OLD TYRES MAKE SHOES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 863, 6 January 1930, Page 13

OLD TYRES MAKE SHOES

U.S. HAS WORLD EXPORT j TRADE USED IN GREECE AND JAPAN ; How many American motorists | when they discard their old and worn automobile tyres know that they are providing at least three pairs of shoes for some peasant in a distant land? asks a United States exchange. Few Americans while visiting Japan, China and Korea realise that tho stealthy footed coolies wear a “tab!” with a rubber sole cut from an old tyre which they perhaps junked months before in the States. It is little known, but the making of footwear from old tyres has now become a worth-while and profitable industry. Shoes made from junked tyres are worn by the mountaineers in Macedonia and Thrace, the peons and Indians of Latin America and the peasants of Andalusia, Castile and Catalonia. In fact, such shoes are far more popular than the old leather sandals with thongs, although not all take kindly to the'latest “zapata de caouthouc.” This shoe of cast-off rubber is much softer to their feet. It protects Macedonians from the snow, slush and rain of their mountains, and it protects the Mexicans from their sunbaked paths. In Spain tyre shoes are rivalling the inexpensive rope-soled alpargata which has been worn by the people for generations. The neighbourhood junkman in American cities, as well as the large dealer, is only too anxious to buy old tyres, for he knows that there are distributors in foreign ports awaiting his supply. Vessels destined to all points of the globe regularly carry discarded tyres as part of their cargo. The demand for old tyres is particularly strong in the northern section of Greece, where approximately 60,000 junked tyres are imported annually through the port of Salonika. One old tyre yields at least three pairs of Greek shoes. Inasmuch as the tyre-shoe retails around 60 cents of our currency, it may be said that the annual business in tyre-shoes aggregates something like 180,000 dollars.

Shoes worn by the mountaineers of Greece are called “tcharik,” and were formerly made of leather, but the old-fashioned tcharik of leather has almost disappeared since the introduction of the tyre tcharik. The tyre tcharik has become so popular in Greece that the former annual importation of 30,000 to 35,000 cow and buffalo dried hides has been entirely wiped out. t The leather tcharik was made by the peasant from an oblong piece of hide six to eight inches wide, shaped to the foot by turning up the sides of the strip. A leather lacing was placed around through all the edges. A hide tcharik lasted only from one and one-half to two months, while the tyre tcharik wears from eight to 12 months. The rubber tcharik is the more tiresome to wear, because of its weight, but gives better protection from dampness. In making the tcharik the automobile tyre is cut first into the appropriate lengths, after which the carcase or canvas lining is removed. The pieces of tyre are then fastened at heel and toe with wire. The canvas lining is used to make up the tongue and strips with which the tcharik is fastened to the foot by means of a small buckle. The edge of the tyre near the toe of the shoe is cut several times enabling the tcharik to converge slightly. A narrow strip of the carcase is laced around the top of the shoe by means of small slits. This, when drawn, gathers the finished product into the shape of a shoe. In Greece automobile tyres of French origin are more In demand than those from the United States, perhaps because shorter hauls enable them to be sold upon the Greek market at prices below those of the tyres from the United States. The American junkman, however, is obtaining a slight share of the Greek trade. In 1928 the United States shipped to Greece old rubber amounting to 40,606 pounds, valued at 777 dollars. French exporters usually offer old tyres at from 50 to 65 cents apiece, freight prepaid to Salonika. In Spain the new-fashioned footwear is called the "abarca” and has won favour with the simple peasants for its economy and lasting qualities. The industry flourishes in the small towns and villages of the interior provinces. The proprietors of the abarca shops make periodic visits to the trading centres and select the pieces of tyres with great care, often handling individual tyres. The supply of old tyres from Spanish automobiles is never enough for the rapidly growing abarca industry, therefore increasing quantities are imported from the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands. The United States in 1928 exported to Spain 12.413,895 pounds of old rubber, valued at 710,956 dollars.