Last | shoemaking.wiki

A key tool in shoemaking, lasts are molds around which the uppers of shoes are formed. Their dimensions greatly influence the shape and walking dynamics of finished shoes.

Lasts are related in form and function to shoe trees.

Materials

Traditionally, lasts were carved from wood. Any hard, close-grained, clean-cutting wood can work. Species with few knots that absorb little moisture and maintain dimensional stability are especially favored. In North America, hard maple meets these criteria. In Europe, beech and hornbeam.

Modern lasts for leather shoes are typically made of plastic, often high-density polyethylene, abbreviated HDPE.

Industrial lasts for vulcanized shoes are made of aluminum or other metal that can withstand the high temperatures of the oven used to fuse upper to sole. Earlier industrial lasts were made of cast iron.

Makers of one-off or relatively few pairs may build lasts from less expensive materials, such as foam or laminations of plywood or softwood.

Mechanisms

Lasts for sandals can often be solid blocks. The straps of the sandal allow the last to be removed even once the shoe is fully built around it.

Lasts for closed shoes use some style of last mechanism enabling maker to remove them in pieces or change the shape of the last in the shoe so it can be pulled out, such as with a last hook.

Production

Lastmakers vary widely in approach.

Traditionally, lastmakers began with blocks of wood, entirely rectangular or only vaguely cut to a roughly foot-like shapes, sometimes called “master forms”. Modern lastmakers still building wood lasts for each foot and style may instead begin with a “rough turn”, a last turned down to larger than the final shape, designed to be worked down to final form.

Many modern bespoke makers begin instead from an existing wood or plastic last, then “build it up” by adhering strips of additional wood, leather, or cork that can then be shaped.

Industrial lastmakers designing entire size runs of lasts for a given model frequently begin with 3D models, aided by algorithms for size grading. Mass-production last designers frequently work in CAD software, with programs to translate their models into production instructions for computer numerical control systems. Lasts may also be mass-produced as copies of an original, using last duplication machines.

Small-scale makers may make lasts by casting the feet of their customers, rather than, or in addition to, measurements. Socked feet may be wrapped in tape or plastic wrap, then covered in fast-setting media such as plaster, such plaster cloth or plaster bandages, then cut out, leaving a hollow mold that can then be filled to form a cast of the foot. The cast of the foot can then be built up to the shape of a last, and either used directly or cast again.

Shapes

Lasts vary widely in shape.

Early shoes were built straight, either on a pair of symmetrical lasts or on a single last. Some specialty shoes, such as ballet pointe shoes, continue to be made this way.

Most modern shoes are built on mirrored lasts, one specifically for the left and one for the right.

Materials

Mechanisms

Production

Shapes

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