Merrell News

Ancient shoes hold many secrets

For shoe lovers the Fleming Museum in Vermont, USA, offers the chance to see the best of footwear through the ages.

A permanent collection at the museum boasts hundreds of pairs of shoes, many of which were donated over the years by their owners, with others collected by scholars and members of the public.

Together the shoes are compiled into categories defined by time period, with some dating as far back as the 1860s and many others hailing from the 1960s, the sample for each period ranging from casual shoes to formal wedding shoes.

Margaret Tamulonis of the Fleming Museum highlighted the interest for all visitors in seeing the development of shoes over the ages, not just in terms of the evolution of materials but also in what the shoes reveal of their time.

"I think it's interesting to see trends that reflected how people might have perceived how women or children might have moved around in a society, or shoes that reflect what kinds of events were important to people," she said.

Also on show at the museum is a new exhibition entitled Heel to Toe, giving footwear enthusiasts an insight into the role played by shoe design in forming diverse cultural identities.

Shoe-lovers wishing to find the most comfortable pair of shoes to tramp around a museum in need look no further than Fitness Footwear, where a range of quality shoes from makers like Merrell are currently on sale.

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