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I know some people will ask about what to do if you want authentic looking shoes but need arch support. There are shoes made with hidden modern support or modern soles. The shoes made by Armstreet are like this, though I have never personally used shoes from them, many of them appear to be based off of direct historical examples, and are made to have the comfort of a modern shoe.

I think one thing to keep in mind is for some time periods there won't be a big range of materials to chose from.
For example, there may only be a single local tannery and the majority of the leather would be from local farm animals.
So people would end up with a lot of matching gear, eg belts, pouches, etc simple due to that being the only source of material.

Babe, wake up! New Living Anachronism vid just dropped

I never thought of it before, but low boots and leg wraps make a lot more sense than tall boots in so many ways...

I use a modified plains Indian moccasin myself. They are so comfortable I wear them near daily even in wet or snow. Properly oiled they are very water resistant.
My suggestion would be to get a slightly larger size than your foot so a heavy sock can be used in cold weather

“Stepping through time” is a great reference for medieval shoes. This book is organized by the construction details of the shoe, not by region or time period. It is a great visual reference for the medieval shoe maker.

as someone who's been cosplaying for the last decade before shifting into reenactment/ren faires, I wholly attest to your notion that people pay attention to footwear, even if it's subconscious, footwear can really make or break a costume lol

I have been homeless for about a month. I look like a LARPer adventurer, I wear "barefoot" boots and based my fantasy characrer look from these: sno-seal, boots from etsy. I wear them, and wool leg/arm wraps, pants, a leather belt/utility sash, a vest, wool button shirt, and a poncho, with a hood. My mountain bike, is my mule, right now.

The shoe and legwrappings makes a lot of sense when you remember that making things is energy and resource intensive. Getting leather involves someone killing a cow or hunting another animal down, curing the leather, sewing everything through a tough material and the more work you can cut out the better.

It's the same reasons why coats and jackets became really popular after sewing machines were invented. Before that it was easier to buy a bigger piece of cloth, treat it with wax or some other kind of water resistant material and just drape it over yourself to keep off the rain and win. A coat and jacket requires a ton more stitching and outright work to make.

There's a lot that can be learned from footwear.

Ancient Romans loved sandals with nails in their soles. They gave good traction on soft ground, but were ironically absolutely horrible in cities and on streets! The advantage of sandals was that water would run out fast, if you step into a puddle, or cross a river.

Japanese seem to have had a strong aversion to closed shoes as well. This might be explained by their warmer temperatures and obnoxious humidity, which could result in trench feet... Moreover, later when Tatami transitioned from beds to flooring, they needed to quickly get in and out o shoes. Thus, Geta were near ideal for their requirements.

The iconic musketeer boot isn't just style over function. The brim can actually be unrolled so that a shin-high boot suddenly covers the entirety of the leg. Apparently, it was more comfortable to wear them rolled up. The heel secured the stirrup and the boot was still rather lose (like modern cowboy boots, perhaps worse), which makes sense when you all of your horse and don't want to get dragged along...

The long-toe shoes had their equivalent in armor. At least there the rolled-up toe was bound up so that it doesn't get in the way, but it was still fully articulated, which probably increased the manhours by another 100...

WWII soldiers still had leather soles and no padding inside (perhaps cork, but mostly leather). This could be very slippery in certain circumstances.

Modern shoes have shivs securing our arch, too narrow toe boxes, and have unnecessarily high heels, and try to compensate with excessive padding. This means that most modern people have deformed feet and walk completely differently. You can even see this comparing skeletons! Plus, it does affect martial arts.

You missed a sole option. It was more common prior to the medieval period but was still used in the period: hobnailed soles. It's a heavier sole with hobnails driven through, the point then bent and driven back into the sole. This creates a type of cleat that is great for outdoor terrain. I believe there is also evidence for hobnails in pattens as well. The big thing to watch out for is that you'll slip and slide on any kind of hard surface (wood, concrete, rock, ect.)

I'm writing a story where most of the main characters come from a mountainous climate, and I've been wondering for a long time what kind of shoes they would wear.  This video helps a lot.

The footwear of an outfit is the most difficult to figure out. It makes everything else seem more plausible, and authentice.

I found out something important about leather soles!

Medieval leather soles (and a few modern high-quality soles today) were made from leather that was tanned in a specific way, because only then it would be solid enough, not rub off and be waterproof.
It was achieved basically by burying the leather for 1-3 years underground surrounded by oak bark pieces, shifting it every three months or so.
But! 😱 Although that used to be a central and usual material to use centuries ago, that leather is hard to come by these days!
Media in my country claims that the last tannery to make it closed in 2022, but some research found a very few workshops that talk about that process in their websites and say they still make it.
Of course such leather is expensive as it takes so long to make.

>> Maybe we have no idea how a real leather sole behaves!
>> We should really create a demand!

Wow, just last night I was trying to explain to my daughter why Daddy makes so much noise when walking around the house and I don’t. But I couldn’t think of a good reason other than “old house, more weight.”

I’ve developed a barefoot stride because I spent much of my youth hiking in the woods - you guessed it - barefoot.

THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING

Yesss, the Ranger's Apprentice reference!! I love your channel Kramer, it's such a great resource for writers like myself. I'm currently working with a Ranger OC, so having these criteria to help me figure out what boots would make most sense for him is awesome. Also, just seeing the completely different walking gaits in hard-soled vs soft-soled shoes was absolutely mind-blowing, I never realized how unnatural walking with hard-soled shoes looked until now.

Nice supple leather boots you have there , Adventurer.

4:50 that looks exactly like the typical basque footwear we use when dressing up in period clothing, so funny!

Now I'm just thinking of dutch wooden shoes.  Definitely practical I swear.

For traditional waterproofing of shoes and other clothes rub your shoes with beeswax and then heat them with a hair dryer, repeat a few times. The wax will melt and make a layer preventing water from penetrating the fabric.