All language subtitles for Inside.the.Factory.S02E06.Shoes.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H264-BTN_track3_[eng]

- * MTV

- If you're anything like
the average British man,

then you own
nine pairs of shoes.

- And the average British
woman? 17 pairs.

We love our shoes.

- But have you ever considered

what it takes to make
a pair of shoes from scratch?

[upbeat music]

We've come to this
remote stretch

of the Cumbrian coast
to find out.

This is the largest
sport shoe factory in the UK

and they've let us inside.

- I'm Gregg Wallace.

I made this shoe
right from the very beginning.

- And tonight I'm gonna show
you

how this factory produces over
3 1/2 thousand pairs of
trainers

every single day.

- Heel first, upside down.

Whoa! Whoa!
Goodbye, shoe.

- They'll get through over
140 miles of cotton thread.

- Yes!

- And sew over 32 million
individual stitches.

- I broke it.

- I'll be making
my very own pair of trainers

on a human production line

where mistakes can be costly.

How many shoes
behind are we now?

- About 40.
- Useless!

- I'm Cherry Healy

and I'll help
one of the country's

largest leather tanneries

process thousands of hides
for the nation's shoes.

- Watch out! Coming in!

- And see how one company
painstakingly turns

37,000 square meters of satin

into a quarter of a million
ballet shoes every year,

some of which will only last
for one performance.

- And historian Ruth Goodman

traces the surprising origins
of the humble trainer

to the back streets of Bolton.

- Reebok?

Reebok is British?

1.4 million shoes come out
of this factory every year,

heading to shoe shops
all over the world.

- Tonight, we'll show you
the painstaking work

that goes into every single
one.

- Welcome
to "Inside The Factory."

[upbeat music]

[machines whirring]

[letters thudding]

[upbeat music]

- This is the New Balance
trainer factory in Flimby,

Cumbria, on the edge
of the Lake District.

When they opened
their first factory in 1982,

they had a reputation for
making a performance running
shoe.

Today, they're also known
for producing a fashionable

and colorful range of trainer.

This 6,000 square meter factory
has about 279 people

working hard
to meet global demand.

Tonight,
I'm going to show you how,

in just 24 hours,

they can make about 3 1/2
thousand pairs of shoes.

- They make here
over 30 different styles.

This is one
of their biggest sellers

and it goes through
35 different pairs of hands.

Well, I want to make that
36 pairs of hands.

[upbeat music]

- This is the 576
classic leather trainer.

They've be making it
for nearly 30 years.

It's made
from 27 individual pieces

that all fit together
in a specific order

to form the upper,
heel, toe and sole.

And I've
got the mammoth challenge

of learning how to fit them
all together

to make my very own pair
of shoes.

My journey starts here,
in Material Intake.

This is where they keep
all the raw materials

for shoemaking,
from leather to polyester.

I'm with quality controller
Jim Fox,

collecting everything
I'll need to make my shoes.

We're starting with foam
for the shoe's padding.

- Okay, Gregg, so we are going
to pick up the foam.

- Just rip off one bit?

- No, we need the full,
what we call the block--

- All of this?
- All of that.

- Don't be mad, Jim!
- It's very light.

- This sheet will make
over 300 trainers.

[upbeat music]

And just 35 minutes from now,

this foam will form just
one part of my finished shoe.

- We are then going to pick up
the toe puff material.

A bit of toe puff.

- Next up is three-mil
black polyester,

one of eight different textiles
we'll need.

- Now, this is cut precisely,
so handle it with care.

- Yes.

[upbeat music]

- Modern synthetic materials
are key

to making many
of our modern trainers.

However,
the majority of our shoes

are made from a material
that we've used

for thousands of years.

Leather.

- New Balance get their leather
from meter' tannery in
Somerset.

- Every pair of leather shoes
you've ever worn

started life like this.

Rawhide.

* Rollin', rollin, rollin'

* Though the streams
are swollen *

- The hides they use here
are a by-product

of the beef industry

and almost all of them come
from the UK.

They're treated off-site
using chromium sulfate,

a chemical that stabilizes
the protein of the skin

to stop it rotting.

After that, they're sent here
for processing.

Inside each of these huge
steel drums are 200 hides.

They're mixed with dye
and a top-secret blend

of chemicals that color
and condition the leather.

