This is part two of the big walkthrough of all competition shoes in the World Championships of Shoemaking 2023. Here position 11 to 29 are reviewed with comments and pictures.
Pt.1 with more info about the contest and positions 1-10 can be found here.
Results (click on maker/brand to go directly to summary):
11. Attila Shoes
12. Jihoon Yun
13. Daiki Fujiyama
14. Kim Junghwan
15. Dmitry Avdyukhov
16. Calzoleria De Fumo
17. Lightbulb
17. RAB Bespoke
19. Yasunari Shimozaki
19. Zhencheng Wang
21. The Last Shoemaker
22. Paul.B.d.n
23. Ryota Hayafuji
24. Chen
25. Karol Stanios
26. Marat Ablakov
27. Badhatbrothers & Co
28. Kim Kyungseok
29. Lisa Teng
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11. Attila Shoes
Classic base, playful details.
The Hungarian brand Attila Shoes, run by maker Attila Kovacs who have done all parts of the shoe himself. Attila has participated in various shoemaking contests before, which is evident here. It’s both well-made, and has a bunch of special features. For example the seamless wholecut part which goes all the way up in front along the facing and up all along the back, and the heel built with transversal pieces in a very cool way.
Nice bottom.
See how the seamless piece goes up in both front and back.
High level of execution.
Almond shaped toe.
The heel with its transversal leather pieces, nice metal string decoration and cool metal heel plate.
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12. Yun Jihoon
A strong boot in all regards.
It’s nice when makers have a unique personal style. Yun Jihoon who run the brand Comfy Shoes in South Korea is one such maker, with peaks, enhanced shapes, and a robust feel. Making is good, albeit not on the level of the absolute top ones. Yun has worked with shoes for a decade, and in 2019 he made shoes for the South Korean President. He is part of a prosperous bespoke shoemaking scene in South Korea. All made by Yun Jihoon, except metal fittings by Jeongin.
Same style as his sixth placed entry last year.
High shaft.
Aggressively shaped, tight sole stitching.
Retro feel from this view.
Nicely decorated sole edge.
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13. Daiki Fujiyama
A wider boot, with a cool plastic shoe tree.
Daiki Fujiyama from Japan has mainly worked with orthopedic shoes, but last three years or so started making more regular bespoke dress shoes. With his entry he wanted to combine these parts, and show that one can make a good looking shoe on a last with many orthopedic features. The level of difficulty isn’t that high, but execution is excellent.
Not too much fuzz, but done well.
Sparse sole stitching, but again, beautifully made.
A sturdy boot.
Round toe.
Orthopedic twisted ankle.
Clean.
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14. Kim Junghwan
A classic version.
Another entry from South Korea, where Kim Junghwan runs the brand Kyle Works. His entry is a solid classic version of the balmoral boot, along with metal eyelets which one often could see back in the days. Especially the sole and the heel are nicely made, while some other areas could perhaps be a bit cleaner. Another one with a seamless wholecut vamp piece.
Nice sole work.
Tight sole stitching, but not the cleanest welt finish.
Top view.
The heel is really neat.
The tight placement between the lace holes gives an old-school feel.
Own-made toe tap, not perfectly fitting screws though.
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15. Dmitry Avdyukhov
A boot with a hand stitched upper.
A boot that is very varied, both in difficulty level, level of execution, and design/aesthetics. Some are top in each segment, some not at all as good. Overall it’s surely an interesting entry, not least the hand stitched upper and the sole decoration are nice pieces of artistry. Dmitry Avdyukhov is a shoemaker from the Volograd region in Russia, he has done all the work, apart from the leather carving of the sole which is done by Alexander Chaika.
Great leather carving work.
Sturdy looking heel.
Seen from below, it’s a rather delicate horseshoe heel.
Balance aesthetically is not fully there.
From above.
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16. Calzoleria De Fumo
A solid boot with some cool details.
Calzoleria de Fumo is a brand from the shoe region Montegranaro in Italy, run by Luca Alessandrini and Jenny Palombari. Some parts that raise the difficulty points, like the hand stitched upper and seamless vamp piece, and some that raise the aesthetics / design area, like the lovely decorated sole. I’ve seen de Fumo do this on other shoes as well, sort of reenact the upper pattern on the sole, got to admire this.
The balmoral cap toe bottom.
Hand stitching.
Back view.
Brogueing.
Think the only entry with speed hooks.
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17. Lightbulb
A rather minimalistic boot.
A boot that stands out, and it does so for being very toned down. Hidden seams all around the upper makes for a minimalistic feel, which together with a seamless vamp and high shaft gives large areas of fine black leather. The sole stitching and welt finishing is also very neatly done. Lightbulb is a Tokyo based shoemaker combining orthopedic knowledge and bespoke shoemaking, offering really good looking shoes also to those with problematic feet. Last and upper design by Tatsuya Noguchi, closing and bottoming by Hirokazu Sotobayashi.
Simple but clean.
High narrow shaft.
Beautiful work.
Seamless. Heel would look better with even height lifts.
Black leather can be great.
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17. RAB Bespoke
Cool with contrasting sole stitching, but balance of the last is a bit of with the neat toe and wide sturdy rest of the shoe.
