It’s finally here, the substantial review of all 25 competition shoes that entered the World Championships of Shoemaking 2024. Info about the makers and the shoes, comments, pictures of the shoes and in some cases also the manufacturing process. Experience some of the best full strap loafers you’ll ever see.
Pt.2 with positions 11-25 can be found here.
Go directly to list of contestants.
After a lot of work, it’s here, the summary of all contestant shoes 2024. And as always, there’s a huge amount of amazing craftsmanship and creativity to admire. Part of the London Super Trunk Show at the beginning of May was the fifth edition of the World Championships of Shoemaking (see here for more articles on this contest and find the summaries of previous year’s shoes), organised by Shoegazing, The Shoe Snob and Kirby Allison. The latter is also a funding sponsor of the contest, together with the book project Master Shoemakers, and private person Parker Schenecker, brother of the shoe aficionado Edmund Schenecker who sadly passed away three years ago. These contribute with the substantial prize money of £3,000 to winner, £2,000 to second placed and £1,000 to third placed (so we organisers don’t make any money at all on this contest, the money is paid directly from the sponsors to the shoemakers). They also receive handmade awls by Phil Norsworthy, plus of course medals.
The top three loafers also will go on tour around the world now (together with the winning shoes in the patina championship), to be showcased for as many shoe lovers as possible. As we always try to do it, it’s a mix of some new locations and stores, and some that have been part of the tour previous years. The shoes will also be showcased at the New York Super Trunk Show on October 5. The preliminary tour schedule is as follows:
| Week | Date | Store | City, country |
| w31-32 | July 31-11 | Skomaker Dagestad | Oslo, Norway |
| w34-35 | Aug 19-Sep 1 | Brogues Shoes | Geneva, Switzerland |
| w37-38 | Sep 9-22. | Kirby Allison | Dallas, USA |
| w40 | Oct 5 | New York Super Trunk Show | New York, USA |
| w41-42 | Oct 8-20 | Leffot | New York, USA |
| w45-w46 | Nov 4-17 | Hankyu / Isetan Men’s | Osaka / Tokyo, Japan |
| w48-w49 | Nov 25-Dec 8 | Bridlen Gallery | Chennai, India |
| w51-52 | Dec 16-29 | Medallion Shoes | Beijing, China |
| w2-3 | Jan 6-19 | Medallion Shoes | Shanghai, China |
| w5-6 | Jan 27-Feb 9 | Unipair | Seoul, South Korea |
| w8-9 | Feb 7-March 2 | The Hand | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
At the London Super Trunk Show all competition shoes were on display for the over 1,300 people who visited the event during the day, and at the award ceremony in the evening the top ten were presented. The shoes and the competition always gain a big interest and admiration, and also afterwards the attention has been large. Not least with a big feature on the BBC News morning show World Business Report, which was viewed by millions of people in UK and around the world (more on that in this article).
The shoes lined up for jury review at The Valet in central London.
The day before the event the shoes were reviewed anonymously by the jury, which consisted of (seen on the photo above, listed from the left):
Philippe Atienza, bespoke shoemaker
Dominic Casey, bespoke shoemaker
Masaru Okyuama bespoke shoemaker
Sebastian Tarek, bespoke shoemake
William Laborde, bespoke shoemaker
Daniel Wegan, bespoke shoemaker
Jean-Michel Casalonga, bespoke shoemaker at Berluti
Vivian Saskia Wittmer, bespoke shoemaker
Gary Tok, sponsor, author of Master Shoemakers
Kirby Allison, sponsor, founder of the Kirby Allison store
Jesper Ingevaldsson, Shoegazing
Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob
The criteria that were set out for the competition shoes were as follows:
– Full strap loafer, separate apron piece with stitching (3-5 separate leather pieces in total), decorations like penny hole, brogueing, punching and decorative stitching are okay but not necessary.
– One left shoe, size UK8 (or corresponding size), maximum 2 width sizes up or down from an acceptable standard width.
– Smooth light brown calf leather, box calf or aniline dyed, no patina.
– Leather sole.
– Hand welted, handmade sole stitch.
– Brown sole and heel edges, natural coloured bottom (decorations with for example wheels or nails are ok, but no dye or burnish).
– Finished inside of the shoe, with sock lining etc.
