A strip of material used in some shoe constructions to connect the upper and insole assembly to the outsole.
The welt is a strip of leather, about 1.5 cm wide in Carmina’s shoes, that runs around the shoe between the upper and the sole. In Goodyear-welted construction it is stitched through the lasted upper and lining to a rib on the insole, and the outsole is then stitched to the welt alone.
Tricker’s says the welt acts as a buffer between the insole and the outsole, which makes a welted shoe much easier to resole: the outsole stitch is cut and a new sole stitched on. Crockett & Jones strips its shoes down to the upper and insole and re-welts them on the original last, and Tricker’s can fit a new sole and welt to any upper still in one piece. Blake-stitched and cemented shoes have no welt. In Paraboot’s Norwegian construction the welt can be omitted, with the leather at the bottom of the upper acting as the welt.
In job listings
The word usually appears inside “Goodyear-welted”, in the house descriptions of boutique and in-store artisan listings at welted-shoe makers. Work on the welt itself belongs to shoemaking production and to after-sales repair, where resoling is part of the in-store artisan’s role. See current shoemaking roles.
