The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-06-12
LATEST FAD IN SHOES

cript.
Another fad has struck the shoe
trade With such force that nearly all
the shoe manufacturers are borne
along By rs Irresistible current. This
season It is the patent leather tad.
an unprecedented demand for patent
leather shoes coming from all parts
Of the country until manufacturers
are AZ their wits end in attempting
to take advantage OF this unexpected
development OF hitherto unimportant
line Of shoes So heSvy are the or
ders for shoes OF patent leather. pa
tent kid or enameled leather that the
tanners are unable to finish the leath-
er as rapidly as the orders pour IN,
and many factories are greatly ham
pered by the scarcity Of stock. Since
patent leather was invented there
has been fairly steady call for the
shoes by small class OF customers,
but very few women's shoes have
been made OF this material until re-
Gently. Last season patent leather
shoes began TO come into prominence,
but this season they promise 10 drive
out all the other fads that have held
the field for the past few years, not
ably the tan and colored shoes and
the vested shoes.
singular fact about this latest
craze is that it has come in spite OF
the manufacturers and the tanners,
except the few that make patent lea
Their, and they prophesy that it viii
run its course in one season In fact.
some are so confident that the craze
is a temporary one that one manu-
facturer is known to be making all
the colored shoes that his factory can
produce, and has nearly 500 cases
stored up awaiting the call for them
that he anticipates about July or Au-
gust
1t is just passing whim like the
vested shoe fad" said one manufac-
turer. ITS life will be briefer than
that OF other Iads, because it viii
prove vastly more expensive. There
is legitimate field for the patent
leather shoe as 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 color
ed shoes for one season, we cannot
look on the innovation as anything
permanent. l account for it in the
craving for change and novelty.
Women are becoming tired of tan
shoes and want something new. An
other probable cause is the bother of
keeping colored shoes presentable.
Women do not like to seat them
selves in a bootblaek's chair, and
colored shoes are more difficult to
polish than black shoes, while patent
leather shoes are the easiest OF all
to keep neat and polished. The
great trouble with patent leather
shoes is that they are so much like
toadstools; if you eat them and do
not die they are mushrooms; If you
buy patent leather shoes they may
wear well and they may last about
fifteen minutes. /"
Another manufacturer said that the
trouble with patent leather shoes was
that few people knew how to take
care of them, but he did not think
that under any circumstances they
would take the place of colored 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 color
ed shoes out. They had failed and
they would fail again, because the
people liked tan shoes, and the man.
ufacturers would be forced to make
them. Il believe that the shoe man
ufacturers 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 i'm
mensely. and now they are bewilder-
ed by the patent leather landslide
which they brought on themselves.
They hate colored leather and kid,
because they have SO much trouble in
matching colors. Very often one
skin will color unevenly, and different
parts OF it color differently, while two
skins treated in exactly the same way
will vary widely in color. Again the
tanner may use little more or less
of a particular ingredient which
changes the shade, and the manufac-
turer is unable to have goods match
the sample, which has caused a good
deal of friction. Inc bother of match
ing colored 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 loafiing today, while other
branches of the shoe business are
not affected by the change. We are
making some of the patent kid. but
are also tanning colored skins. al
though there is but little call for them
and are tanning about hundred
skins a day in anticipation of the
demand which we are positive will
come later in the season
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 re
alize this are the ones that win have
the liveliest trade next summer. Pa
tent leather shoes draw the feet
patent kid shoes. patent calf and