A while back I posted a picture special with a bunch of bespoke samples being made by the German bespoke shoemaker Patrick Frei and his partner Kazuya Kimura. During covid they had time to continue the samples production, so here’s a bunch of new amazing shoes highlighted.
These were shot when I visited the Patrick Frei workshop in Freiburg last autumn, to do the fitting of my bespoke pairs. You can read more about that journey in this article, covering the measurement, and this article about the fitting. In a while the shoes will be finished and you’ll get to see the making process and of course the final pair. These will truly be something spectacular, I can tell you that. And speaking of spectacular, the Frei team, now also including Compagnons du Devoir trainee Pierre-Baptiste L’Hospital (read about him and the world famous compagnons shoemakers training programme here), had made a bunch of new great bespoke samples made. Enjoy them below (the first picture special with Patrick Frei bespoke samples can be found here), and admire the variation in styles from the most dressy things to really casual chunky stuff.
My favourite of all the new samples is this version of their Bridge oxford, made in a navy box calf leather.
Different yet just as wearable as the classics.
The bridge.
The bottom is just as beautiful.
A clean black balmoral lazyman. But, made in a very soft goat leather with a subtle pattern.
Look at the marking on the top of the waist edge, so lovely.
A nive looking derby boot in a hatch grain leather.
They’ve enhanced the pattern by having dark shoe cream settle in the embossings.
Patrick Frei’s characteristic slightly assymetric toe shape.
Chunky derby in a leather with natural grain, and lots of depth in the shade.
The rubber sole is cemented on to the stitched midsole, and secured with nails.
A two-tone spectator full brogue with a clear vintage feel over it.
You can see how soft the suede is.
Great contrasting sole stitching.
Brogue nail pattern on the heel.
Continuing with the vintage feel. here’s a sleek two-tone balmoral derby.
Sole edge finishing obviously do a lot for the feel of the shoe, and the very traditional dark brown box calf leather.
A sort of related model, three eyelet derby with a lower heel giving a more subtle silhouette.
A balmoral V-cap balmoral oxford, also in a superbly looking box calf.
Patrick and Kazuya weren’t 100% pleased with the previous black plain cap toe oxford sample the had, so they made a new one.
Hard to picture this model getting better than this.
Very nice bottom.
Another more casual shoe, four eyelet austerity derby with double rubber sole.
A clean green semi high-heeled derby boot.
Also got the super well-made contrasting sole stitching.
There’s small design features everywhere on Patrick Frei’s shoes.
A showcase of various steps and parts of the internals of a bespoke shoe.
They are all beautiful! I especially liked the two-tone Balmoral derby 🙂
Thank you for sharing.
Anthony
Anthony Jones: Yeah, so much great things to look at here!