Bally crisis puts 40,000 historic shoes at risk

Swiss shoe manufacturer Bally is facing a deepening crisis, putting its collection of around 40,000 historic shoes at risk, SRF reports.

In Schönenwerd, a municipality in the canton of Solothurn, a huge outlet centre stands beside the railway station. Beyond it are small workers’ housing developments, modern apartment buildings and a Coop supermarket. About 5,000 people live in the town.

On a former Bally factory site, the Ballyana Foundation has created an exhibition room in Building 7. It contains a sole-stitching machine from 1870 and colourful Bally advertising posters, offering a glimpse of the company’s extensive archive.

The company’s owners and employees collected letters, company magazines, photographs, films and, above all, shoes, said Philipp Abegg, president of the foundation and a Bally descendant. Most of the shoes, however, are not displayed there.

About 40,000 pairs are stored next door in glass cabinets, carefully arranged and completely sealed off from the outside world. The collection includes women’s ankle boots with the famous elastic insert from around 1875 and snake-skin pumps from 1928.

Other examples include a red velvet slipper from 1908, whose production record stated that it was intended “for all countries, especially England”, and a lace-up ankle boot from 1920. Until that year, the ankle boot was the standard men’s shoe, before lower-cut models became established.

The collection also contains a 1939 Derby shoe made from brown calfskin with decorative stitching, a triple leather sole and metal fittings. A 1942 wartime shoe illustrates how shortages of leather and rubber forced Bally to switch to substitute materials when imports became almost impossible.

Snake, lizard, ostrich and seal leather were popular for creating an elegant effect during the interwar period. Later, nature conservation regulations restricted the use of such materials.