Early Veldskoen
The development of the veldskoen as a homemade shoe was influenced by many groups of people over hundreds of years.
From the Khoi and San who made shoes cut from a single hide, through the European settlers of the 1650s emulating shoe styles from Europe with local materials, to the Boer community's handmade leather shoes that would be presented when boys began to court girls; they all had a hand and a foot in the story of what is today called a Veldskoen.
Commercially Made Veldskoen
For the commercial history of the beloved iconic South African shoe, we travel to the small mission town of Wupperthal, which is home to not only the first commercial veldskoen operation in South Africa but also the first factory of any kind in our country.
The German Rhenish missionaries, Baron Theobald Von Wurmb and Reverend Johann Gottlieb Leipoldt – a shoemaker by trade – founded the settlement of Wupperthal deep in the heart of the Cederberg mountains. Travelers and residents alike soon realised they needed shoes as tough as the terrain. In 1834 Leipoldt opened The Wupperthal Shoe Factory.
The fact that Wupperthal made a successful location for this factory is a testament to the innovation, hard work, and faith of the people who worked there. Poor roads and steep mountain passes made the town almost inaccessible. To bring raw hides from the nearby town of Graafwater, located only 80km away, would take a twelve-mule team up to eight days.
Needless to say, from dehairing and tanning hides to shoe design and construction, most of the shoemaking process was handled (and figured out) in Wupperthal using local methods and available materials.
THE ANATOMY OF A TRUE WUPPERTHAL VELDSKOEN
DEHAIRING
Before they could be tanned, raw hides had to be dehaired. After being rubbed with cow dung, and left to stand for two days, hides were soaked in tubs of water and then dehaired with a knife. As Wupperthal is in a semi-arid area, the presence (and cooperation) of a mountain stream was crucial for the leather preparation process to take place.
TANNING
Until about 1925, Wupperthal shoemakers tanned their hides with bark-tannage made from the bark of the Kliphout tree, which grows in the area. Bark was cut from the tree and dried on sheets of galvanised iron. The dried bark was then milled for tanning.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
Wupperthal veldskoen consisted of a vamp and quarters, cut from cardboard patterns. No closing machines were available, and the quarter was therefore secured overlapping the vamp. Both the quarter and the vamp were tacked down during lasting. The outsole and insole were tacked on in the same way. No heel was tacked on to the outsole. Wupperthal veldskoen shoes were characterised by the absence of an outside heel.
The Wupperthal veldskoen was also the first to be made using a left and a right last, and not simply walked into shape or 'uitgetrap' like the homemade veldskoen that came before it.
The entire shoe was sewn together using 'riempies'. These were thin strips of leather, cut by hand and carefully prepared to be both soft and strong enough to sew shoes together.
Riempies also performed the function of shoe laces.
Simple, strong, and steadfast.
This is the Origin. It is the Veldskoen in its truest form.
Gorgeous San Diago leather uppers, stitched down onto flexible crepe soles.
The Origin is Veldskoen’s tribute to the town of Wupperthal; where South Africa’s oldest shoe factory is located.
