As people’s environmental awareness increases, we have also seen a demand for vegetable tanned upper leathers to a greater extent than before. The shoes above are an example of such, with veg-tanned grain leather from the Swedish tannery Tärnsjö, on the Shoegazing boot Sarek that I did with Hungarian Vass a few years ago.
Cordovan is an immensely popular material for shoes and leather accessories, with its special character and features. However, it was not until about 100 years ago that it first started to be used for shoes, since cordovan tanneries were forced to further develop the material after a new invention caused a historical crisis for the cordovan industry.
Most people know that one should be careful not to put their leather shoes closer to hot radiators, as it risks drying out the leather. Less known is the related problem of underfloor heating, which can cause the same problems.
Ippo is a Japanese manga comic book that follows a young Japanese bespoke shoemaker’s everyday life. Nice enough, English translations of the first two volumes are available online, where you can read the comic book free of charge.
Hear bespoke shoemaker Daniel Wegan talk about dedication, which took him to the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling, made him the head of the same department, and this year he won the World Championships in Shoemaking. He also gives a bunch of advice to aspiring shoemakers.
In old industrial neighbourhoods in the slightly rough town of Kettering in eastern Northamptonshire, one of England’s largest manufacturers of Goodyear welted shoes, Loake Shoemaker, houses. Around 4,000 pairs of shoes are produced here each week.
Now you have the English version of this blog at Shoegazing.com, instead of as before at Shoegazing.se/english, a definite gain I feel. At the same time, I have now launched a Patreon site where anyone who can and wants to have the opportunity to support Shoegazing and be involved in enabling continued high-level content.
One of the most interesting bespoke shoemakers today is Atelier du Tranchet / Tranchet Vif, run by Christophe Corthay and Christophe Algans, which not least the above is proof of. A heel built of very thin stacks of coloured leather, which creates a gorgeous rainbow heel. Also briefly about an interview with the me in Scandinavian Man.
Over the weekend, Spanish Carmina runs a campaign where the MTO charge is waived, which means you can order a completely personalised shoe, both men’s and women’s, at the same cost as models from the regular RTW range.
Another super trunk is done. Last weekend’s event in Stockholm gathered around 700 visitors, about 70 pairs of shoes were sold (and many more ordered after the event) and the atmosphere was as usual great. Here is a summary of the day in text and a lot of pictures.