Errors in respect to the above specifications resulted in deductions of points, 5% deduction of total points for small errors, 10% deduction of total points on larger errors. If the shoe w0uld not follow specifications at all, it could be disqualified, but have never been the case yet.
Competitors could enter both as a company or as a person. All persons that have been part in the making of the shoe should be stated, and which process(es) each person have made.
Shoemaking world champs entries on display at the super trunk in London
Criteria that was judged:
Degree of difficulty (maximum 10 points per jury member)
Jury look at how complicated construction methods that have been used, how advanced they have been built both in large and in smaller details, etc.
Execution (maximum 10 points)
Jury look at how well the various parts of the shoe construction have been made, how neat and clean the work is, how well executed the level of finishing is, etc.
Design / aesthetics (maximum 5 points)
Jury look at the overall aesthetics of the shoe, proportions, balance etc.
So, below first the full list of results, then a walkthrough of all competition shoes, from position 1 to 25 (1-10 in this post, 11-25 in the other article linked in several places here). I really recommend to look through things thoroughly, study the photos etc, to really appreciate things. It’s evident that the overall level continues to be pushed upwards all the time, even if absolute top level has been similar since the start. It certainly requires much more to take even like a 20th place now than it did the first years of the contest.
There’s more pictures and text on the top position shoes, with so many entries I have to do things a bit more condensed to make it workable, but all have a brief summary and at least four pictures of the shoes from various angles. In some cases of the top ten shoes I’ve also included pictures of the making process. Click the pictures to see larger versions.
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Results
(Click on maker/brand to go directly to summary, go here for positions 11-25)
1. Ken Hishinuma
2. Hiroshi Takagi
3. Aria Badia
4. Acme Shoemaker
5. Andrey Kaveshnikov
6. Dito Tokyo
7. Attila Kovács
8. Kodai Kawasaki
9. Sapatero Manila
10. Oh Sangjun
11. Paul.B.d.n.
12. Rozsnyai Shoes
13. Taewook Hwang
14. Zainutdin Islamov
15. Kaspar Paas
16. Reid Elrod
17. Three Shoes
18. H.T Liao
18. The Last Shoemaker
20. Kim Junghwan
21. Fausto Ripani Shoes
22. Shota Iwasaki
23. Hudsons / Rui Murakami
24. Wataru Nagai
25. Lisa Teng
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1. Ken Hishinuma
The top placed shoe in the World Championships of Shoemaking 2024.
As always, the world champion shoe is a spectacular one. Made by Ken Hishinuma from Japan, who runs the brand Khish the Work. First of all, it is a beautiful shoe. That’s also what Ken is most pleased with himself, that the shape of the last and the design lines are in harmony. The full strap parts extends far back, many of the seams of the upper are enhanced with hand braided threads, and the apron is done with a slightly special more overlapping version of the pie crust stitching, which makes the seam even more marked. The toe can look like a split toe from distance, but it’s a ridge done on the toe puff which flows down to the pointed toe tip of the sole edge.
An amazing underside.
The shoe ticks of two of the biggest trends of this year’s contest, the horse shoe heel (which since the Atelier du Tranchet duo Christophe Corthay and Christophe Algan’s two shoes in the first contest in 2018 has been increasingly popular) and the non-existing waist. Here the waist has the same semi pie-crust stitching as the apron and is part of the upper, a surely interesting and stunning solution.
The heel is built with thin fine layers, and the sole stitching at 18 spi (stitches per inch) is very well executed. Ken spent about 150 hours making the shoe, including prototyping. In general, as always been the case with the winning shoe, the jury gave very high points on execution. The shoe is more or less flawlessly made. Compared to some of the previous years winners, a slight bit lower on difficulty, but among the highest winners on design / aesthetics. Ken Hishinuma made the whole shoe himself, apart from polishing, which was made by Go Ishimi.
A beautiful apron seam.
Ken Hishinuma used to work for an architectural design company. He was attracted to the shoemaking craft, and in 2019 he attended the Ishihara Shoe School in Tokyo, and he decided to go all in on shoemaking. He started the brand Khish the Work in 2021, this based out of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Last year he relocated to Hokuto City in the Yamanashi Prefecture, in the central part of Japan.
Khish the Work offer MTO, MTM and bespoke, and after winning the world champion title interest in his shoes has increased a lot, he’s been on Japanese television, and more. Ken Hishinuma also runs one of Japan’s largest YouTube channels on shoemaking, called Crazy about Shoes, and there he has shared several videos on the winning shoe, not least one that in detail follow the manufacturing (see it below).
