Espadrille Day!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

If you are trekking  Europe this summer, you might want to stop in the Basque Country, on the French side of the Pyrénées Mountains….

 At Mauléon, capital city of the Soule region, today, Aug. 15^th. is Espadrille Day! A small workshop is  making espadrilles, right in the center of Place des Allées!

Ikurriña

NB. The two languages on the celebration poster are French and Basque (euskara), the oldest documented language of Western Europe. Red (Pantone 485C) is one of the two colors of the Basque flag called Ikurriña.

Reference
Portail de la Soule
http://www.soule-xiberoa.fr/ 

Oh, patents! Pataugas

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Pataugas, meaning “pâte-au gaz” [gas rubber paste], is a French shoe brand that has endured since the mid 20^th century. The brand name Pataugas was created based on the story of the company founder, René Jean Benjamin Elissabide who, in collaboration with a local rubber specialist at the Giraudier shoe manufacturing company, designed a method of covering the soles of hiking shoes with rubber that was melted on a gas burning stove to make the shoes impervious to water!

Since then, and after a long and winding hike manufacturing for the army and every type of outdoorsman, the brand shines in partnerships with luxury designers (for example J.P. Gaultier) and an ever-changing hip collection of shoes for women, men and children.  

Among many different shoe designs, the collection, to date, includes the softest leather, high and low top sneakers and boots, the soles and toe caps of which still appear dipped in rubber.  And, because rubber soles are super-resistant, the brand still prides itself in making virtually indestructible shoes… which means that you might really need only just one pair of Pataugas!...

The original 1950 “dipped in rubber” Pataugas soles were patented by René Jean Benjamin Elissabide, who was both prolific inventor and serial entrepreneur.  The French Patent FR1086185 titled Procécédé de fabrication d’un brodequin étanche relates to the original and famous water-resistant hiking boot called a brodequin. This manufacturing process includes other patented components such as the vulcanisation process, which transforms rubber into a much more resistant polymer using sulfur.

To the  right, the three figure drawings extracted from the original 1950 French patent FR1086185 titled Procécéde de fabrication d’un brodequin étanche showing how the upper's lower edges are sandwiched between two layers of rubber sole in view of providing the requisite water-proofing. More recent models from the Pataugas - JP Gaultier collection are included above.

-----

Just one more story about these famous, and now luxury, French rubber-soled shoes... René Jean Benjamin Elissabide operated in the Soule region of the Basque country (on the French side of the Pyrénées mountains) during the mid-twentieth century -- a region also known as the birthplace of the even more famous “espadrilles”, the rope-soled summer shoes that never go out of style...! 👠

Références

Pataugas

http://www.pataugas.com/

Oh, patents! Espadrilles @ Patents on the soles of your shoes

http://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2016/06/oh-patents-espadrilles.html 

Oh, patents ! Espadrilles

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Summer is around the corner! And for many people there are no summers without espadrilles -- quintessential summer shoes, made of canvass with esparto rope soles, originating in the Basque Country, on the border of France and Spain, and more particularly the Soule region and its capital city of Mauléon (on the French side).

References to espadrilles (espadrenya in Catalan, espargatas or esparteña in Spanish) date as far back as the 13th century for the shoes worn by the Spanish King’s soldiers! Paintings of the 18th century depict people wearing espadrilles. To date on August 15th, each year the city of Mauléon celebrates la Fête de l’espadrille [Espadrille Day].

Originally, sewn and crafted by hand, wholesale manufacture and production of the espadrille began in the 19th century organized by the Beguerie Family Establishment. In the 20th century, industrial manufacture ushered in machine-made espadrilles.

The French patent FR703651 titled Espadrille was granted to Louis Beguerie, founder of the Etablissement Louis Beguerie on May 4, 1931. The patent recites a new manufacturing process for the espadrilles, whereby the upper is no longer sewn onto the sole, but rather glued. The patent also specifies an inner sole, itself glued onto the parts of the upper tucked in and glued on the inside of the outer sole. The patented espadrilles seek to resolve the problem of stitching which is purported to wear out before the canvass or the outer soles of the espadrilles.


Below, the figure drawing from FR703651 titled Espadrille. The heel portion of the figure drawing shows how the inner sole is glued onto the inside of the outer sole, with the upper sandwiched in between. An image of a marketed espadrille is also included --back with stitching...