The London Super Trunk Show last weekend was another brilliant shoe day. New visitor record of over 1,300 people coming to browse the men’s shoe and menswear exhibitors from around the world and follow the three world championships contests: in shoe shining, shoe patina and shoemaking. Here’s a report from the day with loads of pictures plus videos.
The super trunk show events are many things – which is what makes them so special. You have the obvious perk of being able to see, try on shoes and order from a huge amount of shoe and menswear brands from around the world in one place. You have the exciting contests that crown the world champions in shoemaking, shoe shining and shoe patina, which all are a celebration of the various crafts in the best ways possible. And you have the buzzling meeting place the events has become for both people working with shoes and those with a big interest, coming in from various part of the world.
The latter is the part that we in the organisation team – Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob blog, and Kirby Allison of the webshop and YouTube channel with the same name – have least chance to affect, which in a way makes it even more exciting to see the importance it has taken. In many different ways as well. Last Saturday we could see everything from a beautiful reunion of the in-house group of shoemakers that once were the Fosters & Son workshop on Jermyn Street, which hadn’t met in many years, to brands from far away who met with new potential retailers that wanted to represent the brand in Europe. And it is amazing to see so many people travelling from near and far to be part of these happenings.
It was a crowdy day. Pictures: Jesper Ingevaldsson, Justin FitzPatrick, Samuel Norsworthy / Saphir
Shoe talk.
Visitors admiring the world champs of shoemaking shoes.
We had a new record with amount of visitors, over 1,300 came through the doors of Showcase.co last Saturday, a venue located on 12 Regent Street literally in the heart of central London, on street level. We also noticed that it was more crowdy than usual throughout the whole day, people seemed to stay around for longer, so also between the peak hours around opening and the stage happenings, there was a lot of people on site. Already 15 minutes after opening, the World Championships of Shoe Patina started.
In this contest, three patina artists had qualified to battle it out during five hectic hours, we had Albert Gjukaj from Switzerland, Morgane Lévêque from France, and previous world champion Toan Junie, also from France. The contest is organised in collaboration with the shoe care company Saphir, whose products was used, and the shoe manufacturer Bridlen, whose shoes were to be painted. As always it’s inspiring to see how the completely undyed crust leather shoes are turned in to lovely artistic objects with the use of dyes, creams and waxes. In the end, the jury awarded Morgane Lévêque with the title, in a very tight contest with amazing end results for all three, but her fine work with the use of some complicated techniques put her in front.
One of three world championships that takes place during the day.
Here the patina final has just started. From the left, Albert Gjukaj, Morgane Lévêque, Toan Junie.
A bit in the transformation is more visible.
Albert interviewed during the contest by Kirby Allison, for one of the upcoming features on the YouTube channel.
Few can look as cool as Toan when painting shoes.
Morgane Lévêque, who works as a patina artist for the French brand JM Legazel, congratulated for the win.
The three final shoes. Painted by, from the left, Albert Gjukaj, Morgane Lévêque, Toan Junie.
Morgane with her winning creations.
Our Platinum Sponsors support both two of the contests and the event as such in the biggest way, both monetary and with providing all things needed for the patina and shine contests. Saphir is well-known to most readers of this blog, it’s the leading premium shoe care brand in the world, not least with their top range Medaille d’Or, developed and manufactured in their own factory in central France with only the finest ingredients. During the day they not only showcased and sold a large selection of their products to the visitors, they also educated visitors on how to care for their shoes in the best way, and together with Bowbells Shoeshine offered a free shoe shining service for all. Very appreciated by the visitors.
The free shoe shining service Saphir offered.
Great display of Saphir Medaille d’Or creams and waxes.
Great range of cleaners.
Brushes.
Bridlen is a shoe manufacturer from India who has – partly through the super trunk shows in London, New York and Amsterdam which is a testament to the strength of these events and all that comes with them – established themselves as a great choice in the upper entry level / midrange segment of welted footwear. They have a good range of styles, solid make and really excellent materials for the price level. Affan Mohammed and Zahan Anes who are two of the driving forces at the company have worked hard to get people to understand the strengths of their offer and learn the high level that one can find in Indian shoemaking, and it’s nice to see they succeed.
