The Roman Fort of Vindolanda in Northern England has the largest collection of Roman leather anywhere. This includes more than 4000 preserved Roman leather shoes and sandals. Footwear that has survived over 1700 years and with surface designs that bear a striking resemblance to the latest athletic footwear.
Image Via Western University, Canada
© Bridgeman Art Library – Photo © Neil Holmes
Vindolanda and Roman Army Museum
Images Via http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk and Magnolia Box
Images Via Steve Campbell of Scotimages
Good reproductions also exist like this one of the Calceus by Martin Moser and by Wayne Batchelor.
74 FOOTWEAR DESIGN CONSULTING 
I stumbled upon this blog searching for information about traditional load-bearing backpack designs and found an entire goldmine of information. I also plan on trying to make running shoes in the near future. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your research and work.