Clog (shoe) - Types of Clog

Types of Clog

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a clog as a "thick piece of wood", and later as a "wooden soled overshoe" and a "shoe with a thick wooden sole".

Clogs are found in three main varieties: whole foot, wooden soled and overshoes (see illustrations on the right for typical forms).

• Whole foot clogs make the complete shoe out of wood, such as the familiar Dutch klomp. They are also known as "wooden shoes". Whole foot clogs can give sufficient protection to be used without additional reinforcements.
• Wooden soled clogs use wood for the sole only. Wooden soled clogs come with a variety of uppers:
  • complete uppers made from leather or similar material (see English clogs). For more protection, they may have steel toecaps and/or steel reinforcing inserts in the undersides of the soles
  • open sandal type fitting (see Japanese geta)
  • toe peg styles (see Indian paduka)
• Overshoes are wooden soles with straps designed to be worn over other footwear for protection, commonly known as pattens. Patten style clogs are not used anymore.

These divisions are not fixed: some overshoes look more like whole foot clogs (see Spanish albarca) whilst other wooden soled clogs raise and protect clothing in the way that overshoes do, see Japanese geta.

The type of upper determines how the clogs are worn. Whole foot clogs need to be close fitting and can be secured by curling the toes. In contrast wooden soled clogs are fastened by laces or buckles on the welt and therefore the toes are relaxed as in shoes. Some sandal types, and in particular toe peg styles, are worn more like "flip-flops" and rely on the grip between the big and next toe.

Being wood, clogs cannot flex under the ball of the foot as softer shoes do. To allow the foot to roll forward most clogs have the bottom of the toe curved up, known as the cast. Some styles of clogs have "feet" (see Spanish albarca), the clog rotates around the front edge of the front "feet". Japanese and Indian clogs may have "teeth" or very high pegs attached to the soles. The clog can rotate around the front edge of the front "tooth" as the wearer strides forward. Some medieval pattens were in two pieces, heel through to ball and ball to toes. Joining the two was a leather strip forming a hinge, thus allowing the shoe above to flex.