Indian brand Bridlen has been making shoes in one form or another since 1986, first as a white label factory, and now under their own name. So naturally, when a veteran shoemaker told Bridlen head man Affan Mohammad that their product could never be as light or flexible as welted shoes made in Italy, he took it as a challenge.
The result? A shockingly flexible loafer that turns the design process inside out (literally), and resurrects a near-extinct technique to do it.
In the context of their four decades in business, Bridlen’s namesake brand is relatively young. Its launch as a Japan-exclusive line 12 years ago also marked Bridlen’s first foray into Goodyear-welted shoes, which meant acquiring a whole lot of new equipment. That sent Affan on a trek across Europe, where he ended up in touch with an old Italian shoemaker who had the machines they needed. While he was willing to sell them, he wasn’t shy with his opinions about the state of international shoemaking—the gist of which was “even with the same machines, you’ll never make them like we do in Italy”. As he said it, he took a pair of welted shoes from a nearby rack and demonstrated their flexibility.
“I said, well, challenge accepted, sir,” Affan recalled. “And then I went back home, and we had the machines six months later. I started to read up about this thing called the turnout shoe and how one goes about making something like that. So before we had even started to do Goodyear Welt, I took this challenge upon myself. In those early days we did a lot of experimentation, and in about six months time, I had something I could take back.”
“The gentleman was pleasantly surprised, I’d say. Due respect to him and God bless his humor, he just didn’t think good shoes could be made outside of Italy. So that proved him wrong, and it was fun. That’s how we came around to doing this.”
Bridlen has been making loafers on using a Reverse Goodyear construction ever since. This year, after a decade of making tweaks and modifications, they released a revamped version of that original prototype that incorporates everything they’ve learned along the away. We sat down with Affan, Bridlen’s Managing Director, ahead of the brand’s appearance at the Shoegazing/Shoesnob Super Trunk Show in New York City on October 5th, to get the full breakdown of a construction that continues to surprise and confuse.
What is Reverse Goodyear Construction?
The defining feature of the Reverse Goodyear construction: the upper is attached directly to the sole and then the entire shoe is turned inside out. That step, “turning out,” is critical to understanding both the technique and the end product. The challenge of designing a shoe that can survive being turned inside out constrains everything from the patterns to the materials. The resulting simplicity creates nearly unparalleled flexibility, as well as one critical disadvantage—Reverse Goodyear footwear is nearly impossible to resole.
To understand the process in more detail, it helps to know how Goodyear Welted shoes would typically be made on the same machines. Roughly speaking, here is Bridlen’s order of operations on a Goodyear Welted shoe.
First, the leather upper is stitched together, or “closed.” Next, a channel is carved into the veg-tan insole, forming a raised rib of leather. Then, the insole is attached to the bottom of the last, and the upper is lasted around it and stitched into the channel—this line of stitching is usually called the inseam. With the inseam in place, the welt is secured to the channel in the insole by a second stitch. The cavity this creates is filled in by the shank and a layer of cork. Finally, the outsole is glued on and stitched to the welt, and a heel is attached.
Channeling the Sole
In some ways, Reverse Goodyear is far simpler.
The first step is to assemble the upper—inside out—so if we’re talking about a grain-out calfskin loafer with a lining, the grain of the calf would sit against the last, with the flesh side of the calf facing outward, underneath the lining.
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Then, a thick, 5-6mm piece of sole bends leather is channeled and attached to the last, and the upper is stitched into the channel exactly as it would be on a Goodyear Welted shoe. That bend, which would otherwise form the insole, will be the outsole of the finished shoe.
At this point, the entire thing is turned inside out, leaving the upper leather on the outside, the lining (when a lining is used) on the inside, and the inseam hidden inside the shoe. All that’s left is to add some fill and a footbed, then nail on the heel finish the shoe.
A New, Old Technique
In our interview for this story Affan mentioned (jokingly) that they’d been a bit nervous about using this construction—after all, it seemed like no one else was. In our research, the only other place it turned up was on a handful of loafers and boots from the Swiss luxury brand Bally. Or more accurately, that was the only place it turned up in the present.
However, statistics from the 1930 Shoe Industry Census (yes, that used to be a thing) show that in 1929, American manufactures produced over 30 million pairs of what they call “turned” shoes, assembled inside out with the upper machine-stitched directly to the outsole. That number leaves out another thirty million pairs of slippers and house shoes, which took advantage of the construction’s “well earned reputation for great flexibility, light weight, and comfort.” In the early twentieth century, the “turnshoe” or “Reverse Goodyear” construction fell squarely inside a pantheon of common, high-volume production techniques which included Goodyear welting, McKay stitching, stitchdown, and nailing or pegging.
