Historiography of the Shoemaking and Footwear Industry in the Bohemian Lands from Economic, Social, Regional and Urban History Perspectives: State of Research and New Approaches

The history of shoemaking and the footwear industry is a well-established topic in Czech economic and social, as well as regional and urban historiography. A broad range of topics and approaches to this area of research can be found in Czech historiography. One drawback of the continuous interest in the history of shoemaking and the footwear industry is the lack of suitable methodology and the existence of many as yet unexplored topics, especially as regards the period after 1945. This study presents an overview, based on chronology and genre, of the existing historiographical work in the fi eld of economic, social, regional and urban history. It also draws attention to the so-called New Product History (Produktgeschichte), a methodological perspective not yet established in the Czech environment. Its advantage lies in its broad contextualization of the history of a particular product by conducting a historical analysis of the product life cycle (historische Produktlinienanalyse).