Dear All, Does anyone have any information about how shoe makers design and build their shoes. Do they use metric measures or do they use other more difficult methods?
Some time ago, I posted a note about shoes in Australia and in South-East Asia being designed and made using millimetres to the nearest tenth of a millimetre. I based this claim on drawings that I had seen in several Australian shoe factories when I worked in the Australian leather industry some years ago. However, I have been challenged to supply a source for my statement about the manufacture of shoes in millimetres. I would love to have an authoritative source for this information. A Google search has led me to the bizarre world of shoe sizes where, http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.html is a good place to start. In particular, I suggest that you find out about XenCraft's presentation by downloading: 'My "Shoe Size Web Page" Fetish or How Companies are Losing Money on the Internet' After you have done this, you might like to answer this question: 'If you were about to begin a new shoe factory what units would you use for designing and making your shoes? Would you use millimetres, inches (with appropriate fractions), or one or other of the various size numbers?' I suggest that you would choose millimetres for simplicity in design and construction, and then you might use one or other (or all � as most shoe sales staff do) of the other methods to 'communicate' your shoe sizes to the public! Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --
