Last weekend the first Amsterdam Super Trunk Show took place. A great day with more than 300 visitors and shoes from all over the world showcased, together with shoe care, clothing, watches and perfumes. Here’s a summary in text and lots of pics from the day. Also, briefly about the fact that the London Super Trunk Show has been postponed until October 10.
Good crowd the whole day.
It’s a bit weird that it was only one week back that we had this gathering, with all that has happened with the situation around the coronavirus the past seven days a lot has changed. Now, Europe is closing down, which among other things means that we have postponed the London edition of the super trunk that was planned for April 25 until autumn, new date is October 10. More about this at the bottom of this article (or here). Here, we will look back to last Saturdays happenings in Amsterdam, which after all was a really great day. Thoughts around the coronavirus was present, obviously, with for example requests that exhibitors and visitors weren’t to shake hands with each other, with extra careful hand washing etc. With more than 300 guests coming, despite the potential corona scare that likely left some at home even though things were more calm then, is really a great success, the venue couldn’t really handle that much more people. And the atmosphere was excellent, people enjoyed meeting each other and getting the chance to see and try all the amazing shoes and more, and as always the shine contest gained a lot of interest.
The Amsterdam super trunk has Bas van Exter of The Shoecare-Shop as the main host, with me being the co-host, similar to me being the main host for the London and Stockholm super trunk shows with Justin FitzPatrick as co-host in London and four friends helping out with the Stockholm edition. So most of the credit for all the work with the day should go to Bas, who had spend a lot of efforts sorting it all out and creating a lovely event.
Shoe talk.
Shoe goodies.
Bas van Exter and me.
When people entered the venue they would be welcomed by a shoe care service where an employee of the Shoecare shop shined visitors shoes. Then passed a bar/coffee area the exhibitors were lined up. First table hold the most spectacular shoes of the day, with the amazing bespoke samples from world champion in shoemaking 2018, Patrick Frei and his new partner Kazuya Kimura. Creativity and craftsmanship of highest level. We at Skolyx showcased our own affordable Goodyear welted range of shoes as well as TLB Mallorca with mainly their acclaimed Artista range. We had the Dutch brand Arturo who focused on personal patinas.
A masterpiece by Patrick Frei/Kazuya Kimura.
Another one.
Skolyx table.
Sneakers from Skolyx, at just €100.
Varied painted shades at Arturo.
Arty.
The premium shoe shop The Hand was present together with Edward Green, and visitors could see the hand stitching of the uppers for their famous split toe derby Dover take place on site. Sons of Henrey showed their new budget welted range as well as a new Italian-made sneakers line-up. Indian brand Bridlen showed that truly great and affordable stuff are made in the country, with machine welted shoes without gemming, stitched directly to thick insoles. We also had Zwartjes, local shoes store with for example Magnanni, Santoni and others.
The Galway by Edward Green, there together with The Hand.
Classic model Dover in two non-classic make-ups.
New range at €250 by Sons of Henrey.
The new sneakers.
Beautiful brown plain cap by Bridlen.
Regular insole on Goodyear welted shoes below, Bridlen’s insoles on top.
Zwartjes table.
Crockett & Jones loafers.
The Shoecare-Shop had a table together with main event partner Saphir and Dumco (the agent for Benelux) with loads and loads of excellent shoecare offerings. Visitors could also view accessories from Amide Hadelin, tailoring from New Tailor, watches from Amsterdam Watch Co., perfumes from YVRA, and shirts from Besnard. Loads of menswear stuff, in other words.
Loooads of Saphir shoe care.
Valet box.
Amide Hadelin ties.
Braces.
New Tailor is a modern tailoring firm based in Amsterdam.
Clothing swatches.
Great vintage watches at Amsterdam Watch. Company.
Leather straps.
Button down shirt by Besnard.
Discussing details.
YVRA perfumes.
Apart from the regular perfumes they also offered fragranced windshield washer fluid.
In the afternoon we had the first Dutch Championships in Shoe Shining, held in collaboration with Saphir. The three finalists were Theo Frijn, Mike Reuvekamp and Jan Quinten Oskam. They had 20 minutes and some Saphir wax to create the best shine possible, and impressive results were achieved. After the jury review, Theo Frijn was announced the winner, who works with refurbishing people’s shoes with Shoe Spa Amsterdam.
We had a great time, and both visitors, exhibitors and us organisers all agreed that the Amsterdam Super Trunk Show is here to stay!
The Dutch shoe shining champs ongoing.
Good shine job.
Big crowd following the contest unfold.
Jury review.
Winner Theo Frijn to the right in the picture, with Marc Moura, President of Saphir.
The three Magnanni shoes after the final, all very nicely shined.
Measurements.
Drinks time.
Marc Moura talking shoe care.
The final appearance of the 2019 top three shoes in the world champs in shoemaking, finishing of their 9 month world tour in Amsterdam.
Stephan Villette’s patina winning shoes.
Skin stitching by Edward Green.
The tools.
GIn & tonic.
Bridlen sole.
Watch talk.
A shoe made by Patrick Frei/Kimura, made to look like a century old bespoke sample, despite being brand new. Pictures: by me and Jeroen van de Gruiter.
This week, as you know, the situation around the coronavirus has escalated. We have followed the development closely, it is now a pandemic according to WHO, Italy is in quarantine, and in several countries in Europe governments has stopped larger gatherings of people, this will likely be the case also for UK soon, where already London Book Fair and other large events have been postponed or cancelled, etc. We have also been contacted by a number of the exhibitors and also visitors, who are worried about the situation, some coming from countries that will not allow travelling at all at the moment.
Due to this, we have decided that the least bad solution is to postpone the event. New date is on Saturday October 10. It’s as long forward in the year as possible, without going into Christmas preps etc, and it’s expected that we will have a much better situation with the coronavirus at that time.
This also means that we are prolonging the qualifications for the world championships in shoe shining and shoe patina until August 23, more info about that in this post.
We understand that this might create troubles for some of you, who have planned coming to the event and need cancelling flights etc, but it’s still the better solution overall. There is a big risk that we would be forced to postpone later anyway, now we have at least decent time in advance to change things.
