#brannock device

I do love those rare occasions when I find a Brannock Device, that thing you measure your feet with when fitting shoes, at a thrift.

Brannock Device Night in Syracuse

The Brannock Device is the standard tool for measuring shoe size; it was invented by one Charles F. Brannock in the mid ‘20s and remains ubiquitous in shoe stores today. Brannock Devices were made for decades in Syracuse, New York (they’re now made just outside Syracuse in Liverpool, New York), and Brannock himself attended Syracuse University, so the AAA Syracuse Chiefs are holding a tribute night to the great man and his great foot measurer. It’s not yet clear what Brannock Night will entail, but if you’re a shoe fit fan, you’ll want to mark May 31st on your calendar. 

Strange things I collect; Brannock devices. I have four different models.

Brannock Device

Another weird gadget day! If you've recently gone shopping at a shoe store in the 1950s, you've seen one of these things. You stick your heel in one end and the shoe salesperson measures the size of your foot, and then you stick your other heel in the other end and the shoe salesperson measures, and then you're told everything that might fit your feet is out of stock.

Well, this weird gadget has a name! It's called the Brannock Device and you can buy one yourself!

The Brannock Device story is actually pretty cool and a little bit tumblresque. The guy who invented it, Charles Brannock, initially just thought it'd be useful as a thing to use at his own shoe store. Then he got convinced to manufacture the things and sell to other shoe stores, and he even landed a sweet Army contract during World War II to make sure soldiers' boots fit properly when they went overseas to shoot Nazis.

Charles Brannock could have made these things out of plastic so that they'd frequently break and need replacing, and he didn't. (They're basically unkillable, and the only way you end up needing a new one is if the numbers wear off.) And when he finally had to sell the company, he only sold it to someone who promised to maintain that same tradition. Most companies mean "make something worse and discontinue the old product" when they introduce an "improvement". Brannock meant "the same sturdy metal thing that lasts forever, except in orange and metric".

So that’s what it’s called!

Ever wonder that thingy is? What is that doohickey? What do you call that stuff? Well they all have names. Now it’s time to get your learn on.

"The Brannock Device Co. manufactures the ubiquitous shoe-store contraption that you’ve almost certainly used but probably can’t name. It’s called the Brannock Device, and the people who’ve been selling them for almost a century say they’re more concerned with the demise of brick-and-mortar stores than a smartphone app that measures feet."

Nike’s new shoe-sizing technology doesn’t worry the company that’s been measuring feet for 92 years https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-13/nike-threat-doesn-t-scare-maker-of-archaic-shoe-measuring-tool via @luxury

What Does IT FITS Feel Like?

There are a minimum of 10 products advocates say you should never buy pre-owned:

Hats

Helmets

Wetsuits

Baby bottles

Computer software

Mattresses

Cribs

Upholstered furniture

Tires

And shoes.

The common denominator? These products have been worn in to the other person’s unique physique (or a car’s mechanical engineering).

At ELM Shoes, we focus on making someone feel at home in their own shoes by…