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The Footwear Research Network is a global interdisciplinary space for academics, educators, and professionals with an interest in footwear to share research, connect, and collaborate.

Our primary purpose is to support the development of footwear studies and facilitate the sharing of knowledge between academia and industry, aiming to address current social, cultural, and environmental challenges. We achieve this by providing a platform that features articles, events, and resources produced by researchers and educators worldwide.

Footwear in former colonies: new steps for researching shoes, their meanings and uses in 19th-century Americas (1780-1920)
Article Cecília Soares Article Cecília Soares

Footwear in former colonies: new steps for researching shoes, their meanings and uses in 19th-century Americas (1780-1920)

How can footwear reveal colonial power dynamics? Through examination of shoes in 19th-century Americas, Dr. Cecília Soares explores how shoes reflected both slavery and freedom, industrialisation, and global fashion trends. Drawing on diverse sources from museum collections to period artwork, this study illuminates how footwear embodied both local practices and international influences. (Image: Gabriela Garcia)

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More From the Footwear Research Network

Meet our internationally acclaimed network of contributors, working within the fields of sociology, anthropology, history, art, curation and fashion.

Keep up to date with footwear events and exhibitions worldwide.

  • The Footwear Research Network is an outcome of the ESRC-funded research project If the Shoe Fits: Footwear Identity and Transition at the University of Sheffield (2010-2013).

    Learn more here

  • Watch the ‘If the Shoe Fits’ documentary to learn more about the research project and the relationship between wearers and their shoes. Filmed and produced by Sheffield Vision.

  • Learn more about the ‘If the Shoe Fits’ research team and board of advisors.

  • Following the success of the original ITSF project, further funding was secured in 2015 for a follow-on project, ‘If the Shoe Fits: Enabling Patient-Centred Podiatry’.

    Learn more.

  • A number of papers and publications were produced directly from the ‘If the Shoe Fits’ research and in association with the project. Access the full list here.

  • In the interest of expanding and advancing the field of footwear studies, the Footwear Research Network’s contributors have put their heads together to produce a list of recommended past and present academic texts upon which to build future contributions.

    Access the reading list here.

  • We are compiling a database of footwear-related resources. Please contact us with your suggestions, including (but not limited to):

  • The Footwear Research Network’s museums and archives directory lists publicly available archives and museums in alphabetical order by country. The resource builds upon a study of shoe museums conducted by Charlotte Stachel and Professor Lorenzo Cantoni at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (Lugano, Switzerland).

    Click here to access the Directory.

    Read the full article here.

Find out how to become a network member, contributor or partner.