St. Crispins, Photo Courtesy Of: Zimmermann & Kim |
I find it very fascinating to examine the different styles that come from all of the different shoemakers from around the world. Each country has its own unique style, look and feel to their shoes. No two countries really duplicate each other. Sure, you have the French and the Italians who love a pointier shoe that many people feel resemble the same styling. But in reality, aside from that elongated toe, their styling is miles apart from each other. Same thing with the English and the Americans, of which I believe there is much influence involved from how the Americans make their shoes, with respects to English craftsmanship and look. Yet, there are differences. And while I have probably put all of the makers listed below, on the blog at some point or another, I have never really thought to list them all in one post, in order to give you a solid piece of easily tangible information. With this at the tip of your fingers, I will try to make it as easy as possible for you to have at least one shoemaker that you can seek out when you go on your shoe shopping holidays!
For clarification, most of the brands listed will be made in the country that they are listed under, with some exceptions (as listed)
United States
Alden, Picture Courtesy Of: Leather Soul |
Bespoke: Craig Corvin, The London Shoemaker (migrated to US from London), Perry Ercolino, DWF II, Don Ville
RTW: Allen Edmonds, Alden, Barker Black (English made),
Gaziano & Girling, Picture Courtesy Of: Leffot |
RTW: Edward Green, Crockett & Jones, Alfred Sargent (Handgrade), Church’s, Grenson (Handgrade line), Cheaney, Barker, Lodger� �
Italy
Bespoke shoe by Stefano Bemer |
Bespoke & RTW: Stefano Bemer, Riccardo Bestetti (RTW in the works), Mannina, Paolo Scafora, Silvano Lattanzi
Bespoke Only: Gatto (not entirely sure if he is still alive), Hidetaka Fukaya?(AKA Il Micio), Roberto Ugolini, Antonio Pio Mele, Saskia
RTW: Enzo Bonafe, Silvano Sassetti, StefanoBi, Scarpe Di Bianco (found in the states), Sutor Mantellassi, Bontoni (found mostly in the States), Angelo Galasso,?a.Testoni, Artioli, Santoni
France
Corthay |
Bespoke & RTW: Pierre Corthay, Berluti, John Lobb Paris, Massaro Bottier, Aubercy, Altan Bottier, Clairvoy
Bespoke Only: Anthony Delos, Dimitri Bottier (Gomez), Gerald Thibau, Pascal Carno
RTW: Septieme Largeur, Mark Guyot, JM Weston, Matthew Cookson (English born, French inspired), Caulaincourt, Carlos Santos
Spain
Bespoke Shoes by Norman Vilalta |
Bespoke: Norman Vilalta
RTW: George’s, Carmina, Enrile (mainly MTO), Magnanni, Meermin
Greater Europe
Bespoke Shoes by Jan Kielman |
Austria:?Rudolf Scheer, Maftei (also in Romania), St. Crispins (Romanian made), Balint, Materna
Poland:?Jan Kielman
Germany:?Dieter Kuckelkorn, Klemann
Croatia:?Strugar
Norway:?J.P. Myhre
Switzerland:?Bally, Walter Steiger
Sweden:?Janne Melkersson
Hungary:?Laszlo Vass, Koronya, David Balazic
Japan
Bespoke Shoes by Koji Suzuki |
Bespoke:?Koji Suzuki, Saion, Imai Hiroki, Corno Blu, Masaru Okuyama, Guild of Crafts, Daizo Emori
RTW:?Perfetto, Otsuka M-5
As you can see, there are many shoemakers around the world, and even way more than listed here. It is always a pleasure to discover new ones, so if you know of some good ones that I have not listed, please feel free to share. I am particularly curious about the shoe trade in South America, as I have never heard of anyone from that region. If you happen to ever have enough time to go through all of these, it truly is amazing to see how the styles differ from one country to the next. As you can obviously see, I did not attach links to these, because it would have doubled the time in order to do this post, but thats what Google is for my friends. Anyway, I hope that everyone gets a chance to discover something new with this post….
All the best,
-Justin, “The Shoe Snob”
Il Satiro
Hello Justin,
Gatto’s founder died years ago and the brand was bought by Silvano Lattanzi; sadly, I think the old facilities in Rome, Via Salandra, are all that remain of a once mythical shoemaker…
Others remain in Rome to keep the flame of quality shoemaking alight, though, most notably the Calzoleria Pedrocchi (but the master is not an heir to the eponymous family) and Antonio Aglietti (who instead has learned the craft from his father)
PETER
Love the St. Crispin’s. Can not find them in the US. Good thing cause I would buy them in a heartbeat.
