The New York Super Trunk Show is back for its third installment, on Saturday October 4. On central Manhattan a bunch of great shoe and menswear exhibitors from around the world will showcase, we’ll have the U.S. Championships of shoe shining, a free shoe shining service, live shoemaking, several stage sessions on various shoe topics, and much more. Read all you need to know about the event.
Location: The Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 E 65th St, New York
Date: Saturday October 4 2025
Schedule for the day
11.00am-6.30pm Trunk show open for the public, FREE OF CHARGE AND NO REGISTRATION NEEDED. Exhibitions with:
Platinum sponsors
Saphir (shoe care)
Bridlen (shoes)
Gold sponsors
CNES (shoes)
Charles Paige Atelier (clothes)
Silver sponsors
Blk Brd (shoes)
Caswell Boot Company (shoes)
Divij Bespoke (clothes)
Francis Waplinger (shoes)
Ichigo Ichie (shoes)
Optimo (hats)
Yearn (shoes)
Ten To One rum will serve drinks during the day
On display are also the top three shoes in the World Championships of Shoemaking 2025, and winner in the World Championships of Shoe Patina.
11.00am-6.30pm (on and off) Free shoe shining service by Saphir, at their exhibition space
11.00am-6.30pm (on and off) Live shoemaking with Francis Waplinger, at their exhibition space
Stage programme
12.00-12.15pm – How to make suede shoes look good again, with Levi Elliott, Levi’s Shoe Shine / Saphir
1.00-1.15pm – How a shoe factory work, with Affan Mohammed, Bridlen
2.00-2.15pm – Fix a mirror shine, with Preston Soto, The Elegant Oxford / Saphir
3.00-3.30pm Final of the U.S. Championships in Shoe Shining in cooperation with Saphir and Bridlen Shoemaker, in the prize pool shoes from Bridlen, Saphir shoe care kit, medals and $800 (More info in qualification post here)
4.00-4.15pm – Ask a shoemaker – Q&A with bespoke shoemaker Francis Waplinger
5.00-5.15pm – How to remove salt stains on shoes, with Levi Elliott, Levi’s Shoe Shine / Saphir
6.30pm Event closes.
Here’s the Facebook event page where you’ll get all the latest updates. We highly appreciate any help with spreading the word about the event! The hashtag used before, during and after the event in social media is #supertrunk.
The New York Trunk Show takes place at the same lovely venue as before, The Kosciuszko Foundation on 15 E 65th St on Manhattan, close to Central Park on Upper East Side. It’s a beautiful old building, multi-level with several rooms, where we have a stage area in centre and then exhibitors spread out. We’ll have the liqueur company Ten To One rum serving drinks during the day. The event is organised by Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob blog, Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing and Kirby Allison.
The stage area of the venue.
The event is open for everyone with no registration needed, between 11.00am-6.30pm. Both previous years we’ve had about 1,200 visitors that came to try, buy and order shoes and clothes, meet fellow shoe aficionados, see the scene events and enjoy everything.
Below we’ll present all the exhibitors, that will be spread out around the venue. For the stage area, we test doing things a bit differently this year (apart from the given shoe shine contest at 3pm), instead of a patina exhibition that we’ve had before there will be a series of shorter presentations / talks around various shoe topics. Some on shoe care, some on shoemaking. We’ve done a bit of this before in London, and at the Stockholm super trunks back in the days there were always a bunch of stage sessions, which was really appreciated. We like’d to do it more again. See the stage programme above for more info about all the sessions.
From last year’s shine final.
The main stage happening is as usual the final of the U.S. Championships of Shoe Shining, held in collaboration with Saphir and Bridlen, at 3pm in the afternoon. Three finalists who have made it through the qualifications will have a Bridlen plain cap toe oxford in medium brown, a can of Saphir Medaille d’Or Pate de Lux and one can of Mirror Gloss, water, brush and polishing cloth and have 20 minutes to shine the shoe as lovely as possible. In the prize pool is the shoes shined, shoe care products, medals and $800. Qualifications are open until August 17, so you can still make it to the final, all info here in this article.
Other happenings during the day apart from the stage sessions is that Saphir will host a free shoe shining service at the event, where visitors can have their shoes shined by Preston Soto of the Elegant Oxford and Levi Elliot of Levi’s Shoe Shine. You both get to see these professionals at work, but also ask questions and get great advice on shoe care in general and shining shoes in particular. At the exhibition table of Francis Waplinger there will also be some live shoemaking taking place, which can be really interesting to see, and here you can also ask questions and learn more about what goes in to making shoes by hand.
Preston Soto shines a visitor’s shoes at last year’s event.
Please follow the Facebook page for the event here where you’ll get all the latest updates, let us know you plan to attend and please help spread the word. We look forward to another great American super trunk show gathering people interested in quality men’s shoes and clothes from both near and far.
Hope to see many of you in New York on Saturday October 4! You don’t want to miss this day, mark your calendars, book your flights and check through the exhibitor list below to start thinking about what you might want to add to your wardrobe.
Below info about all the companies that will exhibit and be part of making this a great day.
