Editing Last

{{Short description|Mechanical form shaped like a human foot}}
{{Use dmy dates |date=December 2024}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 13497 shoe trees.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|A pair of wooden lasts.]]
[[File:Schuhmacherwerkstatt HH.jpg|thumb|right|Wooden lasts in a shoemaker's workshop in [[Hamburg]], [[Germany]]]]

A '''last''' is a mechanical form shaped like a [[human foot]]. It is used by [[Shoemaking|shoemakers]] and [[cordwainer]]s in the manufacture and repair of [[shoe]]s. Lasts come in many styles and sizes, depending on the exact job they are designed for. Common variations include simple one-size lasts used for repairing [[sole (shoe)|soles]] and [[heel (shoe)|heels]], custom-purpose mechanized lasts used in modern [[mass production]], and custom-made lasts used in the making of [[bespoke footwear]]. Lasts are made of firm materials{{mdash}}[[hardwood]]s, [[cast iron]], and high-density plastics{{mdash}}to withstand contact with wetted leather and the strong forces involved in reshaping it. Since the early 19th century, lasts typically come in pairs to match the separate shapes of the right and left feet. The development of an automated lasting machine by the [[Surinamese-American]] [[Jan Ernst Matzeliger]] in the 1880s was a major development in [[shoe production]], immediately improving quality, halving prices, and eliminating the previous [[putting-out system]]s surrounding shoemaking centers.

{{anchor|Etymology|Names}}
==Name==
The [[English language|English]] word ''last'' is thought to derive from a [[Proto-Germanic]] term [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] as *''laistaz'' and intending a track, a trace, or a footprint. [[Cognates]] include [[Swedish language|Swedish]] {{lang|sv|läst}}, [[Danish language|Danish]] {{lang|da|læste}}, and [[German language|German]] {{lang|de|Leisten}}.{{sfnp|Ringe|2017|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2DooDwAAQBAJ&dq=laistaz+last&pg=PA284 284]}}{{sfnp|Kurtz|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8sdjAgAAQBAJ&dq=laistaz+last&pg=PA1168 1168]}}

==History==
[[File:Jan ernst matzeliger.gif|thumb|right|upright|[[Jan Ernst Matzeliger]] in 1885]]
[[File:Zwikmachine 1885.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Matzeliger's lasting machine, complex enough the patent office had to send an agent to [[Lynn, Massachusetts|Lynn]] to see it in operation]]

Although [[ancient Roman clothing|Roman]] [[cordwainer]]s{{mdash}}[[bespoke shoe|bespoke]] [[shoemaking|shoemakers]]{{mdash}}have been found to have shaped some footwear separately for the right and left foot, this distinction was mostly lost following the [[barbarian invasions]] in [[late Antiquity]]. Upon the return of commercial shoemaking during the [[High Middle Ages]], a single last was used to make shoes for either foot, with the expectation that use would gradually reshape the shoe as needed. The use of such "straights" was particularly important after the rise of both [[high heels|male and female heels]] [[1600–1650 in Western European fashion|in the 17th century]] made shoemaking more complicated than previously.{{sfnp|SCM|2010a}} It was not until the beginning of industrial production and [[mass marketing]] in the early 19th century that lasts were again generally made and used in matching pairs. Generic one-size lasts are now only used for basic shoe repair.

Well into the [[Industrial Revolution]], shoe production was optimized by elaborate division of labor in [[putting-out system]]s arranged around central workshops but each step of production still required skilled labor.{{sfnp|Mulligan|1981}} Attempts at mechanization in [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] by [[Marc Isambard Brunel]] during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] were partial and proved uneconomical after demobilization.{{sfnp|SCM|2010b}} Improvements to the [[sewing machine]] to suit it for work in leather took until 1850{{sfnp|Cutter & al.|2021}} and the major breakthrough was the [[Suriname]]se [[Immigration to the United States|immigrant]] [[Jan Ernst Matzeliger]]'s automated lasting machine, [[US patent law|patented]] in 1883. This instantly centralized production, increased production by as much as 14 times, improved quality, and halved prices.{{sfnp|Mulligan|1981}}{{sfnp|Chamberlain|2012}}{{sfnp|Lienhard|2000}}

==Design==
A last is a mechanical form shaped like a [[human foot]].{{sfnp|''Enc. Brit.'', 11th ed.|1911}} Lasts come in many styles and sizes, depending on the exact job they are designed for. Common variations include simple uniform lasts for [[shoe repair]], custom-purpose mechanized lasts for [[shoe factories]], and custom-made lasts for [[bespoke footwear]]. Though a last is typically made to approximate the shape of a human foot, the precise shape is tailored to the kind of footwear being made. For example, boot lasts typically hug the instep for a close fit. Modern last shapes are now usually designed with dedicated [[computer-aided design|CAD software]].

