In the course of hunting for good fencing shoes, I've become somewhat fascinated with what fencers have traditionally worn on their feet. I presume this would be uninteresting to most people, but maybe there are a few fencers out there who might be sufficiently intrigued to be interested in this so I'm posting this little "throw away" note of some of my research. Of course, if anyone has suggestions for more research regarding fencing shoes, I'd be delighted to receive those. The Museum of American Fencing is at 1413 Fairfield Ave Shreveport, LA, and I'd love an opportunity to visit someday. I must find an excuse to get there sometime in the foreseeable future.

In looking at pictures and reading descriptions, I've discovered that traditional fencing shoes, since at least the 1670s, have followed a specific style regardless of what is in fashion at the time.
Explicitly, they have been slipper-like shoes. Shoes that are close to the floor, offering little protection to the fencer's foot and darn little arch support or heel cushioning. Obviously, this was in the days before podiatrists were around to advise the fencers what they were doing to their feet.

In 1670, one of De La Touche's fencer's is wearing flat shoes with a flap of leather projecting beyond the toes and that style of shoe apparently survived until at least 1930. Foil champion Emrys Lloyd's shoe – which can apparently be viewed at the Roy Armouries Museum – is said to have that same flap. Why the flap? Allegedly, it made more noise during the 'appel' (the stamp of the foot on the floor), and this was seen as an advantage.

Another innovation you don't see today is the fencing sandal. No, I am not making this up. In 1696, Labat's fencers were wearing shoes that appear to have open toes with stocking-clad toes poking through. LaBoessiere the Younger, 1618, provides a description of the costume fencers should use and it includes fencing shoes with the right toe open. I fail to understand the reason why only the RIGHT toe is open, and I'd love to hear why.

A site that I consider interesting due to the collection of pictures of fencers:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/historical-footwear.html

A pdf file of the description of the fencing kits from earlier times:

http://www.jeuxdepees.fr/PDF/Develop...cing%20Kit.pdf

The museum van oeveren:

http://musee.escrime.free.fr/sommaireGB.htm

And, of course, the fencing museum:

http://www.fencingmuseum.com/16-18_century.htm

I'm still trying to locate exactly when the modern "hard shell" fencing shoe evolved from the slipper-like soft shoe.

I've found this:

http://www.coolhunting.com/style/adidas-fencing.php which includes a description of the 1964 Adidas Olympics fencing shoe:

In limited numbers this distinctive shoe comes in a metallic mesh with contrasting vinyl and rubber trims in true representation of the fencing sport. The hexagonal stamped sole features large ‘cut outs’ at critical pressure points ensuring the wearer is completely balanced and aware of their environment. An asymmetrical foxing protects and supports the inside of the foot with the Adidas 3 stripes only featuring on the outer side.

Thus, it appears the "evolution" towards the hard shell fencing shoe began, as expected, with a mixture of the traditional soft and flexible shoe having adding hard shell pieces -- presumably to protect the fencer's foot from toe touches in epee. [Although that may be me extrapolating from existing evidence and reaching an erroneous conclusion.] I really need to visit the American Museum with a camera or find someone willing to provide me with pictures of fencing shoes from the past. [Or links to URLs.]

The American Fencing Museum url is:

http://museumofamericanfencing.com/s...tpage&Itemid=1

I have, of course, taken the virtual tours.

In the Museum Tour, part 2 of 3, I can clearly see a pair of Nike fencing shoes which I think he said were from the Pan Am games. [My hearing is not the best and the clips are not close-captioned.]

Asymetrics - by Adidas - were allegedly the first to begin an evolution to "hard shell" design. [Citation needed.]

Why? Well... my speculation (and I'd love to find a factual article to confirm or dismiss this) is that fencing used to be done on wooden floors and evolved to metal flooring, which then necessitated an evolution in the shoes to be more shock-absorbing. We fence differently than we did even 30 years ago, and our old slipper-like shoes were wearing out both from the change in floor surface and the change in fencing techniques - especially footwork for ROW fencers. Shoes follow the trend of those wearing them and those of us who are still rolling the trailing foot have long noticed a tendency for shoes to wear out on the inside which is - presumably, not by coincidence, where manufacturers began to first add patches of hardier material.

However, this doesn't impact recreational fencers or those fencers who are fencing (as many of us still do) in school gymnasiums, on community center tile flooring, and even in church community rooms which convert into cafeterias. I note, however, that we are not the fencers for whom fencing shoes are being designed, which is why the shoes evolved and are still evolving to meet the needs of the high level fencers.

The newer shoes from Leon Paul have wider soles, which allows for greater "micro control" of footwork and they have a "stability bar" on the outer edge which I found a little initially confusing. I tried wearing the shoes to work one day and while they were mostly comfortable for walking, I was definitely walking differently while wearing those shoes.

Have we truly reached a place where one can wear regular athletic shoes (tennis shoes, indoor soccer shoes, and other types) for fencing but not fencing shoes for other sports?

And are these hard shell shoes here to stay? Or are we back to the old problem of one fencer loving the hard shell shoes while another fencer hates them?

I have both a Leon Paul Blades and a Nike Ballestra and for me, it's not even a contest. The Ballestra wins easily and I note that this is a flexible shoe that is not that much different from the Nike training shoe I bought from the clearance section for about 1/4th what I paid for the Ballestra. If I were a parent, I'd buy the training shoe or the indoor soccer shoe and wonder why some idiots were paying that much money for Leon Paul or Ballestra shoes. As a veteran fencer with narrow feet and bunionettes on both of them, I have found the Ballestra to be the best fencing shoe for my feet and that's what I will be wearing at fencing competitions for as long as possible.

After all, it is all about the feet and how you use them and which shoes best meet your needs.