Platinum sponsors
Saphir
Saphir is the golden standard when it comes to premium shoe care. It all started with a perfect shoe cream introduced in 1925, where the original recipe is still in use, and since then they have continued to expand their product range to one of the widest selections available. The company’s Medaille d’Or line is what all other shoe care brands are compared to.
With Saphir you don’t only receive really good end results with your shoe care routine, they are also famous for being very easy to use and to work with. All Medaille d’Or products contain only natural products: beeswax, carnauba wax, essence of turpentine, lanolin, mink oil, neatsfoot, vegetal materials and so on. In the USA, they are represented by their distributor SoleTech. Read more about Saphir in this article covering a visit to their factory.
Bridlen
Our main shoe sponsor of the event is once again Bridlen from India. It’s been a treat to follow this company’s development the past few years, where they came from being basically unknown to establish themselves as one of the bigger players in this industry, and where the super trunks have been used as a springboard for their journey. They’ve put India’s manufacturing of welted footwear on the map worldwide, with solid well-made shoes with great materials offered at a great price point.
Bridlen has run their own shoe factory for almost 40 years, and collaborated with the people behind introducing Meermin in Japan (which was their first market) when starting the factory’s own brand. They are known for making Goodyear welted shoes with the welt seam made directly to a thick full leather insole, the old traditional way without gemming (a canvas rib glued to the insole). They also make the uppers more similar to how bespoke shoes are made, with real leather backings etc. Prices start at an impressive $270 for their welted shoes. Read more about Bridlen in this review.
Gold sponsors
Charles Paige Atelier
Charles Paige Atelier was founded by Lewis Malivanek six years ago. Lewis has vast experience in the tailoring world, having been Creative Director for Knot Standard before branching off to offer his own ideas and wears. Charles Paige offers both semi-handmade and fully handmade bespoke tailoring, as well as customised shirts, knitwear, denim, and outerwear, not only for men but also for women.
CNES
CNES is one of Vietnam’s largest manufacturers of Goodyear welted shoes. A brand that offers a wide range of shoes, from super sleek models with patina to rugged workwear boots, yet still manage to have their own character on things. After establishing themselves on many Asian markets, they have continued to make a mark in the US and Europe. CNES have shoes made with Blake, Goodyear, hand welted and Norvegese constructions. The Goodyear welted ones start at about $300, their hand welted or Norvegese models cost a bit more.
Silver sponsors
Blk Brd
Blk Brd from India is offering some of the lowest priced hand welted shoes and boots in the world, made in their own factory in Agra in the north parts of India. Prices start at crazy low $140! And still quality and materials are really solid, which is seriously impressive. They have workwear boots, Shell cordovan shoes, seamless and spiral wholecuts, and much more.
Caswell Boot Company
We’re really glad to have the Washington based brand Caswell Boot Company part of the event. In short time they’ve established themselves on the boot scene with a wide range of offerings of really solid, well-made boots and sturdier shoes. They have everything from hand welted MTO boots made in Indonesia offered from $600, to RTW stuff Goodyear welted in Portugal and Spain starting at $400, offered in a lot of interesting leathers.
Divij Bespoke
The tailoring firm Divij Bespoke has been a popular exhibitor previous years, which isn’t a surprise. They work hard to achieve the best possible fit with their mainly classic men’s tailoring, The brand has showrooms in Costa Mesa, CA, and Hong Kong, and they travel around the US regularly. On top of that customers also have possibility to do measurements and fittings remotely.
Francis Waplinger
Francis Waplinger is a local bespoke shoemaker, with workshop in Brooklyn. He learned shoemaking in Italy at Angelo Imperatrice and Roberto Ugolini, and trained with Hungarian/American Marcell Mrsan. Francis merges American made full bespoke shoes with the classic Italian tradition. Aim is to achieve something unique and personal for each customer. He will also showcase shoemaking live during the day.
Ichigo Ichie
Ichigo Ichie is a brand is founded by the Vietnamese Lee Trung, who lived in Japan for many years where he learned shoemaking. He began making affordable bespoke and MTO from Japan, now he has a small team of established makers who produce a RTW range RTW range in Vietnam. These impressive fully handmade RTW shoes starts at just $500.
Optimo
Optimo run their own workshop in Chicago, where they create some of the world’s absolute best hats. Founded by Graham Thompson in the 90’s. Optimo has a wide range of ready-made hats, and offer customised hats made to your exact specifications, so you can get your dream hat made exactly like you want it to the highest standard.
Yearn
Yearn from China is famours for their elegant shoes with perfectly balanced lasts, made of European leathers from the most reputable tanneries. Made fully by hand, so hand lasted, hand welted with handmade sole stitching. Still priced from only about $500. They have their own factory in Chengdu, China, led by long time factory manager Jie Zeng.
No one there dealing with patinas then?
David Lilienfeld: Not that do patina live on site no, this year. But likely some of the patina guys like Chris Dillon and Greg Park will be there as visitors, and exhibitors like Alan Lee of CNES are experienced in patina, if you want to talk to someone about it.
That will sure help. I hope they leave their contact info somewhere. It is hard finding people who do patina work.