* Rawhide

- They might look
like giant washing machines,

but inside these drums
is some fairly complex science.

Everything about the leather
on your trainers,

the precise color,
the durability,

how waterproof they are,

even how flexible
they are when you walk,

comes down to the 24 hours
they spend in these drums.

[water splashing]

- Now they've been Colored
and conditioned,

the hides need to be processed,

so I'm taking
to the tannery floor

to join leather operative
Paul Gee.

- Hello, I'm geared up
and ready to work.

- Hello.
- What happens next?

- We have to physically put
the skins onto that horse.

- Go nice and start--
- Oh, it weighs a ton!

- That's a light one?
- That's really light.

- That weighs a ton!

Okay, watch out, coming in.

[upbeat music]

- Hides are natural products,
so it varies in thickness,

particularly at the rump
and the neck.

- Wow!

- But this machine uses
super-sharp blades

to a consistent 1 1/2
millimeter throughout.

- Come with me.
- Okay.

Whoa!

- Now an even thickness.

- Wow!

Whee!

- The leather gets treated
with polyurethane

to help it wear well,

along with a final touch
of color.

Sales director Mike Dodd

is showing me
the spraying machine

that does it.

- This is the
finishing operation.

We spray the top of the leather
to give it its final color

and give it those
final protective coats.

There's also a level
of scuff resistance

that gives us the confidence

that this is gonna make a nice
piece of robust footwear.

- Here we go.

Way hey! Oh, it's beautiful!

- Okay,
watch your head behind you.

- Oh!
- Get it on the pole.

- And this is where we earn
our corn.

- Oh.

Whoa!

Got it, got it, got it.

- The finished leather spends
an hour drying on the sky train

before it's finally checked
over and graded.

- There's no substitute
for a visual inspection

of where the scratches are,
where the scars are,

where there's damage
on the hide.

And this is classic
for British cattle,

scratches from barbed wire.

As long as we get barbed wire
in the UK

and the cattle occasionally
get an itchy bum,

so we have to account for that
in the grading.

- Someone had a very
scratchy bum.

- Scratches will show
on a finished shoe, but,

provided there aren't too many,

the shoemakers can work
around them.

So, this leather makes the
grade

and it's ready for packing.

- There's over 50,000
square feet of leather

coming through this factory
every day.

It's been sent
all over the world,

but this is on its way
to the Cumbrian coast,

where its journey
to become a pair of trainers

is just getting started.

[machines whirring]

[upbeat music]

- Back at the factory in
Flimby,

I've spent
the last four minutes

collecting the raw materials
for my shoes.

And now I'm ready for
the latest delivery of leather.

- Whoa! Whoa!

Lovely! Thank you very much.

Oh, that is very attractive.

- The leather from Somerset
will be used for 91%

of the exterior of my trainer.

First stop, cutting.

This shoe has eight unique
leather shapes

and chief cutter Billy Edgar
is the man to show me

how you make them.

- Billy, I'm Gregg.
- Hello there.

- Pleased to meet you.

- You are master leather
cutter?

- Yeah, but you're coming
into my kitchen today,

so let's have a pinny on,
please.

- All right.
- All right.

- Well, that's not
a bad bit of kit, that, Billy.

- I've been doing this job
since I left school in '66.

You've been doing
this since 1966?

- '66.
- England won the World Cup,

- Billy started cutting
leather.

- By carefully choosing
where he places the templates,

Billy can get
eight pairs of shoes

out of one piece of leather
with hardly any wastage,

known as the skeleton.

- I want you
to be cutting like this.

That's your skeleton.

- I'll never do it.
- You will.

- I won't!

- The skeleton offcuts
is thrown away,

so every cut has to count.

- Whoa,
you are right on the edge.

- That's all right, don't
worry.

You just want it to come away
like that.

- All right.
- You can do that, can't you?

- I think I can.

- Hey!

- Time for me to have a go.

- All right, we're all right.

- Yeah?
- Yeah, go for it.

- And it's harder than it
looks.

[bright music]

- Oh, Billy, look at that!
Yes!

- Billy will have cut out
23 pieces

in the time it's taken me
to cut out four,

and I've wasted
a lot of leather.

- My skeleton's a lot fatter
than yours.

- If I cut leather
like that all year,

I'd cost the company
nearly 1/2 million pounds

in wasted material.

- That's been my favorite bit
so far.

