30/10/2025
A Black inventor from Suriname solved the biggest problem in shoemaking—and made shoes affordable for millions. You've never heard of him.
In the late 1800s, shoes were a luxury most people couldn't afford.
They were expensive—costing weeks of wages for a working-class family. They took days to make, with each pair being crafted entirely by hand by skilled artisans. And there was one step in the process that was so difficult, so labor-intensive, that it created a bottleneck in the entire shoe industry:
"Lasting"—attaching the upper part of the shoe to the sole.
This step required extraordinary skill. A master "laster" could produce about 50 pairs of shoes per day—and they were paid well for this specialized work because no one had figured out how to mechanize it. Inventors had tried for decades to create a lasting machine, but the process was too complex, too delicate. Everyone said it couldn't be done.
Then came Jan Ernst Matzeliger.
Matzeliger was born on September 15, 1852, in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana (now Suriname). His father was a Dutch engineer, his mother was a Black Surinamese woman. In the colonial society of Suriname, his mixed-race background placed him in a complicated social position.
As a young man, he worked as an apprentice in machine shops, learning mechanics and engineering. At age 19, he left Suriname and spent two years working on ships, eventually landing in the United States in 1873 at age 20 or 21.
He settled in Lynn, Massachusetts—which was, at the time, the shoe capital of the world. Lynn's factories produced millions of pairs of shoes annually, and the entire city's economy revolved around footwear.
Matzeliger found work in a shoe factory, and it was there that he saw the problem: the lasting process was the bottleneck preventing mass production.
Skilled lasters were in high demand, commanding high wages. Shoe manufacturers were limited by how many skilled workers they could employ. And despite decades of attempts, no one had successfully mechanized the lasting process.
Matzeliger decided to solve it.
There was just one problem: he barely spoke English. He'd arrived speaking Dutch and Portuguese. He taught himself English while working long factory shifts. At night, he taught himself mechanical drawing and engineering through books and observation.
And he started designing a lasting machine.
For six years (approximately 1877-1883), Matzeliger worked on his invention—often late into the night, after 10-hour factory shifts. He built model after model, testing, failing, refining. He faced skepticism from everyone. Investors thought it was impossible. Fellow workers doubted him. As a Black man in 1880s America, he faced constant racism and discrimination that made securing funding and support even harder.
But on March 20, 1883, Jan Ernst Matzeliger received Patent No. 274,207 for his lasting machine.
And it worked.
Matzeliger's machine could do the work of multiple skilled lasters—and do it faster and more consistently.
The exact productivity increase varied, but estimates suggest his machine could produce 150 to 700 pairs of shoes per day, depending on the model and conditions. This was three to fourteen times faster than the best hand-lasters.
The impact was immediate and revolutionary:
Shoe prices dropped by about 50%. What had been a luxury item became affordable for working-class families. For the first time, durable, well-made footwear was accessible to ordinary Americans.
Think about what that meant: children could have shoes that fit properly. Workers could have footwear that protected their feet. People didn't have to choose between buying shoes and buying food.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger's invention changed daily life for millions of people.
But success came at a cost.
To get his invention into production, Matzeliger had to sell controlling interest in his patent to investors. He received some payment and stock, but he never fully benefited financially from his revolutionary invention. The lasting machine eventually became part of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, which dominated the industry for decades—making fortunes for its owners.
Matzeliger himself continued working, refining his machine, developing improvements. But the long hours, the years of stress, and the poor working conditions took their toll.
He contracted tuberculosis—a disease that was often fatal in that era, particularly for people without access to proper medical care or rest.
On August 24, 1889, Jan Ernst Matzeliger died. He was 37 years old.
He'd lived just six years after patenting his invention. He died before he could see the full impact of his work—before his machine became standard in factories worldwide, before shoe manufacturing was transformed completely, before his invention helped create the modern footwear industry.
Here's what makes Matzeliger's story so important—and so overlooked:
He solved a problem that had stumped inventors for decades. He did it while working a full-time factory job. He taught himself the necessary engineering and mechanical skills. He persevered through racism, poverty, and skepticism. He created an invention that made a basic necessity—shoes—affordable for millions.
And most people have never heard of him.
His invention is still in use today—the basic principles of his lasting machine underlie modern automated shoe manufacturing. Every pair of mass-produced shoes you've ever worn was made possible by Jan Ernst Matzeliger's innovation.
But for most of the 20th century, his story was forgotten. It wasn't until the 1990s that he began to receive wider recognition:
1991: Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
1991: United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in his honor
His story is now taught in some schools as part of Black history and invention history
Why was he forgotten for so long?
Part of it is the usual fate of inventors whose companies eclipse them—the United Shoe Machinery Corporation became famous; Matzeliger didn't. But racism played an enormous role. Black inventors were systematically erased from historical narratives. Their contributions were overlooked, minimized, or attributed to others.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger died young, poor, and largely unrecognized. The men who profited from his invention lived to old age and wealth. For decades, shoe industry leaders were celebrated as visionaries—while the Black immigrant who'd actually solved the industry's biggest problem was forgotten.
But his invention speaks for itself.
Every time you slip on a pair of affordable, mass-produced shoes—every time you don't have to think about whether you can afford footwear—you're benefiting from Jan Ernst Matzeliger's genius and determination.
He came from Suriname with no formal engineering training. He taught himself English and mechanical drawing. He worked a grueling factory job while inventing at night. He persevered through racism and poverty. He solved a problem everyone said was impossible.
And he made shoes—a basic human necessity—available to everyone.
That's not a footnote in history. That's a revolution that changed millions of lives.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger died at 37, poor and sick, his invention enriching others. But his legacy walks with us every single day—literally.
Every shoe you've ever worn owes a debt to a young man from Suriname who refused to accept that a problem was unsolvable, and who spent six years of his short life making sure that working people could afford the shoes they needed.
His name should be as famous as Edison or Bell. But it's not—yet.
So now you know: Jan Ernst Matzeliger, 1852-1889. The man who made shoes affordable for the world.
