Third edition of the American edition of the super trunk shows took place the weekend before the last, a great day that gathered hundreds of shoe enthusiasts on Manhattan that browsed the offerings of shoe and menswear companies from around the globe. There were also a bunch of stage sessions on shoe care and shoemaking, the final of the U.S. champs of shoe shining, and more. Here’s a report with loads of photos from the day.
We have to admit that us in the organising group – me Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob blog, and Kirby Allison of the YouTube channel and webshop with the same name – were a bit nervous for how the New York Super Trunk Show would unfold. This is an event with mainly international exhibitors, and the tumultuous year with tariffs and removal of the de minimis for private import have affected a lot of the brands participating and their US business.
Luckily, we had another great day. The visitor number was a bit lower than previous years, but still high, and those who came were really engaged and basically all exhibitors had super busy days. A bunch had their highest number of orders at a super trunk event ever, which was really nice to see. Direct sales on site isn’t the only purpose of being at the super trunks, but of course it’s something that makes it all better.
A lot of people had travelled in for the event. One of them Andre Simha from Switzerland.
Outside the venue called the KF House (previously the Kosciuszko Foundation), located next to Central Park on Upper East Side.
Kirby Allison filming for his Youtube channel, here with Lewis Malivanek of Charles Paige.
The largest tables of the venue was held by our Platinum sponsors. French shoe care brand Saphir is the golden standard of shoe care in the world, and their booth was packed with their great products, including the recently launched absolute premium sneaker care range. Saphir also offered a free shoe shining service, where Preston Soto of The Elegant Oxford and Levi Elliott of Levi’s Shoe Shine gave visitors a nice glacage on their shoes. Bridlen out of India that has made a proper mark with their Goodyear welted shoes and boots with old-school directly to leather insole welting, as well as the lightweight Reverse Goodyear construction. In New York they premiered two new asymmetric lasts that has a fit that not least the American market like, with good room for the forefoot.
Preston Soto shining the shoes of a visitor at Saphir’s exhibitor spot.
Cans of some of the finest wax polishes and shoe cream available in the world.
The exclusive Medaille d’Or sneaker care range.
Bridlen’s table is always neatly organised with all their shoe goodies.
A new asymmetric last, with a fit that many appreciates.
Museum calf wholecut.
Gold sponsors were CNES from Vietnam, whose table as usual looks like a candy shop with all tastes to suit all shoe aficionados, everything from chunky boots to the sleekest of dress shoes. A lot hand welted, but also Goodyear and other shoe constructions. We also had the American tailoring firm Charles Paige Atelier, who had a busy days taking measurements for people who wanted to get suits as well as their casual offerings like jeans and overshirts. Many appreciate CP’s combination of classic and modern.
The table of CNES.
Alan Lee of CNES helping out one of their many customers during the day.
Charles Paige clothing.
Shirts and fine knitwear.
Then we had a bunch of Silver exhibitors, where not least Yearn from China had their table crowded with people throughout the day, with big interest for their hand welted and sleek footwear. Chicago-based Optimo and their fine top-quality hats is always a favourite, which is nice to see. Ichigo Ichie makes some really nice fully handmade shoes with often rather bold designs, that see an increasing interest internationally. As usual we want to have some bespoke shoemaker on site, and this year Brooklyn-based Francis Waplinger not only showcased his fine bespoke samples merging Italian and American, but also did some shoemaking live.
Lovely loafer by Yearn.
Graham Thompsono of Optimo talking hats.
Norwegian stitched chukka on Ichigo Ichie’s table.
Franci Waplinger bespoke samples.
Divij Bespoke from California is known for achieving great fit with their tailoring and classic clothing. We also had Caswell Boot Company there, with rugged workwear boots, both Goodyear welted and hand welted, really solid stuff. Blk Brd from India makes some of the most affordable fully handmade footwear you can get your hands on, looking impressive. And throughout the day we had Ten To One rum serve well-tasting drinks to visitors.
Jackets and fabrics available from Divij Bespoke.
Boot bonanza on Caswell Bootmakers table.
