Why Bespoke Dress Shoes Are So Expensive | So Expensive | Insider Business

shaving off a millimeter too much of leather could ruin the fit of this bespoke shoe to make a finished pair Artisans must carve hammer and Stitch each detail to the exact specifications of a customer's foot twice one pair can cost over five thousand pounds some designs cost over twelve thousand pounds so what's so special about how bespoke dress shoes are made and is that what makes them so expensive Cannons of London makes some of the world's most expensive bespoke shoes all by hand using traditional techniques even the thread The Artisans use is hand spun you could bring a cross person in here that made our shoes 100 years ago and they'd be able to start work properly straight away that's Simon he's been making shoes for over 15 years the fit is tailored completely to each person whereas a ready-made shoe is essentially a generic shape it will either fit your right foot or your left foot they won't perfectly fit both the key difference is this the last it's a wooden mold carved to the exact measurements and features of the customer's foot it's the foundation of the whole shoe it determines whether the shoe is going to be comfortable it's also the style he starts by cutting away large amounts of wood then make small adjustments with hand tools even the smallest little half a millimeter sometimes can just make all the difference it can just throw the whole thing off the easiest thing for me to do would be to just make a beautiful last the challenge is to make it useful and to actually make it fit last making is Simon's specialty he inherited this workbench from the Shoemaker who trained him this has been in the business for forever I believe it was with the business before he came into it which was in the 1950s making a last can take days it's a constant process of carving wood and checking the measurements but that effort is worth it because a last can be reused for future pairs saving time and bringing down the cost this Workshop has thousands of lasts some over a hundred years old we're lucky enough to have many famous lasts we've got Franklin D Roosevelt Charlie Chaplin's one really amazing shape as well very high arch there we also have Fred Astaire these are very very elegant if they're done right they have the character of the the person so you can almost see everyone's character really it's very fun working in a workshop bespoke shoe making Workshop has particular smell to it there's like the Oak Park Town leather almost everybody comments on that when they first enter the workshop the most popular material for bespoke shoes is leather and the more expensive the leather the priceier the shoe I think our most expensive shoe well they're always ones made of crocodile or alligator they generally cost around 11 or 12 000 pounds every sex skin examiner and what I'm looking for is a blemish free section so it can't have any tick marks tick bites you know any stretch marks because that will show up when the shoe is lasted and spoiled the look of the shoe at this level anything like that is unacceptable we have to have a perfect skin often we only cut one pair per skin this leather will become the upper the top part of the shoe Artisans pull it tightly over the last and carefully work it into shape to ensure there's no excess material or wrinkles this step alone can take two days it's a constant process of stretching hammering and scraping yasu has been a Shoemaker for over 25 years he works quickly but each motion is intentional bringing the shoe closer to its final shape leaving a clean fit is essential for premium bespoke shoes but the upper isn't the only part of the shoe that needs a clean fit the bottom of the shoe has two parts the outer sole which touches the ground and the inner sole which sits under your foot to make the inner soul Artisans cut out leather and meticulously tack it around the last as with the upper part of the shoe Artisans shape this material to perfectly match the customer's foot so this customer's got a really high arch in here so we're going to do an insole up for support and he's also got this pocket here where his joint sits and it's been added so basically this is going to be molded completely to the last and is one of the fundamental things that separates you know ready to wear or factory made shoes from bespoke shoes for each step shoemakers work with the shoe on their lap it basically just gives you control you're able to like switch back and forth you can change the position of this quite freely you can check how it's sitting you know check the movement of the leather I think if you've got it in a held position you just don't have that flexibility [Music] diffuse all of these pieces together shoemakers use a sewing technique called welting they sew a strip of leather around the shoe to attach the sole to the upper some shoe manufacturers use glue to combine all of the parts but Simon Says a stitched welt like this makes the shoe easier to repair it's ideal actually because the outsole can be stripped off you can just take another piece of leather and Stitch back through the welt again so it's almost infinitely repairable as long as the upper is kept in reasonable condition the shoe really can last a lifetime [Music] all of the time and materials that go into making a bespoke shoe are reflected in the price a well-made pair can easily cost five to ten times more than ready to wear shoes I ready-made shoe would easily be made in a day that's made in a factory environment you could quite easily notice the difference when you put your feet into the shoe you'll lock into a bespoke shoe it's because the inside has been blocked to the shape of the bottom of your foot for Simon crafting the perfect fit for a client makes all the effort worth it I like the journey that it takes that you go on a journey with each of these individual people which might last for many many years could last for you know your whole career when you're doing it for centuries the UK was a hub for all kinds of shoemaking but in the late 20th century the industry struggled to compete with cheaper mass-produced shoes today there is far less demand and far fewer shoemakers Simon makes around 200 bespoke pairs each year but the industry isn't gone yet over the past decade there has been increased demand for bespoke shoes from Japan and the US many bespoke shoemakers in the UK now rely on their International clients and Simon says there has been an increase in young crafts people looking to learn the trade when I started I was told by the master last maker that it was a dying trade and actually the complete opposites happened there's so many young people now that are coming into the craft and learning about it and wanting to get involved and become shoemakers or last makers [Music]

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 5,954,404

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, Bespoke, Shoes, United Kingdom, Shoemaking, Leather, Fashion, Men's fashion, Style, Old fashion, Vintage, Dress, Dress shoes, History, Fashion history, INSIDER

Id: JV53POhKCvI

Length: 8min 14sec (494 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023