Time for the fourth World Championships of Shoemaking, where the final takes place during the London Super Trunk Show on May 13 2023. In the prize pool is £6,000 (€7,000 / $7,300), and a chance to be showcased for shoe lovers around the world. For the first time, a boot is to be made. Here’s all the info about the competition.
The Black Friday sales rush is on full throttle, and there’s loads of great sales ongoing at the moment. As always, Shoegazing is here to highlight a few of them for your bargaining pleasure.
Last month samples from eight different bespoke shoemakers were gathered at Gallery Quadro in central Tokyo, in ambition to open up for interest from a new group of people. Shoegazing visited the reception, and talked with a few of the shoemakers exhibiting: Nayuta Takahashi and Kiyo Uda who also run Tweed & Mouth, and Ken Hishinuma of Khish the Work.
This is a photo from the finishing department at the Crockett & Jones factory in Northampton, where the factory worker is going over the final details. One of the strengths, in general, of the British shoemaking factories is the very solid, even quality level, which certainly isn’t the easiest to achieve.
The Spanish brand Meermin runs their first factory seconds sale aimed to the North American market, where you can find their welted footwear at up to 60% off RRP, so starting at below $100. Real chances to grab a bargain, if one acts fast.
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The Chinese premium brand Acme Shoemaker has introduced a new range of more affordable shoes. The shoes are still hand lasted, hand welted with fully hand stitched sole seams – but some simpler make means they can be offered at €900. Looks like quite a lot of bang for the buck.
Calzoleria Carlino is an Italian maker who slowly but steadily started to make a name of itself domestically and internationally in recent years. An old-school, traditional Italian style enhanced by the extensive use of some amazing vintage leathers, combined with a good price tag, makes them highly interesting. Here’s a buyer’s guide to the brand, with a pair of remote bespoke lazyman oxfords in vintage pigskin they’ve made for me as a base.
This is a very simple tip, which may not be obvious to everyone. It’s about making sure that the shoe trees are pushed as far forward as they can go in your shoes. It’s not uncommon for the spring on the shoe blocks to be a bit flimsy, and may need a little help to straighten the sole as much as it should.
Almost 100 questions came in for this Q&A Special of the Shoegazing Podcast, with none other than the Japanese bespoke shoemaker Yohei Fukuda. A selection of all these were asked to him during an interesting talk, touching upon everything from the time spent on making his shoes to where inspiration for his style comes from.
The well-renowned French bespoke shoemaker Atelier du Tranchet – run by Christophe Corthay and Christophe Algans – closed its doors permanently yesterday. After a tough couple of years the highly creative footwear maker decided to shut down the business, which was met with sadness from many in the business.
