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These Weird 1945 Shoes Were Made for… Architects?
Weirdly enough, the shoes we’re talking about today, designed in 1945, were made for architects and veterinary surgeons. This shoe, of course, is this brand’s flagship product – one of the most legendary French shoe designs of all time, and being legendary, it comes with a lot of legends.
They have an extra row of stitching, which makes boots and shoes into absolute monsters. In fact, this extra row of stitching has been found on the boots of the most daring mountaineers, explorers, climbers – whatever you want to call them – of all time. This French brand is, of course, Paraboot, and we’re talking about the Paraboot Michaels, which is also my name.
Today’s Game Plan (And Why I Was Totally Wrong)
They also make a claim about these shoes and a lot of their other products that I just don’t believe, so today, we will be testing that.
Today’s agenda: number one is just a brief overview of Paraboot and the Michael. Paraboot is really one of the greatest shoe and boot brands in the entire world that didn’t sell out. For that very reason, I have dubbed Paraboot and all of its products as Doc Martens for big boys. Please don’t take any offense to that – it’s just a joke.
Number two has to do with the bottom of these shoes because I don’t understand why Paraboot doesn’t promote the fact that they are one of the pioneers in rubber-soled shoes and footwear, which is essentially all footwear nowadays.
And then, finally, of course, part number three: a unique row of stitching. What exactly is a Norwegian-welted shoe?
Let’s get into my Paraboot review!
The Secret History of Paraboot’s Factory
Okie dokie, to truly understand Paraboot, you can’t think of Paraboot as one single brand by itself. You have to think of the factory that makes Paraboot shoes and boots but also used to make other shoes and boots.
One of those shoes and boot brands that this factory made was called Galibier. They don’t really exist anymore, but when they did, they were huge. Galibier and Paraboot were being made in the same factory at the same time, and they had a lot of similarities but also distinct differences.
But the important part is that the people who were making Galibier were also making Paraboot, which means you have a very specialized group of workers, of machines, of leathers, of techniques, all under one house.
So if you work for Galibier, you also work for Paraboot, and you may think, “Hey, I should do what I do on these Galibier hiking boots, which are indestructible, and do that on these Paraboot shoes or boots which are meant for different things.”
For a while, Paraboot was meant for very extreme activities, not like hiking but skiing and exploring volcanoes. But that shared knowledge means that you could take the best of what you know from Galibier and the best of what you know from Paraboot and put them together.
Also, the Paraboot factory, which was not called the Paraboot factory at the time – it was probably just called the factory started by Rémy Richard – his factory at first started off building, and I quote, “leather-soled shoes made to walk upon the finest of carpets.”
From Luxury to Extreme: The Evolution of Paraboot
So, over the past 100 years of existence, this factory has specialized in extreme luxury, extreme hiking, and extreme activities in general. But as trends came and went, certain aspects of the brand died out and started to combine all together into one, which is Paraboot, which is built for extreme activities out of luxurious materials, and now it is becoming more dressy.
Then, furthering the trends, we had two sets of Paraboots. We had the extreme durability crazy ones that were built for lumberjacks and farmers, and anyone who had a really intense standing-based job – they got big beefy Paraboots.
There was also a subset of Paraboot work boots and shoes that were meant for less intensive jobs, like veterinary surgeons or architects. That’s the example that Paraboot gave for some reason.
After doing all that research and finding out that these were first designed for veterinary surgeons, I looked at them again and was like, “Oh yeah, I could totally see these being early versions of nurses’ clogs.”
Nowadays, these shoes obviously aren’t good for nurses at all. I doubt a nurse is going to want to spend 500 washies on shoes that they’re going to get puked and bled on, and guts are going to spill everywhere, and you know, that would be yucky.
The Wild History of Rubber (Featuring Charles Goodyear)
This wouldn’t be a complete Paraboot review without talking about rubber. If you’ve ever used anything made of rubber, like tires, shoes, spatulas, or rubber bands, you have Charles Goodyear to thank.
Essentially, rubber was the miracle material before plastic became the miracle material. Rubber has become what everybody uses for everything.
People were like, “Wow, this gum elastic stuff could be used for shoes, on life jackets, and for anything! We can mold it. It’s amazing! Except it rots, gets disgusting, and is not that usable, so we have to figure out how to make it what we envision it to be.”
So picture a boardroom in the late 1800s – there’s a bunch of men in there being like, “This gum elastic is the future, but there’s some things about it that aren’t good.
We have to figure out how to fix them.” And creepily in the background of the board meeting is Charles Goodyear, and Charles Goodyear is like, “I will happily figure out all of your rubber needs.” And behind Charles is Rémy Richard from Paraboot being like, “I really hope Charles figures it out!”
Sixty-six years after Charles Goodyear’s death, Paraboot did not yet exist, but the founder of Paraboot flew to America to see what the Americans were wearing on their feet and saw rubber-based footwear and was so obsessed with it and knew it was the future that he made a new company based in rubber-soled footwear: Paraboot.
Etymology time! “Para” is the name of a port in Amazonia, the Amazon, Brazil, where they got their rubber, and “boot” which means boot. That is the entire company.
What Makes Paraboot Special? They Do Things Their Way
So they do something very special that not many other brands do. Paraboot, with rubber being such a core part of their brand, still makes all of their own rubber soles for their shoes and boots in-house, which is insane.
