The shoe’s journey

Seated at home in a rocking chair near a lovely stone fireplace, Marguerite Cormier clearly outlines the various stages involved in making a shoe.

Transcript:

We left through the office. That was the tag, what we call the tag.  It was on a cart.  We’d put the paper, maybe you’ve never seen that, I don’t know.  We’d slip it under then we’d pull our cart then we’d write.  Then those tags, they’d go first, they’d go to trimming.  Then, from trimming, you know how it goes in a factory, they’d go to “fittage”, to shaping.  “Fittage”, that was women.   They were sewing machines.  They’d stitch it all there, for the “fittage”.  And what was in the papers, everything was labeled.  The description, how to, what thread, everything was labeled.  Next, (after) “fittage”, then it went back down to the second floor.  The second floor came after “fittage”, it was assembly time.  It was men on a machine.  They’d put the upper on the machine with all the stitching, and then, that machine would start hitting, and then they’d sew.  They’d sew the heel.  Then off it went to packing.  Oh yeah, and inspection.  There was an inspection, someone who made sure everything was all good.  We didn’t put things in boxes without checking the product.  Inspection, I think everyone does that.  Inspection.  Afterward, there was a packer.  And the packer would put everything there, and a guy would take it, put it in crates and off it went to “shippage”, to shipping.