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Record details

Shoe style Derby
Style description

A Derby is a laced shoe or boot with an open front. The area around the eyelets is stitched on top of the front part of the shoe - known as the vamp.

Shoe description This leather Derby boot was manufactured by Northampton company Manfield and Sons, 1890s.
Style example 1 Men's Derby shoe. Manufactured by Trickers, Northampton. 2010.
The Derby style can be either a boot or a shoe. It was probably developed from the Blucher army boot, but no one really knows how it got its name. It was known as a Gibson in the United States.
Style example 2 Men’s grained leather Derby shoes. Manufactured by Manfield and Sons, Northampton. 1930s.
The boot and shoe trade journal St Crispin’s Magazine stated in 1872 that ‘The Derby a new tie shoes better than the Oxonian as the seam is not near the tender part of the foot.’
Style example 3 Pair of cherry red Dr Marten boots. Manufactured by R. Griggs and Co, Wollaston, Northamptonshire. 1989.
The Derby and Oxford are two 19th century styles that have gone on to be the basis of many men’s and women’s shoes and boots to the present day. A version is the Dr Marten boot. This classic cherry red pair are from 1989.