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A while back I posted a picture special with a bunch of bespoke samples being made by the German bespoke shoemaker Patrick Frei and his partner Kazuya Kimura. During covid they had time to continue the samples production, so here’s a bunch of new amazing shoes highlighted.
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An episode with the 2018 world champion in shoemaking, Patrick Frei, whose amazingly well-made shoes are instantly recognisable with a personal character. Hear him talk about how one go about to find an own identity as a shoemaker or shoe designer, and loads more, like how he sees shoemaking as “The King of all Crafts” and how anyone doing anything first should look back to see how things has been done before, to just name a couple of examples.
The most famous, prestigious and formal shoemaking education in the world is Les Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France, which most of the famous names in French bespoke shoemaking has been through. A journey which takes the trainee to a number of different workshops with the aim to develop both the person and of course their craft. Shoegazing sat down with compagnons trainee Pierre-Baptiste L’Hospital to learn more about this traditional shoemaking education.
Finally, after several delays due to the pandemic, I’ve now been able to travel to Freiburg, Germany, and the Patrick Frei workshop, and the progress of my bespoke pair from them can now progress. In this article we’ll follow the fitting, modifications of the last, and second fitting.
More and more quality sneakers are flooding onto the shoe market, both styles and available quality has developed in several regards since last time I wrote about the topic two years ago. Here’s a new roundup of a bunch of sneakers and trainers that could be of interest for the quality conscious shoe buyer.
Articles continued:
Last year German bespoke shoemaker Patrick Frei and his new partner Kazuya Kimura were part of the Amsterdam Super Trunk Show, where they showcased some old but also a bunch of new samples. I showed a few images in the report from the event, but these shoes are so amazing that it would be a shame not to show more of them. Here’s a picture special to rectify this.
For the first, and perhaps the last time, I’m hereby presenting the highly prestigious Shoegazing Bespoke Awards, where me, myself and I have decided which bespoke shoemakers I think deserves to be awarded in four different categories: Creativity, Finishing, Patterns and Highest Minimum Level.
It’s lovely to see how much can be done just by enhancing things a bit, like the shapes of the last on this seriously amazing bespoke sample made by Patrick Frei and Kazuya Kimura. It’s essentially a regular soft square toe, but with curves and angles carved to perfection.
Last weekend the first Amsterdam Super Trunk Show took place. A great day with more than 300 visitors and shoes from all over the world showcased, together with shoe care, clothing, watches and perfumes. Here’s a summary in text and lots of pics from the day. Also, briefly about the fact that the London Super Trunk Show has been postponed until October 10.
It’s a real pleasure to invite you all to the first Amsterdam Super Trunk Show. A bunch of shoe brands from all over the world, partners and other interesting menswear exhibitors, plus the first Dutch Championships in Shoe Shining, all taking place at Cristofori Concert Hall of the Playing Circle, in the central parts of Amsterdam, on Saturday March 7. Here all info about the event.