A cool Blk Brd style, sort of loafer sort of double monk.
Ten to One Rum was there to make things more enjoyable and tasty.
New this year was that we sort of went back to the roots of the super trunk events and had a wider stage programme, with talks throughout the day. Levi Elliot and Preston Soto hosted various shoe care sessions where they talked about suede care, repairing a mirror gloss shine, and how to remove salt stains. Zahan Anees of Bridlen had a very appreciated talk on how to run a shoe factory, and there was a Q&A session where Francis Waplinger answered questions on being a bespoke shoemaker. We definitely want to continue with these. Here the venue is perfect with a disclosed stage area, a bit trickier in London and maybe also at the Singapore event on January 31, but we look at ways to do it similarly there as well.
Francis Waplinger got question on bespoke shoemaking.
Shoe care, here Levi Elliott use Saphir’s snow and salt stain remover to do just that.
Zahan Anes from Bridlen on running a factory.
Then as always is the case with a super trunk show, a main highlight is the shine final. Here in the U.S. Championships of Shoe Shining final, organised in collaboration with sponsors Saphir and Bridlen, we had Ray Chen from New York state, California based Nicholas Fuentes, and Mario Cesar Samaniego from Texas. They had 20 minutes to use Saphir Medaille d’Or pate de lux and mirror gloss to transform one factory new Bridlen plain cap toe oxford in to a well-shined piece of leather. Ray Chen was crowned the winner, and apart from the gold medal got a pair of Bridlen shoes and $500 given by Saphir, with runner up Mario Cesar Sameniego getting $200 and 3rd placed Nicholas Fuentes $100. You can see the live stream from the final at the bottom of this article, professional video coverage will come later on Kirby Allison’s YouTube channel.
Finalists. From the left Ray Chen, Nicholas Fuentes and Mario Cesar Sameniego.
Big crowd followed the battle.
20 minutes of intense work.
After the jury had reviewed the shoes, with Ray taking the gold.
Ray lives close to New York City, and had a bunch of friends who cheered for him.
A big thanks to all you who came and made the NYC super trunk such a great day! Next up we prepare for the first edition of the Singapore Super Trunk Show with the inaugural Asian shoe shining champs on January 31, and then we will host the yearly London event second weekend of May as usual. Stay tuned for more info on those.
Drink time.
As standard on all super trunks, the top shoes from the world championships of shoemaking were on display. Will be the same at the Singapore super trunk.
Beautiful hats.
Divij Hemrajani of Divij Bespoke trained on Savile Row in London.
Choosing fabric.
Yearn sole.
Nubuck pigskin boots by Ichigo Ichie. Sweet stuff.
Francis Waplinger made sure to get some work done – hand welting a pair on site.
Swatches.
Lewis Malivanek explaining important stuff.
This Shell cordovan boot by Caswell took the prize for heaviest sample.
Sandeep Parihaar of Blk brd fitting people.
Shine final in full swing.
Live streamed, plus of course filmed for Kirby’s Youtube channel.
Tom Costin of Saphir / Soletech, U.S. champion Ray Chen, and Zahan Anees of Bridlen.
CNES mixed leather apron derby.
Three times cordovan from Bridlen.
The boot guys’ corner.
Pick your colour.
Italy and America as interpreted by Francis Waplinger.
Nice display.
The venue KF House is a beautiful old town house.
First, it was great to meet you in person and the show. It was fun for me to finally be able to attend a STS in person and not just read about it after the fact. We are in a super cool era of new brands from around the world trying to grab our attention and the STS is one way to experience not only the products they make, but the ppl behind the brand which is as if not more important. Thank you to you , Justin and Kirby for keeping the energy up for planning these shows and I look forward to 2026.
Michael B: Great to meet you too! Thanks for the kind words, glad to hear you enjoyed it. Looking forward to next year as well.
Any interest in bringing the show to Toronto? I know there are many brands I’m interested in buying from, but not able to try their shoes in person is the obstacle.
Tim: Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll be able to do Toronto event. But you should look at the possibility to travel to the event next year!