Report on Sustainability of a Consumer Product Technology

This report touches upon sustainability of the consumer product. The paper analyzes shoes as the major product and gives a lot of information concerning manufacturing and technology of the product. It also describes environmental issues, reuse and recycling infrastructure.

 

INTRODUCTION
It is known that shoes play an important role in the life of any person. Shoes are necessary for active life of a person. High quality shoes make it possible to move in any weather conditions. Shoes keep our feet protected in any season. High quality and comfort are the main characteristics of the good shoes.

Nowadays shoes are represented not only in various shapes and sizes but also in different colors and designs. New technologies improved the quality of shoes and guarantee long term of wearing. Shoes take their own special position in the world of fashion which includes numerous famous brands such as Gucci shoes and Dolce Vita shoes and others.

The history of the product
According to the historical data, the history of shoes began more than 50,000 years ago. The main reason of creating shoes lies in the necessity to protect feet from cold, dirt and other harmful impacts. It is known that many years ago people tried to hide their feet from sharp rocks, stones, hot sand and terrible weather conditions which could damage the health of a man into rude shoes. The other reason of creating shoes lies in the desire to decorate feet. In medieval ages, wealthy men wore decorative shoes which proved the fact that they belonged to noble class. Shoes not only help to express our fashion sense but also shoes help to show the individuality of a person. (Abney, 2010, para.2)
The first shoes which were successfully worn by men were sandals. According to historian data, Egyptians made shoes from papyrus leaves, Persians made shoes from soft and rude leather.

Sandals were also very popular in Rome and Greece. In the late Middle ages, appeared moccasins and boots. It is known that American Indians also wore moccasins.
In late 1500-s, Thomas Beard, an English clergyman, organized shoemaking in the USA. Shoemaking made it possible to produce not only protective footwear but also decorative shoes for rich people. The shoes also were symbols of status and wealth.

In the 16-th century, appeared the first high-heeled shoes with wooden platforms. They were worn mostly by French wealthy women.
Special shoes were made for special occasions such as wedding, dances and so on. Chopines were worn by Italian and French women. The first shoe factory was founded in the 18-th century by John Adams Dagyr. The other innovation was creation of the first shoe machine in 1883.

Types of shoes
There are a great deal of types of shoes. Each type has its advantages and its drawbacks. It depends up on the situation what type of footwear is suitable. They are boots, slippers, athletic shoes, boat shoes, sandals, platforms, and others.

Mass shoe production made it possible to supply all the people in the world with comfortable footwear.

Technology associated with the product
Nowadays, there are a great deal of different technologies which are used in shoe production. Some of them are rather expensive while others are rather cheap. Leather shoes are considered to be the most expensive because they are made from pure leather. Among the cheapest technologies is production of plastic shoes. They are produced by means of injection machine which injects liquid polyvinyl chloride into a mould. Different models vary in quality, shoe making method and price. In this case the cost of shoe production can be reduced by replacing pure leather by the cheapest raw material ”“ “artificial leather”.(Boon, 1990, p.21)



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