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This beautiful chelsea boot by the previous world champion of shoemaking, Wataru Shimamoto of Orma Shoemaker, is made in a very special Japanese leather called Shironameshi, made with an over 1,000 years old tanning technique, that use only salt and rapeseed oil.
Stricter animal welfare regulations in the European Union have changed the conditions of the skins that the tanneries receive, which in turn means that we customers need to change our mindset on what is a good skin and what is not. In this article I explain this further.
You might have experienced it yourself. Getting two pairs of shoes from the same brand, in the same size, made on the same last, yet one of the pairs are more loose than the other. Usually the reason is different leathers used, which preferences affect both how the shoes can be manufactured and the feel on the foot. Learn more in this article.
Last week, the winter edition of the world’s largest shoe fair, Micam, and the largest leather fair, Lineapelle, were held in Milan, Italy. Shoegazing was there, here’s a summary of the impressions from the fairs as a whole and from some selected exhibitors.
When it comes to quality footwear, there’s a lot more to it than just leather soles or rubber soles. The various types within each category are huge, all with various specs and preferences. Here’s a substantial guide to all the most common types of soles for quality shoes and boots.
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Time for the promised follow-up to the previous post on leathers from different animals. Here’s a substantial guide to the main tanning techniques, dyeing methods and finishing types and treatments.
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There are many different types of leather used for shoes, all with different looks, character and properties. In this substantial guide most types of leathers used for footwear are listed and briefly explained.
In the field of quality footwear, there are some terms that can be a bit confusing and unclear, especially for those who have recently become interested in the topic. Here I go through several of them and try to clarify and explain.
Candle wax is a problematic stain to get on clothes and shoes, as it tends to stick to the surface and can be a real pain to remove completely. With the right methods you should be able to solve it though, at least on regular leather shoes. Here’s a guide on how to rescue shoes from stearin.
The upper leathers available in the first half of the 1900’s was in many ways far superior to what was around before that, and to what we have today, in terms of quality. Learn the complex reasons for this, in an odyssey through the history of leather tanning, with the main focus on the golden age.