More photos of the astonishing shoe.
The hand stitched waist that is part of the upper. Under it is a leather shank, so stability is there.
An elongated last. Notice the lovely sock lining.
The separated sole and heel makes it looks almost like the shoe is floating.
Heel built with many thin, fine layers of leather.
From another angle.
A nicely designed toe plate.
Horse shoe heel.
Hand braided seams.
Ken Hishinuma.
The last, with a lot of shape to it.
Stitching the apron. Ken needed to practice this a lot, since he hadn’t done this type of hand stitching much before.
This type of decorative seams are made with first a regular machine stitch, and then with two threads one do a braiding in this by hand.
He first tried to just sand a ridge on the toe puff, but it was barely visible when pulling the upper over it, so instead he ended up using a small strip like this for the marked tip.
A proper leather shank.
Here the waist piece is attached and the welt.
Sole stitching.
Done almost all the way around the sole piece.
Heel layers prepped.
Decorative nails hammered in place.
A polished toe plate.
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2. Hiroshi Takagi
Second placed shoe.
The silver position went to Hiroshi Takagi, also from Japan. A superbly nice made piece of footwear, which has an interesting design. Brogueing along several parts of the upper, and a slight sandal feel over the back, with the front upper piece following all the way back as a sort of strap. If you look closely, and also see things like the “two layered tongue” and how the different pieces swoop around the shoe in various ways, you appreciate it more and more. The brogue pattern also follows along also inside the shoe. Hiroshi says that the work with the pattern was the most challenging part of making this loafer. It’s a quite busy shoe, but Hiroshi surely manage to keep it together in an excellent way.
Narrow waist, horse shoe heel.
Looking at the bottom another horseshoe heel is revealed, and a simulation of the upper continuing inside it is very nicely made. Execution is exemplary, all from the advanced apron with a folded edge in the middle and a hand braided seam on both sides, to the super tidy sole stitching at an impressive 21 spi. Also difficulty and design received high points, albeit a bit lower than the winner.
The beautiful apron.
Hiroshi Takagi isn’t the most famous name in Japanese shoemaking, but hopefully that is changing now. He was trained by the Japanese bespoke shoemaker So Tsuchiya (the man behind the famous “clown shoe” that was placed high in the contest 2019). Hiroshi finished seventh in the world championships back in 2022, with a well-made longwing, this is his second entry. You can see more of his work on his Instagram _hytee. Hiroshi Takagi made the entire shoe himself, he spent over 100 hours on the making.
Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of the making of the shoe, but do enjoy some more of the finished loafer.
Profile view.
Very tapered heel.
Sandal feel.
Matching sock lining.
Great design, great craftsmanship.
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3. Aria Badia
A stunning beauty.
The biggest sensation ever on the podium of the shoemaking world champs, most likely. Aria Badia is a Chinese newly started brand, run by the two hobby (!) shoemakers Jiang “Dao” Daoyuan and Zhun. It is a well-made shoe for sure, but difficulty isn’t that high. They compensated this with receiving the highest level of points ever on design / aesthetics, pushing it just ahead of the more advanced Acme shoe on fourth place. Even if this category has 5 points per jury member compared to 10 for execution and for difficulty, we do se it is an important one. It was also the aesthetics category that made Athanase Sephocle take the win over Victor Vulpe last year.
A clean classic bottom, apart from the hidden compartment in the heel and decorative nails on the waist. The nail pattern is the sign for “wind” in the ancient, mysterious Chinese book “The Book of Changes”.
It is, objectively, a seriously beautiful shoe that they have crafted. The Aria Badia duo studied shoemaking in Florence, Italy, during several years, and they’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from the Tuscan city into this shoe. The full strap represents the Arno river, and the curves of the pattern are reminiscent of the stone arch bridges that pass over it. The last shape and the make itself is neat and very classic overall. There’s one interesting surprise though. A hidden compartment in the heel which houses an Italian stamp.
A sort of “sneakeresque” shape of the back top part.
As mentioned, Dao and Zhun went to shoemaking school in Florence, where they got to know each other. When moving back to China recently, they started the Aria Badia workshop together. They have regular jobs, and do shoemaking on evenings and weekends. Design, pattern, upper, bottom making by Jiang, finishing by Zhun, details by Xiyun.