Have a good day. Cheers, Bill.

- You all right, darling?

- I've cut my leather,

now I need the synthetic parts
for my shoe.

- Flip over like that.

- One machine cuts
the black polyester

six sheets at a time.

Another cuts the foam.

And, together, they'll form

the soft cushioning
in my trainer.

I've now got all the parts
I'll need to assemble my shoe.

- These shoes
are what the industry knows

as lifestyle shoes.

They share a lot
of the same design

and technology

as high-performance
running shoes,

but they're basically
a fashion item.

So, when were they invented
and why?

- Historian Ruth Goodman
is finding out.

[gentle music]

- The cobbled streets of Bolton

may seem like
an unlikely birthplace

for the global phenomenon
that is the trainer.

But David Foster's family

believe they kicked off
the whole thing.

- The guy that started it all,
really, is my
great-grandfather,

pictured here, Joe Foster.

And he invented
his running spike back in 1895

above his father's sweet shop,
here in Bolton.

- Incredibly, runners would run
in their regular leather shoes

before Joe Foster's invention.

But he wanted to give runners
better traction on the track

and turned to the hobnailed
cricket boots for inspiration.

- So he took this concept
and refined it

and came up with this shoe.

You can see the studs have
grown into ginormous spikes,

which give you much better
traction on a cinder track.

- I tell you
what this reminds me of.

It looks
just like a ballet shoe.

- It's actually constructed
in exactly the same way.

- A ballet shoe with spikes!

As far as an athletic shoe
is concerned, I mean,

- this was quite revolutionary.

- Certainly was.

This just changed the whole
face of running.

[triumphant music]

- In 1904, Alf Shrubb
broke three different distance

world records in a single race

wearing Foster's running pumps.

Overnight, Joe Foster's shoes
became world-famous,

but the best was yet to come.

- In 1924, two British stars,

Harold Abrahams
and Eric Liddell,

both took to the track
at the Paris Olympics,

the Games made famous
by the film "Chariots Of Fire."

[triumphant inspirational
music]

- Liddell won gold
in the 400 meters

and Abrahams was victorious
in the 100 meter sprint,

both wearing Foster & Sons
running spikes.

The company went from strength
to strength,

producing a range
of sports shoes.

But in 1958, feeling they'd
outgrown the family business,

two of the Foster sons split
off

to form a brand-new company.

- My father and uncle,
they'd just had enough

and they decided they were
gonna go their own way.

So they upped sticks
and moved from Bolton to Bury

and founded Reebok.

- Reebok?

- Yeah, my dad had won

a South African dictionary

in a local race.

- What a bizarre thing to win!

- They looked through
this dictionary

and they came up with Reebok,

a South African gazelle.

- What did they do
with this new firm?

- Literally, they took
the Foster's tradition

and then span it out
using new materials

and new technologies.

I started working
for my dad in 1983,

just as we began to get
into a newfangled fitness sport

in the US called aerobics.

And at that point,
Reebok just went mental.

[upbeat music]

- Women powered the demand

for the new freestyle trainers
used in gym classes.

Reebok sales ballooned
from $1 million in 1980

to $1 billion in 1986.

- Young girls started to wear
this on the street.

So, all of a sudden,
we got into color

and we became a fashion brand.

It was an incredible time

and I was very proud
to be part of it.

[gentle music]

- Today, it's the retro '80s
inspired

Reebok Classic range that
remains the biggest seller.

- Today this little Union Jack
is a reminder

of 18-year-old Joe Foster,

who pioneered the running pump
more than 100 years ago,

working over his father's
sweet shop in Bolton.

[gentle music]

[machines whirring]

[upbeat music]

- Back at the factory,

I'm 13 minutes into making
my very own pair

of leather sports shoes.

So far, I've cut the parts
I'll need to assemble the shoe.

Now it's time to start
putting them all together,

so I'm heading to Pre-Fit
to meet Joanne Murphy.

- Joanne, I've got
to bring some bits to you.

What do you do here?

- I do the tips and the
foxings.

- What, and add bits to it?
- Yeah.

- Would you do that for me?
- Yep.

- The tips and foxings
are the pieces of leather

covering the toe and heel
of the shoe.

These parts get put
under a lot of stress

by the wearer's foot,

so they need
to be strengthened.

- You're putting the reinforced
plastic bits in, aren't you?

