What machines are needed to manufacture sneakers?

What shoe factory equipment do I need to open a real shoe factory? I’m going to walk you through a mass production shoe factory and detail all the shoe factory equipment you will need to do it right. If you are looking for hand tools for shoemaking click here. 

I’m going to show you what you need to make a standard die-cut cold cemented sneaker. This is a simple shoe made with only die-cut parts. The outsole is a one-piece rubber cupsole with a die-cut midsole inside and channel stitching.

First, modern shoe manufacturing relies heavily on sub-contracted factories for many specialized operations. For example, the shoe factory technicians developed the outsole designs, but the outsole tooling is produced elsewhere, with the rubber parts also purchased somewhere else from a company that specializes in rubber pressing. The shoe factory then controls the components to ensure the uppers and outsoles all fit together correctly.

Shoe Material Cutting and Marking

Inside the shoe factory, the first operations in the manufacturing process are the cutting and marking operations. The factory uses cutting presses, also called clicker cutting machines. The clicker press is one of the standard pieces you will see in every shoe factory, and they require cutting dies for each shoe pattern part.

New technology for cutting is the computer-controlled drag knife cutter. These machines use a vacuum table to hold materials in place while the blade cuts all the pattern parts. This technology is critical for custom mass production. Once the shoe parts are cut they get processed, with alignment marks screen printed on the parts and any logos added. Logos can be silkscreen printed, radio frequency welded or embroidered on the cut parts.

Footwear logo application

After the shoe parts are cut and marked for assembly, they may need to have logos added. Logos are added by silk screen printings, embroidery, or heat welding.

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Footwear upper stitching

The sewing machines come in many types: post, long arm, short arm, etc. The stitching line will have hundreds of these machines, the amount depending on the complexity of the shoe design. The style of the machine will also change to fit the specific operations required to make each shoe design.

Once the stitching is finished, it is time to set the shape of the toe box and heel counters. These machines heat the thermoplastic counters inside the toe and heel, then clamp the shoe to set the shape.

With the upper almost complete, we will need a special sewing machine to finish it. The Strobel sewing machine was invented by a guy named…you guessed it… Strobel! This machine is used to sew the bottom fabric onto the upper, closing it. The fabric bottom or “sock” is marked with alignment lines to ensure the upper is straight and not twisted. Now the upper is ready for lasting and assembly.

Shoe assembly process

With the shoe ready for assembly, it’s time to bring out the heavy equipment. The basic assembly line is about 100 yards long. On the front of the line, you will find a steamer to soften the shoe uppers, preparing them for lasting. The lasting machines are used to get the uppers pulled down tight onto the shoe lasts.

The toe-lasting machine is the centerpiece of the lasting equipment. This machine takes hold of the upper and physically pulls it down around the last. The machine simultaneously pulls the upper into place while injecting hot glue to fix the uppers into place on the last. Once the toe lasting is complete, the waist and heel of the shoe may also be pulled into place by either hand operation or machine processes. Following the lasting operations, the lasted upper is placed into the first of the tunnels on the line. These tunnels are cooling tunnels that shrink the upper down to adhere to the last even tighter.

Footwear Primer and Cement

Now the lasted uppers and outsoles are on the conveyor line together, each receiving two coats each of primer and cement. After each application, the parts are placed back on the line to travel through a heat tunnel to dry the parts.

Once the parts are fully primed and covered with cement it is time to join the parts together. A worker takes the upper and sole in hand, fitting them together. Once the parts are fit, a pressing operation ensures the bonding surfaces are completely in contact. 

Outsole pressing

The pressing operation compresses the bottom, sides, and heel of the sole and upper together. To set the bond, the lasted upper with the bottom attached is often placed in a chiller unit. Once out of the chiller unit, the shoe is de-lasted by hand or by machine. Depending on the design of the shoe, there may be just a few operations left. A possible process is for a shoe to receive channel stitching from a special oversized sewing machine that can stitch through the rubber outsole and the entire upper.

Finally, the shoe may pass through a dryer oven and UV light tunnel to ensure there is no possibility of mold growth while the shoe is in transit.

Today I want to introduce you to my friend Eva from the Czech Republic. She has created a remarkable new footwear brand that combines vintage shoe mass production technology with modern styling and adds a new twist to the eco friendly sustainability movement.  
Her brand is called Kave. The shoes are awesome, the classic vulcanized styles are retro cool, and Eva’s marketing reveals her unique and creative shoemaking personality! Check out Kave Footwear! 

About Kave Footwear

KAVE is a new creative platform that aims to change the footwear industry from the inside out by using only existing materials, tools and machinery to create fabulously surprising, yet wearable designs that have a much smaller ecological footprint. 

Our world is filled with products that we don’t need
but nevertheless we are still producing more and more. This is causing problems in society and nature. The start of new production requires a lot of energy, material and time. Lots of items are transported from various parts of the world and ecological footprint is growing. There are fully equipped
factories all around the world so why create new equipment? 
Let’s use what we have in an innovative way.
It is time to start thinking about design differently.

Vulcanized Construction

Kave shoes are made in small runs 100 pairs of each design. Each run is unique, based on the materials available in the factory when Eva arrives. The upper designs and colors are created on the fly with extra materials that would have normally been sent to a landfill. Kave is putting useless material leftovers to work by making functional fashionable footwear!

Kave footwear is made using a direct attach vulcanizing process. The uppers are prepared on a sturdy metal last, bottom up.  The rubber sidewalls and bottom are laid on, then clamped in place with a three piece Metal mold. The mold is heated melting the rubber parts together. This is vulcanizing.  The extra rubber is then trimmed away.    

About Eva

Eva was born in Zlin in Czech Republic. Zlin is the town where the shoe making legend Tomas Bata built in those times the biggest shoe factory in Europe.

Eva’s grandparents worked in this factory their whole lives. She started studying design from tender age of 15. Out of all different sides of
design, she found passion in shoes. She learned about their production when she worked as an intern in one of the companies within the Bata factory.

Later when Eva started studying and traveling abroad, with her experience from production in mind she realized the stark contrast between the senseless global movement of goods and the forgotten local production possibilities.

She decided to change this. Today she combines unusual design and traditional technology to create great quality shoes which challenge the view on global shoe production.  Visit KaveFootwear.com