thumb|upright=1.15|A cordwainer [[Shoemaking|making shoes, Capri, Italy]]
thumb|A cordwainer's desk in [[Hamburg, in the background a shelf with lasts]]
thumb|Tombstone of the shoemaker Xanthippos. Marble, Greek artwork, ca. 430–420 BC. From Athens.
A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the 's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is not universally observed, as the word cobbler is widely used for tradespeople who make or repair shoes.
The Oxford English Dictionary classifies the word cordwainer as archaic, but "still used in the names of guilds, for example, the Cordwainers' Company"; but its definition of cobbler mentions only mending,
Etymology
The term cordwainer entered English as cordewaner(e), from the Anglo-Norman cordewaner (from Old French , ', ', etc.), and initially denoted a worker in cordwain or cordovan, the leather historically produced in Moorish Córdoba, Spain, in the Middle Ages, as well as, more narrowly, a shoemaker. The earliest attestation in English is a reference to "Randolf se cordewan[ere]", ca. 1100. Today, many makers of bespoke shoes will also repair their own work, but shoe repairers are not normally in a position to manufacture new footwear.
thumb |A statue of a cordwainer in the [[Cordwainer ward of the City of London.]]
In London, the guild of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers historically controlled the occupation of cordwainer. Granted a royal charter of incorporation in 1439, the Guild had received its first ordinance in 1272.
Until 2000 a Cordwainers' Technical College existed in London. For over a hundred years, the college had been recognised as one of the world's leading establishments for training shoemakers and leather workers. It produced some of the leading fashion designers, including Jimmy Choo (born 1948) and Patrick Cox (born 1963). In 2000 Cordwainers' College was absorbed into the London College of Fashion, the shoe-design and accessories departments of which have become "Cordwainers at London College of Fashion".
In Scotland, in 1722, the cordwainers petitioned "to be incorporated and separated from the shoe-makers or those who make single-soled shoes".
Canada
The early settlers of Canada also included cordwainers. On 14 June 1749, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis, arrived off Chebucto Head, Nova Scotia in the sloop-of-war HMS Sphinx with the objective of establishing the settlement now called Halifax. By 27 June, thirteen transport-ships following the Sphinx reached the harbour with the initial 2,576 British settlers – among them nineteen cordwainers.
See also
- Daughters of St. Crispin, an American labor union of female shoemakers
- List of shoe styles
- Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, an American labor union of 50,000 shoemakers c. 1870