Picture special – Patrick Frei bespoke samples

Last year German bespoke shoemaker Patrick Frei and his new partner Kazuya Kimura were part of the Amsterdam Super Trunk Show, where they showcased some old but also a bunch of new samples. I showed a few images in the report from the event, but these shoes are so amazing that it would be a shame not to show more of them. Here’s a picture special to rectify this.

As I guess most know by now, Patrick Frei won the first World Championships in Shoemaking 2018, which you can read about in this article, and those who follow the blog also know that I have an order going (which would likely have been finished by now if it wasn’t for Covid-19…), read the first article covering that here, where there’s also more info on his various offerings. When Patrick and I were in Tokyo for an event at the large department store Isetan Men’s on the world champs in shoemaking, he met bespoke shoemaker Kazuya Kimura, who was interested in taking a new step in his career and work for a maker in Europe. They both stayed in touch, and in 2019 he moved to Freiburg in Germany to work together with Patrick. Since then Patrick Frei has been able to increase the production, and also make the first new samples in years. These, and some old samples, which were showcased at the Amsterdam super trunk are what we’ll look closer at here.

Perhaps the most stunning of the new samples was this superb wingtip. Superbly well-made, and very interesting tweaks in the design.

Hard to do a better job.

Fiddle back waist.

Brogueing in varied sizes.

Heel with Frei’s characteristic brass plate insert.

A more classic sample, the black plain cap toe oxford. Just as well-made though.

All black.

Three eyelet derby in a light brown box calf leather.

A very cool shoe, which is a brand new sample but made to look like an old vintage shoe.

The pattern of the patch follows over to the waist edge.

A very cool sneaker, with a special type of old-school blind welt construction.

The shoe that won Patrick Frei the world champion title.

Now some older sample, made when Patrick were relatively new to shoemaking. Interesting pattern here.

Derby with high spi sole stitching.

Women’s shoe.

Handmade metal toe plates.

The whole table with all the goodies.