Lasts are typically made from [[hardwood]]s, [[cast iron]], and high-density plastics{{sfnp|Luximon & al.|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=T2VEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 177]}} to maintain their shape even after prolonged use in contact with materials like wetted leather and under the mechanical stresses necessary to stretch and shape the material for shoes. Factory lasts must be able to hold the [[nail (fastener)|lasting tacks]] that position the parts of the shoe and then handle the force of the pullover machines used to bottom the shoe and add the sole. The usual material now is [[high-density polyethylene plastic]] (HMW-HDPE), which can be easily, cheaply, and precisely shaped; which withstand more damage from the tacks before requiring repair or replacement; and which can be [[recycling|recycled]] once they finally do wear out entirely. Wooden lasts are now used only for repair work and bespoke shoemaking, particularly in [[Europe]] and [[North America]].

==Custom lasts==
[[File:Museo Ferragamo - forme.jpg|thumb|left|The personal lasts of [[Audrey Hepburn]] and [[Ava Gardner]] at the [[Ferragamo Museum]] in [[Florence]], [[Italy]]]]
[[Cordwainer]]s often use lasts that are specifically designed to the proportions of individual customers' feet. Made from wood or from various modern materials, they don't need to withstand the pressures of mass production machinery, but they must be able to handle constant tacking and pinning and the wet environment associated with stretching and shaping materials such as leather.
{{clear}}
==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Lasts">
File:PikiWiki Israel 13497 shoe trees.JPG|A pair of wooden lasts
File:Shoemakers tripartite metal last pre 1950s Gothenburg Sweden.jpg|Tripartite metal last
File:Shoemakers metal last on stand pre 1950s Gothenburg Sweden.jpg|Replaceable metal last on stand
File:Wooden_lasts2.jpg|Wooden lasts ([[Marikina Shoe Museum]])
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Shoe size]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{EB1911|noprescript=1|wstitle=Last|ref=CITEREFEnc._Brit.,_11th_ed.1911 }}.
* {{citation |last= |first= |url=http://staffscc.net/shoes1/?p=123 |title=History of Shoemaking in Britain{{mdash}}Tudors and Stuarts |date=9 December 2010 |website=Heart & Sole: Boot and Shoe Making in Staffordshire |publisher=Staffordshire County Museum |location=Shugborough |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140219011657/http://staffscc.net/shoes1/?p=123|archive-date= 2014-02-19|ref=CITEREFSCM2010a }}.
* {{citation |last= |first= |url=http://staffscc.net/shoes1/?p=126 |title=History of Shoemaking in Britain{{mdash}}Napoleonic Wars and the Industrial Revolution |date=9 December 2010 |website=Heart & Sole: Boot and Shoe Making in Staffordshire |publisher=Staffordshire County Museum |location=Shugborough |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140202130102/http://staffscc.net/shoes1/?p=126|archive-date= 2014-02-02|ref=CITEREFSCM2010b }}.
* {{citation |last=Chamberlain |first=Gaius |title=Jan Matzeliger |date=23 March 2012 |url= http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/jan-matzeliger.html|website=Black Inventor Online Museum |publisher=Adscape International |location= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219182822/http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/jan-matzeliger.html |archive-date=2012-02-19 }}.
* {{citation |last=Cutter |first=William Richard |author2=Fred A. Gannon |display-authors=1 |title=John Brooks Nichols |url=https://www.fiddlebase.com/biographical-sketches/nichols-john-brooks/ |website=Fiddlebase |date=2021 |publisher= |location= |ref=CITEREFCutter_&_al.2021}}.
* {{cite book|first=Jean-Paul |last=Kurtz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sdjAgAAQBAJ |title=Dictionnaire Etymologique des Anglicismes et des Américanismes |trans-title=Etymological Dictionary of Anglicisms and Americanisms |date=2014 |publisher=Books on Demand |isbn=9782322027385 |location= }}.
* {{citation |last=Lienhard |first=Jan H. |publisher=[[University of Houston]] |location=Houston |title=No. 522: Jan Matzeliger |url=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi522.htm |website=Engines of Our Ingenuity |date=2000 }}.
* {{cite book|last=Luximon |first=Ameersing |author2=Ma Xiao |display-authors=1 |title=Handbook of Footwear Design and Manufacture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2VEAgAAQBAJ |date=2013 |publisher=Elsevier Science |location= |isbn=978-0-85709-879-5 |ref=CITEREFLuximon_&_al.2013 }}.
* {{cite journal|last=Mulligan |first=William H. Jr. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2120894 |title=Mechanization and Work in the American Shoe Industry: Lynn, Massachusetts, 1852{{ndash}}1883 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |date=March 1981 |volume=41 |number=1 |pages=59–63 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=[[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]] |doi=10.1017/S0022050700042753 |jstor=2120894 |url-access=subscription }}.
* {{cite Q |Q119269648 |first=Don |last=Ringe |author-link=Donald Ringe |mode=cs1}}{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFRinge2017}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Lasts}}
* [http://lastmakingschool.com/history-of-Lastmaking-.htm History of lastmaking] (lastmakingschool.com)
* [https://www.shoemakingcoursesonline.com/shoe-last-types/ What is a shoe last?] (shoemakingcoursesonline.com)

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Shoemaking]]