Report – New York Super Trunk Show 2024

The New York Super Trunk Show was back for its second iteration the past weekend, with another great shoe day in the middle of Manhattan. 1,200 visitors coming to check out a bunch of shoe and menswear exhibitors from around the world, follow the U.S. shoe shining champs and other shoe happenings, and just have a good time. Substantial report from the day with lots of photos.

 

When we had the first ever New York Super Trunk Show almost exactly one year ago, the weather conditions outside were horrible, with crazy rain and very cold weather. This year, it was literally the other way around, with clear blue skies and 77°F (25°C). What was similar though was the amount of visitors, although they were spread out during the day differently, last year it was more even throughout the day while this year it was a bit calmer in the morning and afternoon but really busy in peak hours.

The venue is the Kosciuszko Foundation on 15 E 65th St on Upper East Side, a beautiful town house where the event is spread out in four different rooms. It’s always a bit easier the second time, so we who organise it – Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob blog, and Kirby Allison – were a bit more on top of things this round, could be a bit more relaxed, and also enjoy the event even more.

Cause it was surely an enjoyable day. And it kicked of straight away, with the entrance hall being taken over by the patina exhibition. Here we had Alberto Suastez alias Patina Works Arizona, Greg Park of Han Core Patina and Chris Dillon of American Patina, who all did an amazing job painting and polishing a pair of Bridlen crust leather adelaides, using Saphir products. They spent the whole day working, and visitors could follow the progress into magnificent shoe art.

In the inner room on the entrance floor we had the shoe care platinum sponsor Saphir, with their US agent SoleTech, and they had loads of products with them that were available at a discount throughout the day, so many people took the chance to stock up. They also offered a free shoe shining service, highly appreciated such, and it was some famous names that stood for the shining. Before lunch last year’s US shoe shine champion Levi Elliot of Levi’s Shoe Shine was in front of the shine stool, and in the afternoon Preston Soto of The Elegant Oxford shined people’s shoes.

Here Godka, a mix between gin and vodka, served drinks throughout the day, everything from a special coffee drink that lots of visitors talked very warmly about, to Godka-tonics. From India we had Blk Brd, who impressed with their fully handmade highly affordable shoes and boots. Also Divij Bespoke was back, a California based tailor who many visitors appreciated last year, and this round was no exception.

Going up the stairs, one reach the main room, a space with high ceiling and beautiful old paintings on the walls. Here we had the three gold sponsors showcasing their goodies. It was really nice to have the New York-based shoemaking company Vogel on site, and to hear how visitors really appreciated their presence. With everything from clean classics to a magnificent pair of men’s riding boots, they showcased the wide range of styles they are capable of. Chinese Acme has carved its own niche in the world of quality men’s dress shoes, with their RTW and MTO offerings fully handmade to the same standard as really good bespoke shoes. They always bring some new stunning shoes to the super trunks, this round among other things a stunning patina suede tassel loafer. As gold we also had CNES, one of the leading manufacturers of handmade shoes in Vietnam, with Blake, Goodyear and hand welted footwear. Specs and looks are stunning for the price, and even if the styles offered are very varied they manage to keep a CNES feel on things.

Others who exhibited in the main room were the Swiss brand Majordome, with Spanish made mainly Goodyear welted footwear that often has unique yet highly wearable designs. We had the Brooklyn based bespoke shoemaker Francis Waplinger who have managed to merge his Italian training with his American background into the shoes he makes. The Japanese brand Raymar is one of the most talked about RTW brands in the domestic market, with solid takes on classics at excellent prices, either Goodyear welted or hand welted. Yearn creates some really sleek, excellent looking handmade shoes out of their own factory in China, and more and more people around the world get their eyes open for them.

In the final, smaller room of the top floor, the large centre table was dedicated to our shoe platinum sponsor, Bridlen. It’s been a true pleasure to follow Bridlen on their journey from being a new, unknown brand who joined their first super trunk show in Amsterdam back in 2020, who’ve used the super trunk events as springboards to get international attention, partners and customers, and who now certainly is an established, respected manufacturer. They make their shoes in their own factory in India, which they’ve ran for 40 years, with Goodyear welting directly to a thick leather insole and constant product development.

In here we also had Ichigo Ichie from Vietnam who did their first super trunk, and their fully handmade greatly designed shoes draw a lot of attention and lots of orders were placed already on site. Speaking of being popular and conducting loads of sales, Chicago hatmaker Optimo had another smashing event, it’s evident that when you do things properly as they do, you get the recognition deserved. Finally we had another newcomer, the New York-based tailor Charles Paige Atelier who offer a wide range of customised to full bespoke garments of great quality.

A highlight of every super trunk show event is the shoe shine contest. Here we had the second edition of the highly prestigious U.S. Championships of Shoe Shining, organised in collaboration with Saphir Medaille d’Or and Bridlen. Three had qualified for the final, Ray Chen from the state of New York, Hang Li from California, and Caleb Malinowski out of Texas, so evenly spread out over the country. They had 20 minutes to shine a brand new Bridlen oxford as lovely as possible using Saphir shoe polish. In front of a big crowd, Hang Li was eventually crowned the winner. At the bottom of the article you can watch the stream from the contest.

Much more from the NYC super trunk will be up on Kirby Allison’s YouTube channel later in winter. And yes, of course we’ll be back with another edition of this event next October! Before that, we have the London event which takes place on May 10 (mark your calendar if you haven’t yet), and also, we will take the super trunk shows to Asia and Singapore in 2026… stay tuned for more info on that later on. The journey continues!