Pattens, Clogs & Footwear

The wooden overshoe

A patten is a protective overshoe — traditionally a wooden or leather sole raised on an iron ring or wooden platform, strapped over an ordinary shoe. It lifted the wearer clear of mud, water and the filth of unpaved streets.

Pattens were worn across Europe from the medieval period into the 19th century, by rich and poor alike. Making them well was a skilled trade in its own right, sitting alongside the crafts of the clogmaker and the cordwainer.

The original trade has largely disappeared, but the Company’s connection to footwear is very much alive: today the Pattenmakers actively support the modern footwear industry — its people, its education and its future.