- Yeah.
- Is it heat that sticks them?

- Yeah, it's heat.

So heat will stick that down
and it will come out quite hot.

- This is a lot like baking.

- Ah, yeah!
[laughs]

- Now my leather's been
reinforced with plastic,

I'm heading to Embroidery.

[upbeat music]

- This is where a design
gets stitched

into the back of my shoe.

This industrial sewing machine

can embroider up to 15 pieces
at a time

and it's overseen
by Jackie Hebson.

- Jackie!

What's going in here,
a Union Jack?

- Yeah.

- Despite their small size,

it will take 21 meters of
cotton and 3,300 stitches

to sew each tiny flag.

- Does it sound like
a machine gun to you?

- Yes!

- Why has it stopped?

- 'Cause two lights is
flashing.

So the cottons have jumped out
of the needle,

so we would have
to thread it up.

- I'm not going anywhere
near that needle.

- It won't come down.

- It will!
- It won't.

- The machine might be hi-tech,

but it still takes a human's
hand-eye eye coordination

to re-thread the needle.

- Pull it down.

- This is precision
engineering.

- Yes!
- Yes!

- I'll start it.

- We did it.
- Yep.

- Proper job! I love these.
- Yeah!

- I'm finally ready to assemble
the different parts of my shoe,

so I'm heading to Auto-Stitch.

[upbeat music]

- This is where I'll make
the top part of my shoe,

called the upper.

It's made from parts
that vary in strength,

thickness and texture
to form the finished design.

- Hello.

- It's Susan Brown's job
to place the different parts

of the shoe on a template
in the correct order

before a machine automatically
stitches them together.

- Can you lay that stuff down
in the speed that

that takes to stitch?

- Yeah.
- That's about 10 seconds.

- Yeah.

- My word, how many of these
are you knocking out a minute?

About 20 a minute?

- You've got to do 24 shoes

in 15 minutes.

- You've got to do 24 shoes
in 15 minutes?

- Yeah, yeah.

- How many times have you

stitched your hand
to the machine?

- Never.

- I would never be able
to do it that quick.

[dramatic music]

- Time to find out
if I've got what it takes

to build a shoe in 37 seconds.

- Stand back, Susan, stand
back.

Get me a vamp, please.

Right foot vamp.

- Give me collar plugs.
- There you are.

- On that side.
- Like that?

- Make sure it lines up
with the dolly holes.

- Lines up the what?
- The dolly holes.

- With all them holes.

- Is that not bad?
- No, you're doing well.

- And then I twist the knobs
to shut it up.

- Well done, you can have a
job.

- Are you pleased with me?
- Yeah.

- Susan might be impressed,

but I'm only halfway done.

I've now got more layers to add
with Charlene Steele

at the next auto-stitch
station.

- You fit your vamps
onto the power,

then you fit your apron.

And you tip.

Then you place your two Ns on,
your Ns go to the outside.

[upbeat music]

- This next part
is one of the quickest.

The final step for the upper
part of my trainer

is to punch holes for the
laces.

- We've got lace holes.

That, for the first time,
now looks like a shoe.

[upbeat music]

- Cordwainers College

is part of the London College
of Fashion.

Over the last 129 years,

it's been turning out

some of the best shoe designers
in the country.

- Here, students learn to
design

and make their shoes
all under one roof

and this is where Jimmy Choo
learned his trade.

[upbeat music]

- A three-year design course
teaches them

how to turn creative ideas
into practical,

commercial products.

The students usually get
12 weeks

to complete each project,
but they've offered to help me

make the shoe of my dreams
in just one day.

- This is such a treat,
this really is.

I can't believe you're gonna
help me design a shoe.

[bright music]

- Student Ashley Chambers
designed the court shoe.

It has a continuous top edge
and simple high heel

and it's one
of the easiest designs

to manufacture.

The next step
is to pick my materials

and I've been let loose
in the college vaults.

- Oh, it's like Aladdin's cave!

- A pair of women's shoes
can sell

for tens or thousands of
pounds,

and that depends on the
complexity of the design,

the quality of materials

and the reputation
of the designer.

But before I can build my shoe,

I need to choose
an appropriate last.

Lecturer Ian Gough explains.

- So, a last is the foundation
on which you build the shoe?

- That's correct, yeah.

There's all sorts of different
shapes, heel heights.

