The split toe derby has become an extremely fashionable fashion statement over recent years. This particular model features an apron with vertical stitches at its tip for extra durability, and is best described by its practical nature. It’s no secret why its popularity has skyrocketed practicality was ultimately what drove its creation.
History often presents different accounts of historic events, making it hard to know which account is accurate or all true. When discussing how the split toe derby originated technically, two popular explanations do not differ significantly in this respect rather, their main focus lies on who exactly first developed it as its “original”.
At first, our goal was to improve the water resistance of shoes. Derby shoes tend to be more watertight than their oxford counterparts because their vamp and tongue are joined and entry into them occurs higher up on their footbeds. But this necessitated several seams that ran down to the transition between upper and sole edge, meaning water could leak through stitches at this location. Therefore, one began creating an “apron” on top of vamp to raise seams away from ground level. However, one challenge was large leather pieces, this made keeping a pattern with quarters and facings in one piece quite complicated.
Also learn about the diffrent Toe shapes.
After some thought, it occurred to me that one could make a split in the toe, then sew using skin stitch meaning no thread goes completely through leather for added strength and resistance against water penetration. Now they had devised solutions that combined material usage, pattern and moisture resistance into one seamless design, with only the back stitch remaining as an Achilles Heel of sorts at the bottom of the upper now a weakness at its base. Shoes often featured a storm welt or similar water resistant features as further explained in these pictures by British bespoke shoemaker Nicholas Templeman.
At its origins lies debate. One version suggests it was designed for fishermen in Norway needing water-resistent shoes, another suggests it may have originated in England where workers building channels and railways during the 1800s and early 1900s (known as navigational engineers or “navvys”) required waterproof shoes due to wet fields they worked in, hence its nickname of Norwegian derby or even more commonly, “navvy cut.”