• Login
    View Item 
    •   DORA Home
    • Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities
    • School of Humanities
    • View Item
    •   DORA Home
    • Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities
    • School of Humanities
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Given the Boot: Reading the Ambiguities of British and Continental Football Boot Design

    Thumbnail
    Date
    2015-03-01
    Author
    Williams, Jean
    Metadata
    Show attachments and full item record
    Abstract
    The robust design of the mass-produced British football boot from the late nineteenth century onwards appeared to evolve rather slowly compared with subsequent lightweight, flexible ‘continental’ fabrication. However, with careful reading we can identify considerable overlap and influence between manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Boot and shoe manufacturing was an intensely competitive industry and it was in the interests of entrepreneurs to pioneer advances in order to promote a particular brand. In developing football boots for the mass market this may have included much pseudo-science but even small innovations sought to improve performance and market share. Design ambiguities were also inherent because footwear manufacturers routinely borrowed and appropriated successful design elements for their own products. With more choice and consumer demand, football boots became increasingly less adapted from other outdoor footwear owned by the participant, to specialised models manufactured as part of the flourishing sporting goods industry. The internationalisation of the mass market for football boots is here explored though the distinct but related case studies of two family firms; Manfield from Northamptonshire, England and Adidas from Herzogenaurach, Germany. Arguing that there was much continuity between the designs and manufacturing processes of the two firms, the article explores how the design of the football boot became increasingly influenced by the fashion industry as items of conspicuous consumption. By 1954 the launch of the training shoe saw sportswear become a style trend worn on the street, rather than on the pitch. This in turn, influenced football boot design as both a highly technical item of elite sportswear and an expensive, aspirational essential in an everyday kitbag.
    Description
    Citation : Williams, J. (2015) Given the Boot: Reading the Ambiguities of British and Continental Football Boot Design. Sport in History, 35 (1), pp. 81-107
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/2086/10539
    DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17460263.2014.933747
    Research Group : International Centre for Sports History and Culture
    Peer Reviewed : Yes
    Collections
    • School of Humanities [1784]

    Submission Guide | Reporting Guide | Reporting Tool | DMU Open Access Libguide | Take Down Policy | Connect with DORA
    DMU LIbrary
     

     

    Browse

    All of DORACommunities & CollectionsAuthorsTitlesSubjects/KeywordsResearch InstituteBy Publication DateBy Submission DateThis CollectionAuthorsTitlesSubjects/KeywordsResearch InstituteBy Publication DateBy Submission Date

    My Account

    Login

    Submission Guide | Reporting Guide | Reporting Tool | DMU Open Access Libguide | Take Down Policy | Connect with DORA
    DMU LIbrary