SHOES, Safety

Pair of safety shoes, fawn with decorative dark, double stitching and darker toning. Black soles and mid brown inside. Has steel toe caps. Above the outline of a cat, "CATS" and below, in a border, "PLUS 50". Following is printed: "LEATHER UPPER / NON LEATHER LINING / NON LEATHER SOLE / MADE BY TUF FOOTWEAR P/L". Soles are firm with non-skid surface and marked "MADE IN ENGLAND" Worn with H92/0421 and H92/0422. Worn briefly by Alvia Dimascio while a supervisor at Arnott Mills & Ware. Alvia commenced work with the company in 1955 after attending South Fremantle Primary School. One of her first jobs was in the creaming room (for some years). In 1992, Alvia was interviewed by Stuart Reid and described much about work on the factory floor at Arnott, Mills & Ware. Included was the bonus system, the processes of creaming, discipline in the 1950s, wrapping and cellophaning, the union and closure of the factory. Alvia bought the shoes through the company in about 1977 but the steel caps hurt her feet so much that she put them in the bottom of her locker and left them until closure of the factory. She purchased instead, through Arnotts, white lace up shoes of the type worn by nurses, going through an average of two pairs a year due to constant wear on the steel and cement floors.

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History Collection

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