The (Mostly) Complete History of Boots with Bata Shoe Museum Director Elizabeth Semmelhack

In one of our favorite—and certainly the most sprawling—Shoecast episodes to date, Ben chats with Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada. Which I believe is safe to say—thanks to more than 15,000 shoes, boots, and related artifacts covering 4,500 years of human history—is the world’s preeminent dedicated shoe archive and museum. 

We follow Bata's mission of telling the history of humanity through shoes, starting with  how and where shoes even emerged, then covering everything from King Tut's gold sandals, to how high heels were originally designed for THE MOST RUGGED OF MEN, to why sizing is such a mess from a historical perspective, and how the world's most momentous wars have been won and lost because of...boots. 

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We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/