The construction’s roots stretching back even further. In early-medieval Europe, it was a pretty common for your average person to protect their feet using single-piece sandals secured by a lace or thong. Eventually, these simple sandals spawned variants with separate uppers and outsoles which were sewn together and then turned inside out to conceal the stitching—the turnshoe.
Turnshoes grew more and more complex, becoming the dominant form of footwear in Europe until they were displaced by handwelted shoes in the early Renaissance. They came back with a vengeance after Goodyear welting machines began to proliferate during the industrial revolution, because they could be used to make lighter, more flexible shoes without a costly investment in new machinery. Thanks to Bridlen, they seem to have cropped up again for much the same reason.
Turnshoe from the 12th Century
Advantages and Constraints
Having single piece of leather comprises almost the entire structure underfoot when you wear the shoe makes things more flexible for a number of reasons. A thinner sole overall means the uppermost layers of the sole stack don’t have to be compressed as much when the shoe is bent, and a single-piece sole means multiple layers of different materials don’t have to settle and break in at different rates. Reverse Goodyear construction also requires the use of softer material so that it’s even possible to turn out the shoe. Upper leathers need to be not just soft, but also stretch resistant (“you’re really wrestling with the shoe”). Nappas and suedes generally perform the best, whereas a stiffer leather like box calf could be totally destroyed.
One of the most difficult components to source was the leather for the sole. It had to be thick enough to channel while while still leaving enough material intact to support the shoe, durable enough to walk on, and soft enough that you can roll a thick bend back on itself while turning out the shoe. Soling materials are usually chosen for their density—bends are the most consistently dense section of a hide, and soling bends tend to be tanned with mimosa or oak bark tannins that make for an even denser and stiffer final product. This held up development until the Bridlen team chanced across a sample bend at an Italian leather fair that, thanks to a special blend of oils used in the tanning process, could “bend like it was paper”.
Pattern drafting is also constrained by the need to turn the shoe inside out. The pattern has to be engineered from the beginning to leave enough room to turn out the shoe—that generally means lower vamps, and Bridlen extends the tongues of their loafers to restore more traditional proportions to the final shoe.
With time and experimentation, Bridlen has been able to begin using thicker leathers and linings in their uppers.
About That Sole…
In our conversation, Affan was very upfront about this construction’s largest disadvantage: it’s extremely difficult to resole. There’s a good chance that has the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. After all, when you’re getting into quality footwear, it’s easy to get the impression that Goodyear Welt is the quality construction and resoleability is the factor that justifies their price by allowing you to wear them for a whole lot longer. Neither of those things are false, but they’re hardly the full story either.
That said, if you’re familiar with the Florsheims of the world (except Nathan!) it’s only natural to be on the lookout for the cost cutting, margin-pushing changes that continue to obliterate many of the titans of the 20th century. The degree of experimentation and research it takes to resurrect a near-dead technique suggest to us that the primary focus here isn’t on cutting costs—or selling you two or more pairs of shoes instead of one. Bridlen’s Reverse Goodyear loafers are hell bent on doing one thing—flexibility—really, really well. And they’ve found an interesting and unorthodox way to do it. To their wholesale customers, Bridlen stresses the fact that leather shoes are easier to recycle that hydrocarbon-derived synthetics, and that they break in to the wearers foot, creating more comfort and support.
Interestingly, shoe industry magazines published in 30s suggest that it used to be common practice for cobblers to repair leather outsoles without completely resoling the shoe. Instead, a piece of leather was glued over the weak point or hole, sanded until it was flush with the original sole, and then finished, much in the same way that bespoke shoemakers build up wooden lasts with leather to achieve a custom fit. Most cobblers have all the necessary materials (though we suspect they might try to steer you towards adding a sole Topy instead). Still, like most things, Reverse Goodyear shoes can be repaired, you just have do it a little earlier in the wear cycle.
Will this still be a dealbreaker for some people? Sure. And that’s just fine.
Want to see them in person?
Bridlen is on their way to the states! You can catch them in at the 2024 New York Super Trunk Show on October 5th, and they’re holding a meet the shoemaker event in London on October 10th and 11th. They’re lovely people. Stop by!
