Shoemaker's last

A shoemaker's last is a three-dimensional form used when making or fitting footwear. It provides the shape over which a shoe is built. It must therefore be distinguished from a finished shoe and from a merely decorative foot-shaped object.

Wooden forms and fitting

Vest-Agder Museum's account of a shoemaking workshop describes individually fitted lasts and factory-made examples numbered for size and width. It also explains their use in stretching tight shoes. Skansen documents wooden lasts in traditional shoemaking and notes that both specialist last makers and shoemakers could produce them. A workshop could consequently have many lasts for different customers and shoe shapes.

What can an old last reveal?

Dimensions, markings, left- or right-foot form and evidence of alteration can aid description. A number should not automatically be read as a date or maker's stamp. Workshop provenance and evidence of use may be more informative than surface wear alone. Also distinguish a production last, a form used for stretching or storing shoes and a boot jack used to remove boots. Describe the material and function that can actually be established for the object.

Sources: Vest-Agder-museet: Skomaker, bli ved din lest!; Skansen: Skomakarverkstaden.