The sock lining is marked “Dao”, and as stated in the Call for competition shoes should be unbranded. Since it was only the nickname of one of the makers, and completely unknown to all jury members, it was decided that they didn’t receive any deductions for this.
Sweeping lines enhanced by the contrasting upper stitching.
Top view.
Clean make, but not the highest difficulty with for example a machine stitched apron and “only” 15 spi sole stitching.
The stamp compartment.
Hidden away.
Using middle layers in different shades to make more of the upper.
Carving the feather of the insole.
Toe lasted.
Welting finished.
Outsole stitching.
Building the heel with the compartment.
Before finishing.
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4. Acme Shoemaker
A shoe with many great features.
The Chinese company Acme Shoemaker missed the podium with 1 single point, but no doubt, it’s a superb shoe they have created. The upper, sole stitch and sock lining inside the shoe have parts with hand braided stitching in contrasting colour. The bottom is even more spectacular, with braiding along a build up on the waist, a hollow heel, and carved art leather inserts. Received very high on difficulty, high on execution, a bit lower on design / aesthetics.
An amazing sole, waist and heel.
Acme is based in Beijing, it’s a large shoemaking workshop making high-end RTW up to full bespoke. They’ve established themselves as the leading workshop of top-class shoes out of China, and competing with the best makers around the world. The following has been part of making the shoe: Xue Zhong, Yin Junqun, Sun Jianhua, He Zhihong, Chen Xiangsheng, Chen Feifei, Zhou Zhihai, Li Hailiang, Luo Hedi, Zhou Xing, Ji Lei, Wang Xiaochuan.
Extreme ridge at the back.
Steady stance.
The heel.
Lovely when you see all the contrasting stitching sweeping over the shoe.
This type of leather carving is an artform in itself.
Clean work.
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5. Andrey Kaveshnikov
Andrey Kaveshnikov from Russia has a shoe that quite obviously has been inspired by last years winning shoe, with narrow waist and upper coming under the bottom, and also is simulated continue also below the sole part. It has the hand stitched butted apron that goes below the strap into the quarter. It also has lovely glass pearl beading inlets, very tight sole stitching, skin stitched heel seam and so on.
A charismatic bottom.
Andrey Kaveshnikov is a shoemaker in Moscow, one of the more famous Russian makers. H has been entering several times, and always come up with new creative ideas. The design, apron and backseam stitching, bottom making: Andrey Kaveshnikov. Upper pattern making: Nadezhda Artemova. Closing: Galina Krutukha. Glacage: Alexey Vrublevskiy.
Heel with skin stitch.
The “amoeba pattern” from the sole continues inside the shoe.
Nifty beading inlays.
Apron continuing back over the quarter.
Heel.
Edge line is a bit uneven, but overall a well-made shoe.
Parts of the upper.
This apron is stitched with the same type of skin stitch, or butt stitch, as a handmade split toe is, just done from the other side.
Stitching the sole.
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6. Dito Tokyo
A shoe that stands out.
Dito is a Tokyo based brand, of Fumiya Masubuchi and Kai Ishii. It’s another very well-designed shoe with only part a bit off balance being the small heel, and also excellently executed overall, but not the highest difficulty. It has a very Japanese feel over it, where the use of natural coloured threads for embroidery and decorative heel inserts is behind a lot of it. Not over-designed, just well-designed.
Also a hollow heel, bit with decorative inserts.
Dito are inspired by shoemakers from around the world, and they make a lot of different styles of shoes. A lot of more casual and chunky styles, and some very classic, some more uniquely designed ones. Lastmaking, pattern and upper making by Fumiya Masubuchi. Lasting , bottom making and finishing by Kai Ishii.
Beautiful.
Interesting inside.
Very small heel.
Apron and welt.
Inspiration board.
Pattern making.
Heel pieces.
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7. Attila Kovács
A shoe where the navy stingray compliment the brown calf throughout.
A true exhibition piece, made by Attila Kovács from Hungary. Stitching of both upper and sole stitching is exemplary, the sole stitching is super tight yet still cleanly made, very impressive work. Then the navy stingray inlets adds character to many parts of the shoe, which has a lot of playful and difficult features. Also a show without any waist, just a marked ridge of navy leather.
