The history of Swedish clogs

For centuries, wood has been used as a footwear material. Because of it’s durability, low cost, and availability, numerous cultures have developed a variant of the wooden soled shoe today known as a clog. For example, Dutch klompen were used by farmers, laborers, and peasants over generations as safe, cheap, and practical shoes. However, with the rise of yoga and jogging during the 1970s wooden clogs found their way into the fashion world, and the Swedish clog known as a “trätofflor” became the most popular among them.

Wooden clogs or “toffels” as they are called in southern Sweden have been manufactured in wood and leather in Sweden for well over 100 years. The traditional Scandinavian or Swedish clogs are manufactured with leather uppers and wooden clog soles. The best wood for the wooden base is considered to be alderwood, but many producers also use birch, beech and lime. The leather is almost exclusively from cow.

It is not clear why cobblers began to make shoes out of wood, but it was probably because the wood protected against the often unpleasant Swedish weather. There is also plenty of wood in Scandinavia, which may explain why many large factories were built during the 60s and 70s especially in southern Sweden. During the 1970s, several wooden shoe factories produced both women's clog sandals and men's styles and containers were regularly sent to both North America and Europe and Swedish clogs became a well-known concept across much of the world.

Swedish wooden clogs proved both fashionable and ergonomic, since they soften the impact of walking on hard surfaces and provide an even support across the entire foot. Both medical workers and fashionable men and women embraced the traditional Scandinavian clogs as a symbol of authenticity, as well as a practical footwear.

How about Sweden? A large part of the wooden slippers produced also stayed at home in Sweden and most of us have happy memories and old photographs where the whole family is wearing Swedish clogs. For many of us, the clogs are part of what you think of when you look back at the Swedish “folkhemmet” and family memories.

Today, both women's sandals and wooden clogs are often used as men's health shoes and as work shoes in the restaurant industry, but clog sandals have also become modern and can often be seen both in big cities and in holiday resorts along the coast. For more information visit: https://troentorpsclogs.com/