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Jan Matzeliger - HAUTE Shoe LEGEND!!!!
An energetic young woman peruses the Saks Fifth Avenue Shoe section and tries on various shoes. She doesn’t realize that decades earlier, a young gifted African American would single handedly change the face of shoemaking as we know it today.
Jan Matzeliger was born in Dutch, Guyana to a Dutch engineer father and black Surinamese slave mother. At a young age Jan began to show remarkable ability in various areas. At the age of 19 he began work as a sailor on a merchant ship and soon found employment in a shoe factory. While working in the factory, Jan became enamored with the possibilities of creating a lasting shoe via a machine.
Alone in the factory night after night, he produced a model carved of wood and eventually he would find success. On March 20, 1883, he received a patent and his work caused a windstorm of success. He would continue to prove his knowledge of manufacturing shoe design by cause and effect.
Jan would eventually master the art of speaking Basic English and this would cause his business to flourish as well. He was also offered various amounts of monies to sell his product which he steadfastly declined.
Alone in the factory night after night, he produced a model carved of wood and eventually he would find success. On March 20, 1883, he received a patent and his work caused a windstorm of success. He would continue to prove his knowledge of manufacturing shoe design by cause and effect.
Jan would eventually master the art of speaking Basic English and this would cause his business to flourish as well. He was also offered various amounts of monies to sell his product which he steadfastly declined.
It was widely reported that his machine could speed up the production of shoes considerably. With the previous assembling of a shoe, it would have to be done by hand and one could only produce 50 pairs of a day. However, his machine would go on to produce 150 to 700 pairs of shoes a day and cut the shoe prices across the nation in half.
Unfortunately, Matzeliger fell victim to tuberculosis and passed away at the age of 37 years old. On September 15, 1991, he was honored with an Official Postage Stamp bearing his name and image as a symbol of recognition of his accomplishments.
Daily, we put on some type of shoe and never wonder how the shoe was invented. Here at Legends, Icons and Role Models, we salute Jan Matzeliger for having the courage to use his hands to allow his dream to unfold. This makes him a LEGEND
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