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George Cleverley model for David Beckham
Jose Maria Lopez-Galiacho | http://www.elaristocrat.com/ ShareAt a time when craftsmanship is valued like never before, multiple shops and brands offer "made-to-measure" shoes. However, there are very few who make truly exceptional shoes, sewn by hand and made according only to the measurements of each foot and not, as is often the case, following more or less standard lasts. The perfection achieved today both in the design and in the execution of custom-made shoes by some artisan shoemakers who maintain the technique of past centuries makes never-before-seen shoes available to sybarites from half the world.
A "bespoke" shoe involves taking detailed measurements of the foot and making a specific wooden last for each of them. They have little to do with the made-to-measure models or those sewn by hand on standard lasts. The following cobblers make 100% bespoke shoes.
George Cleverley's shoe
Defined by actor Jason Statham as "the best shoes on the planet", the feet of Winston Churchill, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart passed through his hands. Today his son, George Cleverley, and creative director George Glasgow continue to offer custom shoes. To their bespoke line, of classic English lines, they added a few years ago another cheaper one.
It is important not to confuse this London artisan house with the industrial shoes that the Hermès group markets halfway around the world, also under the name of John Lobb. With two royal distinctions, the most mythical house of artisan shoemaking - it opened its doors in 1866 - has withstood two world wars and five bombings. Enrico Caruso, Dean Martin, Aristotle Onassis and Prince Charles have bared their feet in its rooms. Today Jonathan Lobb, Lobb's fifth generation, continues sewing from the historic number 9 St. James Street only custom-made shoes.
British house founded in 1840, it is one of the few historical shoe stores that is still in private hands. His bespoke sports shoes earned him worldwide fame among established fashionistas like Clark Gable. Their custom high boots are a cult object and the 12-month wait is an unavoidable requirement to be able to boast of having one of their bespoke models. Faithful to the most British style of the West End, today it makes both custom-made and ready-to-wear shoes.
Hidetaka Fukaya's shoe, "Il Micio"
Trained in the ranks of John Lobb, Anthony Delos left his career as an independent shoemaker in 2012 to join the ranks of the French house Berluti and become responsible for its new lasts, training young apprentices and taking measurements for new clients. Russian, Arabic and Japanese. Despite his travel schedule, he still makes a pair of shoes a month; shoes for which he allows himself the luxury of charging five-digit figures, considered one of the best hormers in the world.
While the British Jonathan Lobb or Jon Spencer are recognized for giving life to classic handmade shoes, Il Micio, nickname as this young Japanese is known, focuses on getting shoes that stand out, in addition to their craftsmanship quality, for their groundbreaking design; design where sharp toecaps make it clear who is behind its creation. Based in Florence, he learned the trade from Alessandro Stella and today his double buckle, his balmoral boots and his moccasins are objects of desire among the new dandies.
Foster & Son Oxford Shoe
It represents the union of the two oldest and most recognized artisan methods of custom shoemaking: the English and the Hungarian. In fact, his Oxford models are very similar to the British and his Derbys have the somewhat armed and coarse look of the Hungarian shoe store. He learned the trade under the Hungarian Julius Harai to continue training in London with Eric Lobb (John Lobb) and Terry Moore (Foster & Son). Today in his Hamburg workshop only custom-made shoes are made. Although these do not have the careful design of their Italian or French colleagues, they do offer enormous quality and timeless aesthetics.
He is one of the main representatives of the purest tradition of London's West End, where the last, mounting and sewing are all done by hand and only the sewing of the cuts is done by machine. He worked for John Lobb for seven years specializing in making lasts, following the same technique as 500 years ago, extracting them from a block of wood still far from the final last (today it is normal to touch up type lasts, something that detracts from the authenticity of the shoe final). His sensibility with design -he has a degree in art- achieves beautifully made shoes. Contrary to what is common, he makes practically all of the shoe, which forces him to produce a limited but highly demanded production.
Japan is, with Italy and France, the country where the shoe industry has reached the highest levels of beauty. Yohei, only 35 years old, has already worked for two big names in London: Edward Green and Cleverly. The conservative line of both houses encouraged him to open his own workshop in Tokyo in 2007 with more daring proposals. Only his hands and those of an apprentice give life to his 60 annual pairs. Unlike other craftsmen, he makes the test shoe with the same leather as the final one, mounting it only when the client is satisfied with all the measurements.
John Lobb Shoes
After graduating in art, this young Japanese man -40 years old- spent some time in the world of jewelry until he knocked on the door of the shoemaking school in Tokyo. After two years of training he got on a plane that landed in Paris where he started making shoes in the garage of his house. His love led her to Hong Kong, setting up the balcony of his new house to pursue his dream. Working only the bespoke line and combining French elegance with English simplicity has earned him recognition unthinkable for a self-made shoemaker.
This Frenchman, trained for seven years in the well-known French organization Compagnons du Tour de France, passed through the ranks of John Lobb Paris and Stefano Bemer before opening his own workshop. Currently, helped only by his wife, he works only "under appointment" a clausus number of 15 pairs a year, something that forces the client to have to order years in advance. The profiled toe of his shoes is somewhat reminiscent of that of his Florentine master.
