On January 31 2026 it’s time for the first Singapore Super Trunk Show ever, and with that we also introduce the Asian Championships of Shoe Shining. Organised by Shoegazing, The Shoe Snob and Kirby Allison in collaboration with sponsors Saphir shoe care and Bridlen shoes. In 20 minutes three finalists will shine a shoe as lovely as possible, in the prize pool we have medals, shoes, shoe care products as well as 800 USD, given by Saphir.
We are really happy to finally, after talking about it for years, take the super trunk show events to Asia, and Singapore. Organisers are as usual Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob and Kirby Allison. In a great venue in the central city we will pack in loads of great shoe and menswear brands, have a bunch of stage sessions on footwear and other shoe happenings, including the first Asian shoe shining champs. We’ll present the event in full later this year, but if you’re in Singapore or in other parts of South East Asia, do mark your calendars and book your trips, cause it will be a day to remember for sure!
Asian Championships of Shoe Shining 2026
The first Asian shoe shining championships is organised in collaboration with the French premium shoe care brand Saphir and the popular Indian shoe manufacturer Bridlen. The winner will receive a pair of shoes from Bridlen, a shoe care package from Saphir, and the top three gets medals and share a prize pool of 800 USD (equivalent to about 1,050 Singapore dollars. 500 USD to the winner, $200 to second placed and $100 to third) given by Saphir. It’s no secret that professional shoe shining has become most developed in Asia, not least shown with all seven world champions coming from here (five from Japan, two from Singapore), so we expect this clash to be nothing less than absolute top-class.
Picture from a world championships final several years ago.
The final takes place in the afternoon during the Singapore Super Trunk Show, on January 31. Here three finalists will have 20 minutes to transform one factory new Bridlen plain cap toe oxford in dark brown smooth leather into a shiny beauty, using a can of Saphir Medaille d’Or Pate de Lux and a can of Saphir Medaille d’Or Mirror Gloss wax polish in the colours of their choice, together with water, a shoe brush, a polishing cloth (this they may bring themselves) and a nylon cloth. Despite the short time, we will see amazing results.
To qualify for the shoe shining championships, you should send in three pictures of a pair of well polished shoes. The pictures are to show off as much of the shine job as possible, that is their purpose, so vary the angles between the photos, maybe one close-up and so on. What will be judged is how well the shoe is polished, not necessarily the highest shine but also other parameters will be taken into consideration, as the depth of the shine, overall technique, any eventual nice color variations etc, same things we look at during the final.
The shine contests always attract big crowds.
Only one entry (three pics of the same shoes) per contestant can be sent in, and it should only be maximum one pair of shoes in the picture (for example not a shoe collection with shined shoes). The person has to be able to attend the final in Singapore on Saturday January 31. The contest is open for residents of Asia and Oceania, professionals as well as amateurs, so both professional shoe shiners, patina artists, cobblers as well as regular shoe nerds can enter the contest.
You are allowed to make minor adjustments to the photos in for example Photoshop, but more significant changes or filters etc. is not allowed. We have a professional photographer who will examine all entries, and if we suspect that these rules have been violated the person can be disqualified. And again, it’s the beauty of the polish job that is judged, not how beautiful the photos are.
The jury (preliminary) consists of:
Raymond Tan, Saphir
Affan Mohammed, Bridlen
Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob
Jesper Ingevaldsson, Shoegazing
Kirby Allison
Yuya Hasegawa, Brift H, shoe shining world champion 2017
John Chung, Mason & Smith, shoe shining world champion 2018
Ash Samsudin, Métiers Sol, shoe shining world champion 2022
All will give points 1-5 to their five favourites, and the three entries that receive the most points will be qualified for the final. Justin FitzPatrick will be the only one who knows which picture is from which person, the other ones will vote without any info about who has sent in the entries. In the case of a tie, Jesper Ingevaldsson’s votes will be the deciding factor. The jury decision cannot be overruled.
Send in three photos to justin@theshoesnobblog.com no later than Sunday November 30. Enter “Asian Championships of Shoe Shining 2026” in the subject field. Finalists will be contacted the following week and after that announced here. For any uncertainties, just e-mail us and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.
