This article is about the occupation. For the material also known as cordwain, see Leather. For the science-fiction writers, see Cordwainer Smith and Cordwainer Bird.
Person who makes shoes
A cordwainer making shoes, Capri, ItalyA cordwainer's desk in Hamburg, in the background a shelf with lastsTombstone of the shoemaker Xanthippos. Marble, Greek artwork, ca. 430–420 BC. From Athens.
A cordwainer (/ˈkɔːrdˌweɪnər/) is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes.[1] This usage distinction is not universally observed, as the word cobbler is widely used for tradespersons who make or repair shoes.[2][3][4]
The Oxford English Dictionary[5] says that the word cordwainer is archaic, "still used in the names of guilds, for example, the Cordwainers' Company"; but its definition of cobbler mentions only mending,[5] reflecting the older distinction. Play 14 of the Chester Mystery Plays was presented by the guild of corvisors, known to mean shoemakers.[6][7]