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Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17206, 28 June 1916, Page 10

Leather has risen enormously in price in Germany since ihc beginning of the war, so much so that the cost of all leather articles has more than doubled. This increase in the price of leather has .hit the Germans very hard in tho case of boots and shoes. In most towns non-, for the poorer people, all sorts of substitutes for leather are being sold. Felt is replacing the leather in the uppers of boots, while another favourite substitute is sailcloth M-armly lined. Wood is being used for soles, and, according to the German papers, a method jhas been found of making the wood flexible, so doing away with the noise that clogs and wooden shoes generally make. The price of these new wooden boots and shoes is from 3s to os a pair, an immense saving on leather ones. But they don’t last Imlf as lona.