In the Brothers Grimm tale “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” the elves make shoes at night.
The shoemaker becomes so poor that he has leather for only one final pair of shoes. He cuts the leather and leaves it on his workbench before going to bed. In the morning, he finds that the leather has been turned into beautifully made shoes. The same thing happens repeatedly, allowing him to sell the shoes and recover financially.
The shoemaker and his wife eventually discover that two small elves are doing the work. They decide to thank them by making clothes and shoes suited to the elves. Once the gifts are left out, the elves dress themselves and disappear, and the shoemaker no longer receives their nighttime help.
The Grimm story is a compact example of a helpful supernatural creature tale. Its central object is sometimes mistakenly described as clothing generally, but the elves specifically produce shoes.