Basically, the shoe
is constructed on the last,

that's what gives it its shape
and its form.

So, a size seven in a shape
that looks similar

to what we've designed is this.

- It's got--
- It's called Sarah.

- That's right.
- Why is it called Sarah?

- So all the lasts have
an identification

name or number.

It's just an industry standard

so that when you produce
a design spec,

and you send that
to the factory,

they know exactly what shape
you want to make your shoes on.

[dramatic music]

- Every one of the thousands
of different designs

would have started life
as a prototype

built on a last like this one.

We're using my Sarah last
to make a paper template

to cut the leather
for the upper part of the shoe.

While some of the other
students are getting

to work on the straps
and accessories,

a thermoplastic stiffener
is slipped between the lining

and the leather to make sure
the shoe keeps its shape,

then it's heated and molded
on a machine.

- Oh, wow! Oh, look!

- You can see--
- Oh my gosh!

- It's really starting
to take shape.

- Yes.

- Next, we are going to add
the heels.

- It's funny 'cause when they
are away from the shoe,

they just don't look
very strong.

Is that really gonna
hold my weight?

- Yes, they will,

because they've got metal,
so they are reinforced.

- Because the point of the heel
is so small,

to stop them from breaking,

the heels have to be nailed
into the shoes base.

- Whoa!

- It's taken seven of us all
day to make my shoes

and now it's the moment
of truth.

[upbeat music]

- Look what we made!
- Woo hoo!

- Rio Rave
they most certainly are.

They're really good,
aren't they?

Well done, you!

[audience applauding]

I had absolutely no idea

how much time and effort
it takes

to make a pair
of designer shoes.

- Design and style
is also key here

at the trainer factory
in Cumbria.

Development manager
Chris Hodgson

reveals some quirky
British influences.

- The Kings Head,
The Royal Oak, The Red Lion.

- Are they pubs?

- They're the three most
popular pub names in England.

- You made shoes designed
around pubs.

- You've got a Chesterfield
settee leather on the front.

You've got a Paisley wallpaper,
and if you look inside it,

you've got a stone floor

with a beer glass stain
on the top.

- You have!

You've got a stone floor.

- Correct.
- On the inside.

- When you started here
making running shoes,

did you ever think you
would eventually be asked

to make a shoe
that looked like a pub?

- I've worn plenty of shoes
in the pub,

but I've never been asked to
make one that looks like one.

[upbeat music]

- It's been 22 minutes

since I started making
my leather trainers

and so far I've made
the upper part of the shoe.

Now I'm heading
to Manual Stitch,

where I'll transform my upper
from flat to 3-D.

Jean Fox is one of eight ladies

whose skill
with a sewing machine

is essential for this job.

- This is the start of making
it look like a shoe.

So you put that
round the machine like that

and you bring
the backs together.

Then you cut the tape
and you turn it around.

- Right, step back, madam.

Let me show you how it's done.

- Go on, Gregg, guide it along,

so you're keeping
these together.

- Oh, I've got you.
- Yeah. Now go

[Gregg yelps]

- Slow, slow.

- I've broke it.

It's now just wrapping like
a coil of rope around itself.

- You've got that stuck.

- How many shoes behind
are we now?

- A lot.
- About 40.

- Useless!

- Thankfully, Jean's able
to rescue my botched upper.

- Jean, I'm sorry,
I'm out of here.

- Thanks for your effort.
- Right, see you.

- My mistakes are holding up
the production line

and I've put them
40 shoes behind their target.

Time to stop mucking about

and get serious
about making my shoes.

Next person to babysit me
is Marion Hyde.

- Hello, darling.
Pleased to meet you.

- Now, can you tell me
how we now turn these

into proper shoes?

- First operation

is what we call on this shoe
backtab and collar.

- It's called what?
- Backtab.

- And collar?

Isn't that where they remove
the hairs from your

- No, backtab, not waxing.
Backtab.

- Got you, got you.
- Right.

- The backtab and collar
provides support

to your ankle and we need
to stitch them

to the upper part of my shoe.

- Safety first, Gregg.

Need to tie up my hair,
first stage.

Right, on this machine

it can be very dangerous,
watch fingers.

Pinkies could disappear.

- Right?
- What!

- Be very careful.

Just keep your fingers
well away.

Come close to the edge
with that needle.

Slowly does it.

Right, follow the curve
of the shoe.