Bridlen showcased their variety of styles.
One of Bridlen’s special feats is the way they do Goodyear welting directly to a thick leather insole, no glued on canvas rib.
Cordovan longwing.
Sole with rounded bevelled waist.
Also for the World Championships of Shoe Shining, shoe care products and shoes are provided by the above. Here the three who qualified for the final are to use Saphir Medaille d’Or waxes to shine a factory new plain cap toe oxford from Bridlen as lovely looking as possible in just 20 minutes. Not an easy feat, for those who’ve tried, but here we have professionals at work. The Swiss Albert Gjukaj had made it to the shine final as well, he met Choo Gordon from China and Nishigami Yoshihiro from Japan. The latter became the shine world champion 2024 after an impressive work with a total high shine with nice depth.
The shoe shine world championships is under way. From the left: Nishigami Yoshihiro, Albert Gjukaj (yes, here as well), Choo Gordon.
Big crowd during the final, as always.
An emotional Nishigami just after he’s been announced as the winner. In the background the organising trio, from the left Justin FitzPatrick, Jesper Ingevaldsson, Kirby Allison.
The three finalists finished shines. Shined by, from the left: Nishigami, Albert, Choo.
Katia Moura of Saphir and Affan Mohamed from Bridlen together with the winner.
On the exhibition floor we had more companies than ever showcasing. Apart from the mentioned Platinum Sponsors we also had two Gold Sponsors taking up extra large tables. Acme from China is offering some of the absolute finest RTW and MTO shoes in the world, made to the same high standard as their full bespoke offerings. It was the first time as the brand representative themselves could travel here, which surely added extra value for those who were interested in their fine shoes. CNES is a leading manufacturer of quality shoes in Vietnam, who offer Blake, Bologna, Goodyear welted and Hand Welted shoes at an excellent quality-price ratio. Everything from the sleekest of dress shoes to really sturdy boots were found on their well-filled table, and as always they were one of the brands that took most orders during the day.
CNES had an impressive display.
A cool ghilie.
Alicia Taong of CNES talking to a visitor.
The table of Acme.
Shoe with character.
Leon Fan of Acme talking with Gary Levy of Brogue Shoes in Geneva, Switzerland.
As Silver exhibitors we had the shirtmakers extraordinaire 100 Hands showcasing their handmade shirts of top-class quality, and measure and fit customers. Attila from Hungary chose a slightly different take this year, instead of displaying their handmade RTW offerings the table was filled with various exhibition pieces and contest shoes, some spectacular stuff. Blk Brd made their super trunk debut, an Indian maker with highly affordable, hand welted shoes and boots that surely sparked interest among many visitors.
At 100 Hands space.
Superb shirts.
Attila showcased showpieces.
Special frog leather.
Boots by Blk Brd.
A suede seamless wholecut with punching.
From Italy the premium sock manufacturer Bresciani was back, and they barely had any of their high quality, comfortable socks left on their table by the end of the day, due to high customer demand. The first that greeted the visitors coming int through the doors was a bunch of lovely vintage shoes from the Kensington-based luxury men’s vintage store Hornets, just a very small selection of all the goodies they have in their two stores, and they also handled a second hand shoes marketplace where visitors could sell-off their used welted shoes. Another newcomer on the exhibition floor was Oct. Tenth, Chinese brand with exquisitely looking hand welted shoes, sort of premium footwear at a midrange price tag, that impressed many visitors.
Some of the finest socks in the world.
Over the calf lengths.
Nice used and vintage shoes on Hornets shelves.
People browsing.
Oct. Tenth’s table.
Lovely bottom.