AFJ
Good post.
Always great to discover new makers/ brands.
Brgds
GWB
I just wanted to ad one more shoemaker from Norway: Asbj�rn Dagestad.
He is located in Oslo.
http://skomakerdagestad.no/
Gentleman90
I deeply enjoyed this article………thanks for posting Justin…
Daniel
Justin, that’s a great post! You summarized very well the brands, and the masters. If you don’t mind, I would suggest you some hungarian workshops which worth to visit virtually!
The ones you wrote about:
koronya writes a great blog about shoemaking:
http://handmadeshoes.wordpress.com/
Vass opens a new shop in the city center in Budapest:
http://www.vass-cipo.hu/
Some other masters:
Daniel sallay is a talented young shoemaker from Szeged:
http://danielsallay.com/
Sallay is a small bespoke workshop in Szeged:
http://www.sallayshoes.hu/hun
Attila works in Miskolc, prepares mainly bespoke shoes:
http://www.attilacipo.hu/
Buday was founded in the past decede, and they have some RTW collections as well:
http://www.budayshoes.com/en/introduction
And this young lady prepers nice handmade shoes, first of all for women:
http://kwandera.blogspot.com/search/label/cip%C5%91
I hope you will enjoy the links!
Kind Regards!
Anonymous
Masaru Okuyama now is Hong Kong shoemaker since he migrated to HK.
Kow Hoo is the HK local bespoke shoemaker.
I know one South America shoe and bootmaker, Casa Fagliano from Argentina.
Anonymous
Do’nt forget the Netherlands: Van Lier and Floris van Bommel.
James
Can’t believe you forgot about James Taylor and Son – http://www.taylormadeshoes.co.uk/index.htm
Gentleman90
Justin,I suggest you look into ARTIOLI :
http://www.artioli.com ,besides I think you forgot abot Salvatore Ferragamo :
http://www.ferragamo.com…….
Justin FitzPatrick, "The Shoe Snob"
Il Satiro – Thank you for that wonderful and useful information…. if only I could keep up more thoroughly with all of the changes in the shoe world…
Peter – Hawaii my friend, Hawaii….(and maybe Beverly Hills). Two Words: LEATHER SOUL
AFJ – Thank you, i know the feeling..
GWB – Thank you for that…too bad they do not show their work on their site.
Gentleman90 – No worries, glad that you enjoyed it.
Daniel – I definitely know of Koronya’s blog, it is listed on the right side of my page and I visited the new shop where I met Mr Vass, very nice guy! Thanks for all of the rest, seems like you know your stuff!
Anon – Thanks for the info, did not know about Masaru’s relocation…
Anon – Had never heard of them, but thanks for the info!
James – Let me update that….I can’t be 100% sure, but I am quite certain that I phoned up once to see if the repair shop did indented toe plates or just banged on blakey’s with a hammer and the person seemed to have no clue what I was referring to when I talked about indented plates, which gave me the impression that things weren’t what they seemed as a bespoke maker should know exactly what they are….
Gentleman90 – Artioli maybe, but Ferragamo is not something that should be on this list…while they can make a good shoe, everyone knows them already….they have turned into a fashion house, no longer are they “shoemakers” in my mind.
-Justin
Gentleman90
Justin have you heard of FRATELLI ROSSETTI : http://www.fratellirossetti.com,I recommend looking into it…….best regards…
Justin FitzPatrick, "The Shoe Snob"
Gentleman90 – I know of them well, but am not really a fan…they used to make lovely shoes, but I feel that the quality of the leather has deteriorated as of lately…
-Justin
James
Wow. Surprised to hear that. Maybe it was an apprentice or someone along those lines. I think James Taylor is a little different in that, despite the fact that they are indeed bespoke, they’re more “orthopedic” (as Mr. Glasgow put it in an article). Also, I think you forgot Loake.
Justin FitzPatrick, "The Shoe Snob"
James – Well, nevertheless I updated the list for JT, but I did not forget Loake, simple matter of the fact that I don’t think they make great shoes and therefore would not recommend anyone to get them.
-Justin
Raphael Herrera
We should collaborate Justin we’re both masters at our trade’s you in business … me in handmade bespoke shoes/boots. https://www.facebook.com/HerreraBootmaker
Diego
An italian shoemaker that is worth mentioning is unfortunately not present in your list, Antonio Meccariello
Here is his website http://www.meccarielloshoes.com (only in Italian) and he can be founded in Naples.
TheShoeSnob
thanks for sharing Diego
TheShoeSnob
thanks for sharing Gregar!