Move your shoe around.

- Get off, get off, get off!
- Now grab your shoe!

That's it, stop. Lift your
foot.

Turn around. Pull it out.

Put your threads.

- Luckily, I didn't mess
this one up,

or I'd have put them

even further behind
their target.

- I tell you what, I found all
that very, very stressful.

I held my breath
through all of that.

- Did you? Why?

'Cause you did really well
on that bit.

- Thank you.

- You've got a good teacher,
you see.

- That isn't just the machine,

that's human skill
with a machine.

- It is, correct. Yeah.
- Is that all right?

- That's a lot better.
Not 100%, but a lot better.

- Can I have a sit down now?

- Not break time yet.

[dramatic music]

- At the trainer factory
in Cumbria,

so far,
I've cut my leather pieces,

reinforced and embroidered them
and stitched them together

to form the shoe upper.

And it's only taken 25 minutes.

The next stage in Manual Stitch

is where my upper will get
cushioning sewn inside.

- Whoa, that's the fastest
thing I've ever seen!

Insides stitched.

Tongue cushioned.

- You look like you might
be a bit of a wiz.

That's precision, isn't it?

Heel padded.

So I've got to hold down
the tongue

and then slide my lever under.

- Don't let go of your tongue.

- I won't let go of my tongue.

- All attached.
My upper is now complete.

- No-one who bought these shoes
would imagine for a moment,

I'm telling you,

that they have been
hand-stitched

by Charlene, Jean,
Gillian, Lucy,

Susan, Claire and Liz.

- And not forgetting Marion.
- Yes.

- Correct.
- No-one.

- I know. What an operation!

- I'm leaving
this bit of ladies,

to put them in there.

We are going to a very blokey
looking bit, aren't we?

[upbeat music]

- The section I'm heading to
is overseen

by Jim Fox and his team
and it's called Molding.

Here, my shoes
come out of an oven

at 110 degrees Celsius.

- Jim, why are my shoes
in this oven?

- We need them to be malleable
so they mold around the last.

- What's a last?

- It's a foot mold,
what we make the shoe on.

Right, that's a last.

- That's hot
and steaming in there

because we need the leather
to be pliable--

So we can stretch it
over the shape of the shoe?

- Correct.
- Can I have a go, Jim?

- You can have a go.
Put it onto the peg.

Right, take the upper from
the--

[Gregg yelps]

- It's really hot, yes.

You've got a shoehorn
to help you.

- I don't need a shoehorn.
I'm as strong as an ox.

- Strong as an ox.
- Now, where does this go?

- That goes on underneath
the sock.

- And you've got to do this
while the shoe is hot

so that the leather
will stretch?

- That's it.

Now you're just going to pass
this across to Steven.

- Steven, show me what to do.
- Hello, there.

- The pincers are getting hold
of the leather,

feed it into the other pincers
and pull down.

He leaves
hot melted glue underneath

and he closes the uppers
around the last.

When it comes out of that
after 10 seconds,

you will see what we call
a lasted edge.

Like so.

[upbeat music]
[Gregg laughs]

- This machine
effectively stretches

the leather upper
around the mold,

gluing it firmly into position.

I've now been making
my trainers for 29 minutes,

and they're finally
coming together.

- The shoes that are made here
are exported all over the
world,

so shoes today could end up
in a high street

in Workington down the road,
or Fifth Avenue, New York.

Cherry has been to a more
unusual shoe factory,

a place that makes thousands
of shoes every day,

none of which will ever see
the street.

[dramatic music]

- No-one has a relationship
with their shoes

quite like a ballerina.

And even though they are
not pounding the pavement,

they can get through a pair
of shoes

in a single performance.

This is me aged nine at my
first-ever ballet performance.

It's one of my happiest
childhood memories.

- I vividly remember the day

I got my first pair
of ballet shoes,

I was over the moon.

I cherished them, I loved that

they were really pretty
and delicate, but so strong.

I've always wondered,
how do they make them?

[upbeat music]

- Freed of London
make 1/4 of a million pairs

of ballet shoes every year,

supplying most
of the ballet companies

and top ballet dancers
around the world.

Each pair is handmade,

often to the specific
requirements of each dancer.

- Allan Doherty
is going to fill me in

on some of the secrets
to making point shoes.

- Each maker's
got their own symbol.