Like a painting to look at.
Attila Kovács established his own business in Hungary in 1991, who offer handmade RTW, MTO and also bespoke. He has through the years successfully participated in numerous Hungarian and international shoemaking competitions, and like the creativity that contest shoes can bring out. Attila Kovács made all himself.
Sole stitching is top-notch.
Steep instep shape gives it a raise.
Clean heel.
Heart-shaped hollow heel and non-existing waist.
Sleek.
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8. Kodai Kawasaki
One of the entries that stood out the most this year, with it’s “faux wedge sole” and sandal feel.
Kodai Kawasaki from Tokyo, Japan, has made the shoe that probably stand out the most in this year’s contest. The half open sandal-inspired upper with seamless piece as base is one thing, but mainly the so called “faux wedge sole” gives it a unique look, one of those things that one haven’t seen before and are so happy that that this contest brings out. The shoe is well put together, not least the edge finishing is super and the way that the sole is split to be made into two levels is a treat.
From below it’s evident that it’s not a wedge sole, just has the edges. Unique and neatly made.
Kodai Kawasaki has learned the basics at various shoemaking classes in Tokyo, and then spend time in Vienna to develop his shoemaking skills. He run the brand Shoe Place by, another brand that manage to combine offering classic dressier shoes with casuals and relatively playful designs. He made all himself.
Chunky heel with concave sides.
Very cool shoe. Notice how the fron lower part continues over the shoe as a strap and all the way around. It’s made from a seamless piece, in a very clever way.
Looks more classic from above.
Excellent edge finishing.
Seamless upper in the beginning of the process.
Here the vamp is attached to the seamless part, and strap is prepared.
The sole split into two parts.
A middle piece prepepd.
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9. Sapatero Manila
A great looking shoe both from above and below.
Sapatero Manilla from the Philippines has made a beautiful shoe that has a braided decoration on the strap as the main feat on the upper, and an intriguing glass case bottom as the “usp” of the bottom. Through the fibre glass at the waist one can see the welt stitch as well as a decorative metal shank that looks almost like a railway. The middle of the heel has an octagon shaped ladder with a “sun” made of the same metal in the bottom. Execution is overall really good.
Unique, good looking and well-made.
Sapatero Manilla is shoemaking workshop in the capital of the Philippines, established in 2013. They offer RTW, MTO and bespoke. The goal is to revitalize making shoes by hand in their country. Long list of participants part of the making: Raymond Villanueva, Jaime Pacifico, Jerwin Lim – Design concepts and sketches. Jerard M. Jader – Insole, Welting. Percival Buensalida – Pattern making. Elsa Carullo – Clicking, Closing. Antonio Osorio – Lastmaking, Lasting. Marjun Orbong – Bottom Making, Finishing.
The shoe got a 5% deduction of points due to the vamp not being a separate piece, which was stated in the guidelines.
Marked sole stitching.
The lovely sock lining connects aesthetically to the metal piece in the waist.
One can admire this work for a long time.
Side view.
Also this shoe is made of a seamless piece, raising the difficulty bar a bit.
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10. Oh Sangjun
A busy shoe.
Oh Sangjun is the only South Korean in the top ten this year. The shoe has a lot of things happening, decent difficulty especially of the upper, and well executed. Some really neat hand stitched decorations on the upper, and a special solution for the strap. Sole stitching looks great. Sole has nice metal parts included, and some more toned down design choices.
A bit calmer and more classic sole.
Oh Sangjun has trained shoemaking for a decade in Japan, but now lives and works Seoul in South Korea. He runs a bespoke shoe workshop as well as host a shoemaking school where he train new makers. He made all himself, apart from the metal toe tap made by Yun Jihoon.
Also this shoe got a 5% deduction of points due to the vamp not being a separate piece.
Tricky things.
Got a short vamped feel.
Ridge back heel, a popular choice in the contest nowadays.
From the side.
Upper pattern together with a test upper. For most makers a lot of sampling and testing is done before the final shoe.
Welt attached.
A decorative design on the leather shank. To fine to make any proper impression through the sole though, especially since when they hammer the sole to dry to bring forward the design they would have also hammered down this.
Heel soon finished.
Continue to part 2 with positions 11-25 here.
Wow, some seriously amazing stuff here. As always. Kudos to all makers!
John Francis: Yeah, some incredible work!