Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-16
THE LATEST FAD IN SHOES
An UNUSUAL DEMAND NOW FOR
PATENT LEATHER.
Makers Think Craze Not Likely to
LRst-ColOred Footwear Will
Resume Its Place.
ynn Correspondence Boston Transcript.

Another fad has struck the shoe trade
with such force that nearly all the shoe
manufacturers are borne along by its ire
sistible current. This season 1t Is the pat
ent leather fad, an unprecedented demand
for patent leather shoes coming from all
parts of the country until manufacturers
are at their wits end in attempting to
take advantage OF this unexpected devel-
opment of a hitherto unimportant line of
shoes. So heavy are the orders for shoes
Of patent leather, patent kid or enameled
heather that the tanners are unable to
| finish the leather as rapidly as the orders
pour I'm, and many factories are greatly
| hampered by the scarcity of stock. Since
patent leather was invented there has been
| a fairly steady call for the shoes by
small class of customers, but very few
women's shoes have been made of this ma
terial until recently. Last season pat
ent leather shoes began to come into promi-
nence, but this season they promise to
drive out all the other fads that have held
the field for the past few years, notably
the tan and colored shoes and the vested
shoes.
singular fact about this latest craze is
that it has come in spite of the manufac-
turers and the tanners, except the few
that make patent leather, and they proph-
esy that it will run it's course in one sea-
son. In fact, some are so confident that
the craze is temporary one that one
| the coiored shoes that his factory can
| produce, and has nearly 800 cases stored
up awaiting the call for them that he an
ticipates about July or August.
1T is just passing within like the vested
shoe fad, said one manufacturer. Its
life will be briefer than that of other fads.
because 1t will prove vastly more eXpen-
stve. There is a legitimate field forthe patent
leather shoe a dress shoe for men, but
it can never become very popular with
women, except with a few, and while it
| may take the place of colored shoes for
one season, we cannot look on the innova-
ton as anything permanent. / account for
| 1t In the craving for change and novelty.
Women are becoming tired of tan shoes
and want something new. Another proba-
BILE cause is. the bother of keeping colored
| shoes presentable. Women do not like to
seat themselves In a bootblack's chair. and
colored shoes are more difficult to polish
than black shoes, while patent leather
shoes the easiest of all to keep neat
and polished. The great trouble with pat
ent leather shoes is that they are so much
like toadStools; If you eat them and do not
die they are mushrooms; if you buy pat
ent leather shoes they may wear well and
they may last about fifteen minutes
Another manufacturer said that the trou-
BILE with patent leather shoes was that Few
people knew how to take care of them, but
he did not think that under any circum-
stances they would take the place of col
ored shoes for beach and vacation wear.
Gold weather cracks them. hot weather
cracks them, and for ordinary wear they
are not to be classed with black or tan
shoes. Shoe manufacturers are glad to see
the tan shoes passing out of public favor,
but do not expect to see them replaced by
patent leather Shoes
A leading morocco manufacturer of Lynn
said that shoe manufacturers had tried for
years to drive the colored shoes out. They
had failed and they would fail again, be-
cause the people liked tan shoes, and the
manufa cturers would be forced to make
them. II believe that the shoe manufac-
turers themselves are to blame for this
sudden call for patent kid, calf and leather
shoes" he said. MANY factories did not
send out any samples of colored shoes this
season, and took patent leather samples in
stead. Somehow the fad took immensely,
and now they are bewildered by the patent
leather landslide which they brought on
themselves. They hate coiored leather and
kid. because they have much trouble in
matching coiors. Very often one skin VIII
color uneyenly, and different parts of ii
color differently, while two skins treated
in exactly the same way viii vary widely
in color. Again the tanner may use little
| more or less of a particular ingredient
which changes the shade, and the manu-
facturer is unable to have goods match the
sample, which has caused good deal of
friction. The bother of matching coIored
shoes is obviated entirely by the patent
leather shoes, so that one cutter on patent
leather shoes can do the work of three on
colored shoes, and it is an actual fact that
nearly half of the shoe cutters of Lynn are
loafing today, while other branches of the
shoe business are not affected by the
change We are making some of the pat
ent kid, but are also tanning colored skins
although there is but little call for them,
and are tanning about a hundred skins a
day in anticipation of the demand which
we are positive will come later in the sea-
son.
For the past twelve years we have
heard the same cry, that colored shoes
were going out, but they die hard, and the
| manufacturers who realize this are the
ones that will have the liveliest trade next
summer. Patent leather shoes draw the
feet, patent kid shoes, patent calf and
enameled shoes are all practically the
same. with the same points of superiority
and the same defects. The stuff put on to
| make the desired luster is the stuff that
makes them crack. Patent leather Shoes
if properly cared for, worn as dress shoes
and cared for as such, will always be popu-
lar, and new methods of preparing the
leather, and of making patent kid with the
| same effect as the best patent calf, are
making great Improvements in the wearing
qualities of these shoes, but a sudden
craze like the one which has just started
will do more injury than good to the
manufacture of patent leather goods"
MON A SVrIcRIHS nrS