Ibni Batuha Itinerary is the oldest historical document about Turkish shoe making. Shoemaker, shoe dealer, cobbler, shoe seller, cheap shoe seller and such terms are used in the 14th century Ibn-I Batuha documents. Renowned Itinerant Evliya Celebi refers to the shoemakers as “cobblers” as well. He talks about the slipper dealers at Mercan Hill as: “There are about 3400 cobbler shops and 8000 shoe dealers. There are seven bachelor pads at Mercan Hill. Cobbler bachelors are armed and ready to serve in all of them. They are very brave and never defeated. In fact Sultan Suleyman has said that we are outraged at the janissaries and ‘we will get you killed by the cobbler bachelors’. The story has lapsed. They are all armed and decorate all kinds of shoes in the stores and spook. There are 200 slipper shops and 400 workers. There are 104 shoe shops and 600 workers.”

 

 

These Mercan slipper dealers made good business in the 1940’s. The slippers that they made were hanged on long poles and placed at the store entries as bunches at both Mercan Hill and the Grand Bazaar. Many sandals used in bathhouses were of these types. Mercan slipper types were almost out after the flip-flop fashion.

 

 

There were rules for the shoemaker distribution of the leathers, collected to be processed in the system founded by Sultan Mahmud Ahi Evran, who is regarded as the father of tanners in the Ottomans. Yemen-i Ekber or Ekber-i Yemen is the father of cobblers and boot makers and Ebu Hureyye, on the other hand, is the father of mosques in the Turkish-Islamic guild community system. It is clear that people authorized due to their skills and duties such as artisans, work masters, supervisors, headmen, apprentices and experts, managed the cobbler tradesmen within the Turkish-Islamic guild community system.

 

Cobbler tradesmen grouped based on their business during the 16-17th centuries as follows:

 

• Red and black shoe masters

• Masters making men’s booths

• Masters making women’s booths

• Masters making stitched black shoes (heavy shoes)

• Stitched red shoe masters

• Masters making sandals with fasteners (later on squeaky sandal rooms)

• Masters making men’s slippers (Mercan slippers)

• Women’s slipper masters

• Women’s slipper-yellow sandal shoe masters

• Masters making polished women’s shoes (for brides)

• Masters making stitched men’s booths

• Masters making women’s booths from lame cloth

 

Based on the information in the Union of Chamber of Merchants and Craftsmen archives, the following names are mentioned as the 17th century shoe types: colorful booths, red booths, canvas footwear, women’s booths and janissary shoes.

 

 

Colors are used according to certain rules within the Turkish culture. Shoe color changes based on the age, duty and social level as well. Pedestrians wore yellow shoes, squad heads wore red booths and petty officers wore black booths in the Ottoman janissary system. Within the registry book, with the number Revan 1935 and 1936, 907 Islamic calendar / 1501 Gregorian calendar, issued with the sultan’s order during the Beyazit II era within the Topkapi Palace library, colors used in shoes and booths are listed as red, hot red, purple and yellow. The phrase of our day “Master Mehmet with yellow booths” indicates that yellow color is suited for gentle men and lord class. Symbolic means of colors within the Turkish culture are valid for women’s footwear as well. Anatolian women wore yellow sandals or shoes if they were single, red if they were married and green if they were widows.

 

It is certain that Turkish clans, who migrated from Asia to Anatolia a thousand years ago, brought along a certain shoe culture along as well. This is clear from the word “EDIK”, which was used for shoe in general, in Divan-u Lugat-it-Turk, Kutadgu Bilig and Dede Korkut Books. This phrase is still used prevalently in the Anatolian oral tradition of our day.

 

According to a small introductory book, issued by Sumerbank Beykoz Leather and Shoe Industry Association, the first shoe factory in this country was established in Beykoz in the 1810’s. During the II Mahmud (1808-1839) era, this factory, which was founded to manufacture soldiers’ shoes in general, was handed over to Sumerbank in the Republic period and started to produce all types of shoes.

Der Saadet and Bilad-i Selase Shoe Makers Artisans Association is the first shoemakers association, founded in Istanbul on March 18, 1921 in this country. This society has taken various names in time, reached today and spread to the whole country.

 

Ataturk visited the exhibit, held by the Turkish shoe and leather businesspersons on June 22, 1934 in Istanbul. All of the societies today are organized under the General Shoemakers Federation, with its headquarters located in Ankara.