Same points as the above, hence two in 17th position. RAB Bespoke is the brand of Robert Bautista from Seattle, USA. He has made everything on the boot himself. Has some stuff raising difficulty level, like hand stitched upper and seamless vamp piece, and also the contrasting heel stitch. Execution and design a bit lower though.
Quite a narrow waist.
Almond toe.
Up-close.
Back.
Side.
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19. Yasunari Shimozaki
Great with all the contrasting stitching.
A boot where of course the consistent use of contrasting white stitching is what gives it character. It’s a well-made shoe, not the highest of difficulty, but clean make. Made by the Japanese bespoke shoemaker Yasunari Shimozaki, trained at Spigola but now runs his own brand Seica in Kobe. Unfortunately he had misunderstood the model, so it received a 10% deduction of points due to it not being a proper balmoral boot.
Nice natural peach bottom finish combined with decorative markings and intricate metal plates.
Cool heel.
Heel from the outside.
A relatively low boot.
Classic last shape.
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19. Zhencheng Wang
A special looking boot.
Another tie with exactly the same points, so two 19th placed. This boot is very special in many ways, which one have to admire. The natural coloured sole edges made it stand out even more, though this did not comply with the set specs, so it got 5% points deduction due to this. The welt is heavily marked, showing also sparse stitching can look super, and of course the special waist build-up draws attention. Made by the Chinese maker Zhencheng Wang, with his son Linlin Wang doing the finishing.
Bottom with fish dragon inspiration.
Very well-balanced boot.
Good looking welt. Hidden seams on the upper.
Proper square toe.
Back view.
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21. The Last Shoemaker
A very dramatic boot, with the triple welt and the very high toe box. Not the cleanest of make, but certainly an ambitious one with difficult parts. On the sole, there’s also sort of clock parts adding more uniqueness. The Last Shoemaker is a UK / Thailand company, where the last and pattern was made by Allan Donnelly, upper by Chan Antison, Tanit Khaoleng bottoming, and finishing Myint Ohn.
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22. Paul.B.d.n
Another boot with a unique character, with a sort of block heel. Hidden upper stitching, which is extra tricky together with a seamless vamp piece as we have here, which makes the upper a bit “wobbly”in feel though. Very tight, well-executed sole stitching. Paul Bogdan Bietanau with the brand Paul.B.d.n. is based in Italy’s Marche region, where he focus on bespoke shoemaking. Paul has made all, except the last which is made by Claudio Spreca.
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23. Ryota Hayafuji
Ryota Hayafuji was relatively early to move from Japan and establish himself on the European bespoke shoemaking scene. He has worked out of Germany for a long time, is based in Munich. His boot has a lovely Norwegian stitch and fine sole stitching, and cool matching decorations embedded in the heel. Kind off cool that the seamless vamp piece also has parts following along up the facing. (Note: The creases on the vamp part is due to difficulties we in the organisation had to insert the shoe tree, so that should just be overlooked.)
From above.
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24. Chen
Chen is another Chinese shoemaker based in the Guangzhou, who has made the whole shoe himself. Unlike the most previous ones, his entry is a straightforward one, a very classic balmoral boot with a round toe last and conservative appearance. It is a well-made shoe, overall a rather clean and neat build and finishing.
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25. Karol Stanios
Another more classic boot, but with more distinct and solid bottom piece which gives it more stance. The boot is much cleaner seen from above than from below, the sole finishing is really quite bad and pulled it down quite a bit. With the neatness of the sole and heel, one would expect more also there. Karol Stanios is from Crakow in Poland, where he runs a bespoke workshop.
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26. Marat Ablakov
Marat Ablakov from Russia has been making shoes for around 30 years now. Here we have one of the more crazily designed contest boots, with the folded over topline and raised waist. Not the cleanest of make, better in some areas, a bit less in some. It received a 5% deduction due to the extensive brogueing and medallion, which didn’t follow the contest guidelines.
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27. Badhatbrothers & Co
A very rock’n’roll boot, with double welt and Norwegese stitching, dented toe and more. Upper stitching is done well, while bottoming lacks is a bit especially the sole stitching, looks like it’s been a bit of a struggle with the special construction chosen. Badhabrothers & Co is a South Korean company, ran by Heo Yang-Uk, they focus on chunkier styles and heavier boots, glad to not only have dress shoe makers part of the contest.
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28. Kim Kyungseok
Kim Kyungseok is another maker from South Korea, great to see so many entries from there. This entry is certainly not a bad boot, it’s just a bit behind on all regards, difficulty, execution as well as design / aesthetics with a bit of lack of balance. I think with more time doing shoes really good things can come from here.
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29. Lisa Teng
A boot that has an ambitious hand stitched upper, decorative braiding, rather tight sole stitching, cool carved out heel. Cleanliness isn’t there, and the last shape isn’t the neatest, there things could improve. Lisa Teng is from Singapore, and do a lot of creative and specially designed footwear normally.
Pt.1 with more info about the contest and positions 1-10 can be found here.
I really like the curves on Marat Ablakov’s entry, It’s a shame he received a few deductions for the broguing. I’m sure he would score higher.
Don: It’s a cool shoe indeed!