular include high-heeled sandals, lace-up shoes, wedges and chunk heels. For men, loafers and lace-up shoes were popular. One of the new developments in shoe design during the late 1930s was the addition of lace to women's dress shoes. Salvatore Ferragamo was the first to apply lace to women's shoes.

As far as shoe materials go in the 1930s and 1940s, leather was the leader, especially for dress shoes. Leather was used in solid pieces, strips, braids and fringe. The color choices during this era ranged from neutral colors like tan, fawn and black to fashion colors that matched the latest designer clothing fashions on the market. Multicolor shoes were also introduced and generally created by adding lace, embroidery, beads and rhinestones.

Discover the history of the infamous flip flops, a summer shoe that is more of a lifestyle than simple beachwear.

Flip flops are one of the simplest forms of footwear in the world. They are popular with beachgoers, vacationers, the military and people looking for inexpensive footwear. They are constructed using a simple rubber sole with a Y shaped thong that slips between your toes. With a price of around a dollar, it is no wonder why this form of footwear is popular, however, there is more to this shoe that first meets the eye.

History of the Flip Flops

Modern-day flip flops are an evolution of a traditional Japanese sandal called the zori. These sandals had a woven sole and were used for basic footwear. The idea for the modern flip flop most likely developed when servicemen returned to the United States, Australia and New Zealand from Japan after their tour of duty during World War II. The basic design was kept in tact until the late 1950s when a New Zealander named Morris Yock patented the plastic flip flop design that we know of today. However, there is still a bit of controversy over whether Yock should be credited with inventing the flip flop or whether the title should be given to John Cowie.

Practical Footwear

Flip flops have many practical uses. For example, in many countries with low GDPs, flip flops provide an affordable form of footwear that helps to protect the soles of people who would otherwise have to walk around barefoot. The military has also adopted the flip flop as a tool to help prevent the spread of foot fungus in communal showers. Gyms, beach showers and school shower rooms have also begun to recommend that people wear flip flops to prevent the spread of foot fungus and other contagions that thrive on the wet floors.

Flip Flop Pitfalls

While the flip flop is easy to wear, there are many hazards associated with them. On the mild side of the hazard spectrum is a high risk for developing blisters between your toes where the thong rubs. On the severe end are sprained ankles, which are a common problem associated with flip flop use.

After weighing the pros and cons of flips flops, it is easy to see that they work great for occasional use, but generally are not as a great full time shoe.

Now that Memorial Day has passed and we're officially in the summer fashion season sandals are the main footwear choice for most of us in the Northern Hemisphere. This should hardly be surprising because not only are sandals comfortable, their ancient. In fact, many of the earliest shoes we have historical evidence of were made in this style. Sandals have been found as part of ritual burials and were even depicted in prehistoric art. In fact, many of the styles of sandals popular today have endured for thousands of years thanks to their simplicity and grace.

The earliest sandals were all-purpose shoes created by our prehistoric ancestors. By the time of the Greeks and Romans, sandals, while still ubiquitous, were constructed from a variety of materials and available in an array of styles. The "thong" or "flip-flop" seems to have emerged in Egypt, although the style was popular throughout the ancient world. Later the Roman empire gave us everything from the practical sandals of a working man, to dress sandals for women and highly durable sandals for warriors. In Japan, resilient and surprisingly light-weight wooden geta that towered as high as twelve inches elevated pedestrians above the mire of the public streets.

The sandal and its many sub-genres has continued to diversify in the modern era. Where sandals were once a casual-only statement and flip-flops were strictly for the beach, discussion on appropriate sandals for the office can now be found in the pages not just of fashion magazines but also of mainstream newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal.

Today sandals are made out of an ever broader array of natural material such as wood, leather and silk, and increasingly synthetics that allow for more support, cushioning and structure. We have sandals for the beach, boardroom and ballroom as well as the hiking trail, the running track and the gym. And because many sandals are easier to construct than closed shoes, their affordability means most people own multiple pairs.

This year's sandal trend, which started to make its appearance last summer, is a revived gladiator sandal. Some of these shoes have open toes, while others are woven over the toe and merely open on the sides, making them much cleaner for city wear. Heights vary too, with the straps and buckles ending at the ankle or in some cases going as high as the knee; luckily for us modern technology builds a zipper into most of today's sandals in this style, making them much quicker to get on and off.

When it comes to sandals it seems likely that we'll keep doing what we've already been doing for thousands of years -- copying the past and enhancing it with modern improvements in efficiency and comfort. As for style, it looks like the ancients had it covered.