- So anyone who's wearing
a pair of shoes

made by you
will be able to tell?

- Yeah.

- The shoe is created inside
out

in the traditional
turn shoe method

to keep the stitching out
of sight.

First, the inner soul is
stapled to a last

and placed onto your satin
and cotton upper.

- Hold it in with a single
nail.

- Point shoes
need the toes reinforcing

and it's done
with a surprising ingredient.

- It looks like
very old porridge.

- What is it?

- It is flour, water
and a few secret ingredients.

First of all,
what we do is get some paste.

- Yep.

- Spread it all over.
All over the shoe, like so.

- Is that really sticky enough,

just flour and water
and a few other bits?

- Yep, piece of hessian,

right up to the point
where the nail is.

A little bit more paste.

Another piece of hessian.

And then we finish it off
with a bit of tissue.

That is your shoe, your block.

- Now the pleats are created.

- Pull and twist.

- How many shoes do you think
you make a day?

- I make 34 pairs.

- 34 exactly?
- I do, yes.

- The shoes are then stitched
in the sewing room

and returned to be turned
the right way round.

- So you're rolling it out.
- Roll it.

- Oh, I see!
- Then twist.

- This is what this is for--

- The broom handle.
- Right!

- Oh, wow! Hand-done.

- The most important step
comes next

as the point is shaped.

Then the insole is pasted in.

- And now we're finishing it.

- More bashing.
- More bashing.

- It is brilliant that the most
useful tool is a hammer.

- Hammer, oh, yes.

- The way you do this
is unique to you.

- Unique to me, yeah.

- It's the moment of truth now.

- Oh, wow!

And it must make you
really proud.

- It does, it does make us
proud just knowing that
someone,

somewhere in the world
is wearing our shoes.

- From here,
the shoe is baked in an oven

for eight hours
to make the block go hard

before a final stitching

and a meticulous
quality control.

All in all,
it's a 16-hour process.

- I've been granted
privileged access backstage

at the Royal Ballet

where they get through
13,000 pairs of shoes a year.

And yet these new ballet shoes

are not yet considered
performance-ready,

as each dancer will customize
their own shoe.

I'm meeting acclaimed
principal dancer

Lauren Cuthbertson to find out

how she prepares her shoes
for the big night.

- So, these look brand-new.

Can you just put these on
and dance in them tonight?

- Well, they would need
to be broken in.

- An unbroken shoe
isn't flexible

and does not support the foot
on point.

All ballerinas have their own
unique way of customizing

to improve performance.

- This is how I do it.

- Whoa!

- So I am just making it
more malleable in the sock.

- Oh, my goodness!

- It is crunching.
- The top part of the shoe...

- You can feel it sort of
starts to melt in your hands.

- Yes.

- This manipulation
gets the shoe

to hug the foot perfectly.

- How do they feel?
- It feels like home.

- Really?
- Yeah!

- I literally couldn't imagine
wearing anything else.

- Lauren also likes to add
a few vital wool stitches

to the point of her shoes
for added traction.

- It just makes me feel
less vulnerable

next to the surface
of the floor.

Sometimes I feel like
I might slip and slide around

and I don't want to feel
like that.

- It just give you
a bit of texture.

- It defines the edge
of the shoe.

For a performance,
I would then scrape off

the satin at the end
of the shoe.

- There's one last trick
to soften the block

that allows Lauren to perform
at her best.

- I would do it
on the concrete tiles

of the bathroom and I would go

-[shoes thudding]

- like that quite a few times
to take the noise out.

- So, is having the right fit
vital to your career?

- Yeah. It's absolutely vital.

- I had absolutely no idea

that the quality of the shoe
is critical.

It's not just a shoe.

It's a tool and it can make
or break the performance.

[dramatic music]

[upbeat music]

- At the trainer factory
in Cumbria,

I've been making my shoes
for just 30 minutes

and I already have something
resembling a trainer.

It's just lacking sole.

Fortunately, the next stop
on the production line

is Sole Fitting.

- Right, I have heated,
I've stretched front and back,

I've got a bit of an innard
in there.

Now what?

- Now we're gonna rough
in the bottom of the sole.

- How do we do that?
How do we rough it up?

Put it on another buffer?

- We have a machine,
a robot roughing machine.

- [Both] A robot
roughing machine!

- Yes, you take the right foot
onto that peg

and then you press
the blue button.