Most brands do not do that. Most brands don’t even construct their own footwear in-house – they just send it out. So you may be thinking, “Who cares? Is this rubber special? Is it better than other rubber?” Honestly, no.
Paraboot could frankly just easily ship the rubber soles out to another company, stop that production in-house, and unless their factory is insanely efficient, they would save money and make more money per shoe by keeping it at the same price, but they don’t.
That’s what’s so cool about Paraboot – they do things their way with their hands. And that, my friends, is why I said Paraboot is Doc Martens for big boys.
When the Doc Marten brand was on the verge of bankruptcy, they were like, “Uh, we have to make all of our stuff way cheaper so we can make more money.”
That worked very well – obviously, Doc Marten is now like a global empire. When Paraboot was on the verge of bankruptcy, they were like, “Well, better hope the Italians like the Paraboot Michael,” and the Italians were like, “Uh, yeah, that’s a cool shoe!” Boom!
Let’s Geek Out About Shoe Construction Methods
And that brings us to the extra visible row of stitching on these shoes – what exactly is that about? There are about 16 trillion different ways you can make a pair of shoes and boots.
Today, we’re going over three of them. We’re going over three because I’m hoping each method builds upon the other one so that way, when we get to the method that Paraboot is using, you’ll be like, “Oh, that makes total sense, easy peasy!”
So, the first thing we need to talk about is stitch-down construction. Also, these are going to be very brief explanations – there are tons of variations on each of these methods.
Stitch-down construction is the simplest thing we are talking about today. You have the uppers of your shoes, the leather part, the part that you probably look at – those go down and fold out like little gutters on your feet. Then you sew the uppers to the midsole, and then you glue the outsole onto the midsole.
That’s a very, very simple shoe. Oftentimes, you will see stitch-down construction on very heavy-duty work boots. They use not just regular stitch-down but also because it’s very resistant to the elements because of its construction – it flares out, so water naturally rolls off, and it’s harder for water to come in if you’re stepping on water.
Then we have Goodyear welted construction, which is the most popular form of fancy-dancy shoemaking. You’ve probably seen it a billion times if you’re into fancy-dancy shoemaking. Instead of the upper flaring outwards, we now have a welt – Goodyear welt. The welt is a thin strip of leather that goes under the upper. The upper folds down instead of out, the welt runs alongside it, and then you stitch the outside of the welt onto the midsole, and you glue the outsole on.
This method of construction is really great for repairability because now you have a welt, and if it wears out, you can get a new welt. You just pry the welt off and put the welt under the shoe so you’re not beating up stitches and destroying the upper like you could with stitch-down construction. If you’re bumping into things and you ruin the upper, you’re out of boot.
But the thing is, due to Goodyear’s welted construction technique, instead of flaring out like stitch-down, it folds under, and then you have the welt, so a channel is created that water can go into, go under your insole, and then soak your feet. It’s not as water resistant. It’s not as great in the elements.
And then you have the Norwegian stitching method, but you also have the Norwegian welt, which are two different things. A Norwegian stitch without a Norwegian welt is similar to a stitch-down with a twist.
So there’s a second row of stitching, the one that I talked about earlier, and it’s a stitch that goes through the upper and the insole and connects those two.
On a regular Norwegian stitched shoe, the upper would then flare out, and then you would stitch the upper to the midsole like you would with stitch-down construction. So, if the outermost layer of stitching got destroyed for whatever reason, you still have a second layer of stitching connecting the upper to the insole.
And then, finally, we have Norwegian welt construction, which is what Paraboot specializes in, taking everything we know and flipping it on its head.
Now we have a welt like we did with Goodyear welted construction, but this is a reverse welt where instead of a strip, it’s an L-shape that goes on the outside of the shoe, and we’re removing that channel that water can flow into, and we’re also protecting the upper to a degree.
If that stitching gets messed up, you have the welt, so it may last a little bit longer. We essentially have the best of both worlds – we have a lot more durability, we have a lot more redundancy, and supposedly, we’re supposed to have more water resistance.
The Water Test: Eating Some Humble Pie
But like I said, I really don’t understand how we would get more water resistance from that because there’s a stitch going right through the upper, so I could be wrong.
The only thing I do assume, and this is where it would be really anticlimactic, is that since the main stitching on the welt for Goodyear welting is on the bottom of the upper, you technically have water resistance up to that line.
The Norwegian welt is not on the bottom – it’s a little up, it’s like a quarter inch up, maybe less. So maybe you have a half inch more water resistance, which in that case is better.
But now, without further ado, it’s time for me to reveal the water test results. I basically walked through a creek and stood there for a while. These shoes crushed it – they just didn’t get wet unless water came over the top. They crushed it! Wow, I am so wrong – dramatically more water resistant than I ever would have given them credit for if I didn’t do the test!
Watch This Review
The End
All right, well, the good news is that means we can end this Paraboot review on an even more positive note for Paraboot than I already was going to give them.
I love these – they may be ugly, or you may not like them, but they will grow on you. I’m going to wear these every single day that I can for the foreseeable future until I get another pair of boots next week and say those are my favorite.
Thank you, Paraboot, for making a great shoe. Thank you for reading this article. I will see you in the next one where we talk about Samurai. I hope you’re all doing well, really. Okay, bye!
This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here.
The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered.