This Saturday is the day. The third edition of the London Super Trunk Show, held in the heart of London in 12 Regent Street, gathering more than ten awesome exhibitors and hosting the World Championships in shoemaking, shoe shining and shoe patina. Here’s some practical info ahead of the event, for those who plan to visit, and on the livestreaming we will do for those who can’t attend.
This year’s event is at a new location called Showcase.co, located just below Piccadilly Circus and Jermyn Street, on 12 Regent Street. The superb exhibitor list is as follows: Altan Bottier, Bolero, Carmina, Gaziano & Girling (sample sale), J. FitzPatrick Footwear, JSEP, Japan Shoes Export Platform (Miyagi Kogyo, Oriental/Matsumoto and Kiten), Norman Vilalta, Project TWLV, Shoepassion / Heinrich Dinkelacker and Skolyx / TLB Mallorca. Main partner of the event is Saphir, partner is J. Hopenstand, who also exhibit. The World Championships in Shoemaking will have its award ceremony and competition shoes displayed, the World Championships in Shoe Shining and Shoe Patina will have its finals.
Full schedule for the day:
11:00-19:00 Trunk show open for the public, FREE OF CHARGE AND NO REGISTRATION NEEDED.
11.15-17.15 (1 hour break 14.45-15.45) Final of the World Championships in Shoe Patina in collaboration with Saphir, 1st prize TLB Mallorca shoes through Skolyx (read more in the qualification post).
15.00-15.30 Final of the World Championships in Shoe Shining in cooperation with Saphir, 1st prize shoes from Loake (read more in the qualification post).
17:30-18.00 Award ceremony for the World Championships in Shoe Patina. Award ceremony for the World Championships in Shoemaking, in collaboration with Kirby Allison’s Hanger Project and Master Shoemakers (the book who who also will be exhibited at the event). The top ten including the three podium positions are presented. In the prize pool is £6,000 (€6,700 / $7,800), plus being exhibited at Isetan Men’s, Tokyo, and at other places around the world. (More info in the Call for competition)
19.00 Event closes.
Lots of shoes to drool over on Saturday.
Here’s the Facebook event page, all help spreading the word these final days is appreciated. You may read all about the event and the exhibitors, contests and partners in this article, below is some practical info ahead of Saturday:
– The venue is located at street level on 12 Regent Street, where you pass by the Showcase.co storefront and access the exhibitor space. You can also enter from the side street Carlton Street. There is no mandatory cloakroom service, however, those who wish to hang their coats will have a wardrobe space for that (please note that it’s not under surveillance, we are not responsible for what you hang in the cloakroom). There’s toilets in the back part of the venue space. We haven’t been able to solve a good solution to serve drinks unfortunately, but there’s plenty of places nearby if you need something to eat or drink.
– At 11.00 we open the doors to the public, and we carry on all day until 19.00 in the evening. Previous years we’ve had 800 visitors during the day, at times it can be a bit crowdy around some exhibitors tables, be prepared for that, have patience, respect each other and it will work out just fine.
– At each exhibitors table there will be a bench, mirrors and in most cases carpets. All exhibitors will have lots of samples on display. Many of the exhibitors with RTW shoes will have shoes to be sold on site, and all will take orders. If you try on Ready to Wear models, please only wear them gently on the carpets, don’t walk away with them in the venue. The partners will also sell their products during the day. Most exhibitors will accept credit cards, some will use mainly PayPal for the transaction. In some cases there’s exclusive offers during the day, keep your eyes open.
Crowd in front of the stage.
– The patina contestants will start painting already 15 minutes after opening, so at 11.15, and will be finished at 17.15. Will likely be very interesting to follow their work during the day, and see how the plain crust leather shoes will be transformed. There will be a break for one hour at the middle of the day, to make room for the shoe shining final.
– At the stage area, there will be two sessions. The final of the World Championships in Shoe Shining between 15.00-15.30, and the award ceremony for the World Championships in Shoe Patina first, and then the Shoemaking championships at 17.30. The stage area is located in one corner of the venue, just when you enter. There will be bar tables for the polishing contestants and jury presenting winners, and for the audience in front we’ll have some benches, and behind that you’ll have to stand. It will be crowdy, but hopefully it will be easier to see also for you in the back because of a better layout.
– All shoes in the World Championships in Shoemaking competition shoes will be on display the whole day. Please, if you lift them up, do handle them very carefully, and put them back in the correct position (each shoe will be numbered, since they aren’t branded, there will be signs with the maker and its number). We trust you to show these shoes the respect they deserve. Next to the shoes, Gary Tok, the author of the Master Shoemakers book will have this exhibited. Do check that out if you haven’t, great stuff.
– We aim at live streaming from the scene happenings at 15.00 (British time) and 17.30, here on Shoegazing.se/English. We’re not sure of how good the quality will be (depends on the wifi stability), but hope it should work well. On Instagram the event partner @saphir_medailledor will livestream during the day as well. There will also be lots of films coming out later made by Saphir and the shoemaking championships partner Kirby Allison’s Hanger Project, and likely from others as well.
– In social media we’ll use the hashtag #supertrunk for the event, please use it when you post pics in social media. And it’s a great way to follow what happens and see lots of nice shoes, for those of you who can’t visit the event.
Hope to meet many of you on Saturday, and we hope that it will be another great event!