- Stick it on here, Jim.
- Yeah.

- Like that?
- Like that.

- Onto there.

- Ready?
- Ready.

[bright music]

[machine whirring]

- I can see
that it's roughing the shoe

with precision accuracy,

but it's leaving the leather
in a right old state.

- That's your roughing
almost complete.

- Guess what?

- That robot has just ruined
my shoe.

- No, it hasn't.

- He's ruined it, look.

I am gonna turn it round now
and show you the back.

- That's roughened the area

where we're gonna apply the
glue

so the sole you're gonna put
on this bonds to it correctly.

- Theresa!
- Hi!

- Theresa Tyson's job
is to apply the glue

that will stick on the soles,

but first we need to apply
some primer.

- You hold your shoe like that.

A little bit on your brush.

You do the toe and the
four-part to them marks there.

- How's that?

- Could be a bit quicker!

[laughs]

- That doesn't really matter
if I get it on the sole there,

does it?

- No, it doesn't matter
about that but you have to keep

within the marks of the line.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that.

Ooh, Theresa, look what you
did.

It's all right,
I've got your back.

- Just take it all
the way around the shoe.

- Next, the sole and the glued
shoe pass through a machine

called a cement drier,

where an infrared light raises
the temperature

to over 120 degrees Celsius.

This activates the special
glue.

Now it's time
to stick them together.

And that's Carl Dryden's job
with his sole press machine.

- No, no, no, let me do it!
Like that?

- No.
- No. Show me.

- Like that.

And you get the sole like that

and you put it on like that.

- I see, I see, I see.

- So, hold it.
- Yeah.

- Bend the toe towards it,
get that in there.

- Line it up, yeah, like that.

- Line it up
and get this in there.

- You turn it upside down.

- Heel first, upside down.

- Yeah, and then press
that button.

- Whoa! Whoa!

- Goodbye, shoe!

- The compression machine
fills with air,

forcing the glued sole
to the upper

with a pressure
that's like the weight

of a rhino pressing down on it.

- That's my shoe.
That's my shoe.

- And then just--
- Yeah.

Feed it in, yeah.

[upbeat music]

[laughs]

- Take it to bed and cuddle it?

- I made this shoe.

I made this shoe
right from the very beginning.

[upbeat music]

- My shoes are complete,

34 minutes
after I began making them.

But they need
one last inspection

and that's done
by Kerry Hoskins.

- Kerry, my shoes
are behind there,

why are they in that
little machine?

- It's a metal detector.

- Is that right?
- Yeah.

- What would be in them?

- Needles from the machine
- Of course, yeah.

- Wire off the rougher.

- Can we do mine next?
- Yeah.

- These are mine,
what are we looking for?

- You've got to check
all your stitching.

Make sure that
there's none broken.

Make sure your back
height's right,

the shoes aren't twisted.

- They're pretty good,
aren't they?

- Yeah, lovely.

- Now what are you doing?
- Tag.

- I am ridiculously
proud of these shoes

and I never imagined
so much work went into them.

I think these are a thing
of beauty, don't you?

- Yeah.

[upbeat music]

- Careful!

- They're Gregg Wallace ones,
they are!

* I'm a soul man

* I'm a soul man

- To make my one pair of shoes,

it has taken 8,900 stitches

and used 65 meters of cotton.

I took 35 minutes
to complete them

which may sound quick,
but at this rate,

I would only make
17 pairs a day.

Working at full steam,

the six teams here
can pump out a pair of shoes

every nine seconds.

The finished trainers,
including mine,

are boxed up and taken across
to the distribution warehouse.

Pallets for delivery
are wrapped up

before being loaded
into lorries.

* Yow,

* I'm a soul man

At the end of the day,

the factory has made
3,626 pairs of shoes

with a total retail value of
over 1/4 of a million pounds.

Not bad for a day's work!

What's impressed me about
making trainers on this scale

isn't just the speed
and the volume that they make,

it's actually the people,

from the ladies
stitching by hand

to the guys cutting
out material.

- These trainers are sent
to shops across the country.

People in Scotland
buy more shoes

than anyone else in the UK,

but 80% of the factory's output
is exported,

even to shoemaking hot spots
like America and China.

- I'm very proud of the shoes
I made

and I like to think
that someone,

somewhere in the world,

is soon gonna be the proud
owner of those blue trainers.