The shoe sole attaching press comprises two shoe support arrangements (18) arranged side-by-side, and two jack arrangements (20), one associated with each shoe support arrangement. For firstly engaging a shoe assembly between these two arrangements and for thereafter pressing the assembly therebetween means (not shown) is provided for effecting relevant movement of approach between the arrangements. The press also comprises a gripper arrangement (48) which is mounted so as to be able to engage a shoe assembly being pressed and, after the pressing operation, to remove the pressed assembly from the operating locality, thus enabling the operator to load a further assembly for a further operation. If desired, furthermore, the gripper arrangement is so movable as to enable successive shoe assemblies to be loaded successively into channels (52, 54, 46, 58) of e.g. a shoe chilling apparatus.