The popular entry level welted brand Raymar from Japan brought among other things a new last suitable for the international market, their quite British-styled classic footwear have a lot of fans. The famous Italian brand Stefano Bemer were on site, showcasing both some nice samples as well as introducing their shoemaking school section called Schola Academy, where many shoemakers around the world have started their journey. Finally we had Yearn from China, sleek hand welted footwear with a really exclusive appearance, not least thanks to the excellent lasts they are built on. A mention should also go out to The Valet, the premium clothing and shoe care service in London, which helps out with a lot of practical things around the event.
Raymar’s display.
A nice oxford with contrasting facing.
Shoes by Stefano Bemer.
Info on the Schola Academy shoemaking school.
Beautiful split toe derby by Yearn.
Patina wholecut.
At the venue we of course also had the entries of the World Championships of Shoemaking 2024. 25 amazing full strap loafers with aprons, where the overall level continues to be higher and higher. A jury of shoemakers and shoe experts gathered the afternoon the day before the event to anonymously judge all the shoes. Winner of the contest was Ken Hishinuma from Japan, second placed Hiroshi Takagi from the same country, and third the brand Aria Badia from China. A bit more on them in this article, much more in the large summary later on. The trio will share a prize sum of £6,000 which comes from contest sponsors Kirby Allison, Master Shoemakers and Parker Schenecker, brother of shoe entusiast Edmund Schenecker who passed away a few years ago. The three also get a handmade shoemaking awl made by Phil Norsworthy. These amazing shoes along with the patina winner will go on a world tour later this year, will be more info about that coming as well.
Next on the super trunk show agenda is the second edition of the New York Super Trunk Show, this on October 5. And the London event will of course be back again next May. Thank you all who were part this year, see you again next year!
At the bottom you’ll also find the live stream videos from the three world champs contests as well as a tour around the venue.
Some of the entries of the World Championships of Shoemaking.
The gold medal to the winner.
More entries.
Here we’ve gathered the top at the stage area for the announcements of the top ten.
People were quickly up to inspect the top shoes after they’ve been presented.
The winning shoe by Ken Hishinuma. Unfortunately none of the top three were present at the event.
Second placed by Hiroshi Takagi.
Aria Badia’s third placed entry.
A nice scene, where shoemaker Emi Liao who works at John Lobb has a video chat with Jiang Daoyan who finished third with Aria Badia. They both studied shoemaking together in Italy.
Cool bottom on a contest shoe.
Jury member Daniel Wegan talks to Kirby about the top shoes and what made them ending up where they did.
Part of t event space.
Big film cameras.
Vintage ad at Hornets.
Xibao and Choo of Oct. Tenth helps a visitor try on their shoes.
Socks.
Attila shoe in a sturgeon fish leather.
Stefano Bemer bottom.
Shoe creams for all colours of shoes.
Commerce at Saphir’s table.
Shoe care apron in leather.
100 Hands display.
A happy shine world champion, Nishigami Yoshihiro.
His winning shoe next to the unshined sibling.
Yearn spiral wholecut.
Gold buckled double monk by Acme.
Acme sole.
Cool display.
Visitor checking out Bridlen’s shoes.
Blue Bridlen pennies.
Bridlen just started doing women’s shoes as well, here’s a few samples.
CNES oxford.
Shoe discussions.
Arthur Wang of Acme and Phil Norsworthy, who do the awls for the world champs top three.
Raymar split toe derby.
A more casual style by Oct. Tenth.
Shining shoes.
Shoemaking contest shoes.
Faux wedge sole.
Mixing dyes.
A tedious work, that requires great skills.
Good to have friends with you when ordering shoes. Pictures: Jesper Ingevaldsson, Justin FitzPatrick, Samuel Norsworthy / Saphir
Thanks for another great event, enjoyed it thoroughly!
John: Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed my day there. A grand old time indeed. Thank you Jesper.
Allan: Thanks, glad you came Allan!
Very interesting for a little enthousiast like me to be able to follow the event from the sideline. Thank you for sharing (& all the writing!)
Bård: Cheers, thank you!