It’s been busy in the receiving room at Mar-Lou Shoes. There’s a reason I’ve dubbed this room “box city”: In the short time I’ve been at Mar-Lou, I’ve witnessed the room where we receive all of our merchandise literally ceiling-high with shoe boxes – more than a dozen times. When box city fills up, my days revolves around taking images of  new products, preparing the images for our website, writing descriptions, and  uploading all of it to marloushoes.com.
While writing product descriptions this morning, I thought to myself how strange it is that all these “shoe terms” that once were so foreign to me are now a regular part of my vocabulary. It took time for me to get comfortable with and become somewhat knowledgeable about all these words I spout so frequently. Even now, I still have to look up what certain terms mean from time to time.

Everyone’s got stuff they know a lot about. Because of my line of work, shoe stuff is moving pretty high up on the list of “things I know”. (I really didn’t ever see that one coming, but I’m not complaining.) Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not some sort of shoe aficionado (yet). The list I compiled below is not your complete guide to every shoe term ever spoken or written about, however, it will detail some important, frequently used terms. These terms don’t apply to EVERY shoe ever created, but they do provide a working knowledge of basic footwear anatomy.

MAR-LOU SHOES’ ANATOMY

UPPER:

Material covering the entire outside of a shoe

VAMP:

Section of upper material that covers from a little behind the toe to just before the heel

QUARTER:

Section of upper material that covers around the heel

LINING:

Fabric covering the inside of a shoe (excluding footbed) – may help improve durability

SOLE:

ENTIRE part of shoe below the foot (body of shoes consists of an upper and a sole)

INSOLE (footbed):

Layer between sole and foot (typically adds comfort, sometimes removable)

OUTSOLE:

Bottom of shoe that makes contact with ground

SEAT:

Where the heel sits

SHANK:

Piece (typically of metal) that is found between the sole and the insole (shanks often hit the arch of the foot to provide extra stability)

WELT:

Material that binds the upper of a shoe to the sole, comparable to a seam on clothing

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