TYPES OF FOOTWEAR

Dr. Gauri Goel

The men’s, women’s and children’s footwear are available in different styles and functionality. Footwear consist boots, shoes, sandles and swim fin. Demand for specialist fibres and fabrics are increasing rapidly. The footwear market may be divided into categories of:

·        Formal, casual footwear

·        Sports and recreation footwear

·        Safety footwear

When you classify footwear it's important to identify what type of footwear it is and any particular purpose it might have. Some of the more common types of footwear covered in are listed below:

Clogs - usually the uppers are made in one piece and are fixed to the soles by rivets. Sometimes clogs are made in a single piece and don't have - or need - a separate, applied outer sole, in which case they're classified according to the material they're made from and not covered in this chapter.

Espadrilles - these are also called beach shoes and have plaited fibre soles that are no thicker than 2.5cm. They don't have heels.

Flip-flops - these are also referred to as thongs. The thongs - or straps - are fixed by plugs that lock into holes in the sole.

Hiking or walking boots - note that these aren't classified as sports footwear.

Indian sandals - these have leather outer soles and leather uppers. The upper consists of straps that cross the instep and go around the big toe.

Moccasins (American Indian type) - these use a single piece of material - traditionally soft leather - to form both the sole and the upper (or part of the upper). This makes it difficult to identify where the outer sole finishes and the upper begins. 

Neoprene footwear - this is typically used in diving and water sports. If the neoprene upper is covered or laminated with textile on both sides, then it's classified as being made of textile. If the upper has no textile covering, or it's covered only on one side, then it's classified as being made of rubber.

Safety footwear - footwear in which the toe caps are made of metal.

Sandals - the front part of the upper (the vamp) consists either of straps or of material with one or more pieces cut out of it.

Shoes - this term covers footwear, including trainers, that aren't described elsewhere in this guide.

Slippers - these include mules as well as other indoor footwear such as ballet slippers and ballroom dancing shoes. If the outer sole is made of plastic or rubber (approximately 1cm thick) and then covered by a very thin, insubstantial layer of textile material, the slippers are classified as having "plastic/rubber" outer soles. In some cases, all or part of the plastic or rubber outer sole is covered with a thicker, more durable textile material which is dotted with polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This is to prevent the wearer from slipping. These slippers are classified according to the material that has the most contact with the ground. If the slipper has a plastic or rubber sole that's covered with a textile covering, the slipper can only be classified under heading code 6405 if the textile is proved to be durable. The durability of the textile can be proven by submitting the shoe for a martindale abrasion test and tested at 51,000 revolutions.

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