Info on the London Super Trunk Show 2022

After a long hiatus, this weekend it’s finally happening again, the London Super Trunk Show is back! Held in the heart of London at 12 Regent Street, gathering more than ten awesome exhibitors and hosting the World Championships in shoemaking, shoe shining and shoe patina. We can also announce a free shoe shining service by Saphir during the day. Here’s some practical info ahead of the event, for those who plan to visit, and on the live streaming we will do for those who can’t attend.

As last time the event takes place at Showcase.co, located just below Piccadilly Circus and Jermyn Street, on 12 Regent Street. The superb exhibitor list is as follows: Acme Shoemaker, Bridlen, Catella Shoemaker (Daniel Wegan), CNES Shoemaker, Modum Shoes, Mori of Shoemakers, Norman Vilalta, Paolo Scafora, Septieme Largeur, and Skolyx / TLB Mallorca. Also exhibitions with the event’s main partner Saphir (shoe care) and partners Bresciani and Cad & the Dandy (tailoring), plus shoemaking championships partner Master Shoemakers (book). On display are all competition shoes in the World Championships in Shoemaking. the World Championships in Shoe Shining and Shoe Patina will have its finals. We are also pleased to let you know that Saphir will offer a free shoe shining service during the day, where Samuel Norsworthy of Tricker’s / The Valet will shine visitors shoes.

Full schedule for the day:

11:00-19:00 Trunk show open for the public, FREE OF CHARGE AND NO REGISTRATION NEEDED.

11.00-19.00 Free Shoe Shining Service by Saphir. Have your shoes shined by one of the best shoe shiners in the world, Samuel Norsworthy, Tricker’s / The Valet.

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. (More info in qualification post here)

15.00-15.30 Final of the World Championships in Shoe Shining in cooperation with Saphir, 1st prize shoes from Loake. (More info in qualification post here)

17:30-18.00 Award ceremony for the World Championships in Shoemaking, in collaboration with Kirby Allison and Master Shoemakers. 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.

Hundreds of shoes will be on display for hundreds of visitors 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.

– 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 up towards 1,000 visitors, we’ll see how much we’ll get this year given that there’s still a bit special circumstances, but 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 some cases carpets. All exhibitors will have lots of samples on display. 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. All exhibitors will take orders during the day, and the partners will also sell their products. 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.

– New for this year is that Saphir will offer a free shoe shining service during the whole day, for any one who wish to have their shoes polished up. This will be done by Samuel Norsworthy, previously responsible for among other things the patina and shine on Gaziano & Girling’s bespoke shoes, nowadays at Tricker’s and also doing patina with shines for The Valet. He will do quick shines on people’s shoes, around 15 minutes per pair, either on foot or if one is comfortable to take them off for an even better result. This is also one thing we do to hopefully lure some more people in who just passes by on the street, since one aim with the event is to spread the gospel about quality shoes and all crafts around this.

Sam Norsworthy was part of the patina final last time, this year one can get ones shoe shined by him at the table of Saphir.

– 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 should work well also for those in the back to see and hear relatively well.

– 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. We had lots of makers registered, but it won’t be more than max 40 shoes that were sent in. For us organising, it’s a bit of a blessing to be honest, since it makes it much easier to administrate. We expect an overall high level, likely many who know they wouldn’t compete for tops spots have skipped sending in shoes due to the long time it’s been since we announced the contest.  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.

We hope for many visitors again, even if things are still not fully back to normal everywhere after the pandemic.

– We aim at live streaming from the scene happenings at 15.00/3PM (British time) and 17.30/5PM, here on Shoegazing.com and on Shoegazing’s Youtube channel. 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, and also as always 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, looking forward to another great event!