A Memoir of ZHANG Dong

Zhang Dong can be said to be a pioneer and leader in the field of sewing leather shoes in China and in line with the world. Unfortunately, he died young. I heard James Taylor & Son’s name through readers’ comments after writing about his style. Unfortunately, there is very little information about this pioneer on the Internet, only an advertisement of James Taylor & Son of Tencent mentioned him.

The article is not original, including the pictures in it, which are all in Mr. Zhang Dong’s own article, just my commemoration of Mr. Zhang Dong.

In September 2011, I flew from Beijing to Heathrow Airport in London on an international flight of Air China, and started my four and a half years’ journey of British men’s shoes. I had already obtained my first undergraduate diploma from the leather product design major of Sichuan University’s Textile and Food College, but out of longing for London, I chose to go to London college of fashion for further study in cordwainers fashion footwear design major.

*University of the Arts London, Oxford Circus 校区*

University of the arts london is one of the best art schools in the world, which is composed of London Media Institute, london college of fashion, Kan Burwell Art Institute, Chelsea Art and Design Institute, Central Saint Martin Art and Design Institute and Wimbledon Art Institute, among which only london college of fashion has the major of cordwainers fashion footwear design.

Cordwainers is a Spanish word. It is said that more than 100 years ago, shoemakers from continental Europe moved to Britain and gathered in Hackney, East London, forming a distribution center integrating teaching, production and sales, and gradually evolved into Cordwainers College. At the beginning of the 21st century, it was merged into an important major under london college of fashion.

Cordwainers’ professional strength in popular shoes is abundant, and it has trained many heavyweight shoe designers for the world fashion industry for decades, such as Jimmy Choo, Emma Hope, Sophia Webster, Nicholas Kirkwood and so on.

The process of studying in Cordwainers is full of novelty and challenge. Unlike the exam-oriented education in China, British art education will not deliberately ask you to be proficient in a certain skill, such as PS, Coreldraw, handcraft, etc. In the logic of ethics, if you can find someone with stronger skills to help you, you can do so. This is not cheating. Lun Yi pays more attention to a designer’s comprehensive ability to control fashion and resources. Therefore, students who have the conditions and resources can send their graduation designs to the top factories in Italy for “processing”, and the shoes they make are of course amazing to everyone.

In many courses of Lunyi, I love hand-making. Every time I touch the top full-grain cowhide in Europe, step on the famous PFAFF sewing machine in Germany, the soft and bright sunshine outside the window shines on the mottled solid wood floor of the studio, and the latest pop music charts in Music Radio flow in my ears, I feel that this is what I really want to do.

Every morning, I get up early, and after breakfast, I come to the school’s studio with my toolbox. I am addicted to making patterns over and over again, cutting materials over and over again, sewing leather together, and then going through the steps of lasting and Finishing. I enjoy watching the shoes become more and more beautiful.

Technician, who is in charge of the studio on the second floor, is an old Cyprus teacher. He is close to 60 years old. Every day, he hangs his presbyopic glasses and walks around the studio with a belly. When he meets a new student, he always laughs at him first, and then helps him. No matter how difficult the sewing process is, it is always as easy as magic in his hands. I like to follow George’s ass. I have not only learned a lot of sewing skills, but also been moved by his free and easy attitude towards life. Life is actually very simple, and even doing the same thing every day can be very interesting. After a while, George and I became more and more familiar. Every day when he came to the studio, he always shouted Dong enthusiastically and gave me a warm hug after work. George has provided me with a lot of convenience. The material warehouse in the corner of the studio should have been approved by the teacher, but George always asked me to go in and get some materials for making shoes when no one was looking.

One afternoon, when I was concentrating on the sewing machine, George leaned in and said, do you know LOBB? I shook my head. At that time, I had just arrived in Britain for less than a year, and I was only familiar with fashion brands. George explained to me over and over again how great LOBB was, and kept bragging to me with his thumb up. I was still at a loss. Then George asked me if I would like to study in LOBB. I didn’t promise immediately. Tell him I’ll check the information at night.

After a night of information inquiry, I was amazed at the history and reputation of LOBB. The next morning, I did not hesitate to tell George that I would like to study in LOBB. George found a card and wrote down the name and contact information of his friend who works in LOBB. I took this card and set off.

LOBB, a top shoe designer from England, is a high-end brand that can be called the king of handmade shoes. Founded in 1849, Lobb has been making shoes for the royal family since it was appointed as the royal shoemaker by Princeof Wales (William’s father Charles) in 1863.

I haven’t entered LOBB’s shop in St James’ Street, London, and I have been deeply impressed by the profound shoemaking culture and atmosphere here. First, the royal logo hanging on the door plaque of the shop shows my distinguished position; After entering the shop, all kinds of handmade leather shoes are displayed in the window around, each pair is beautiful and can be called a classic; The masters in the shop are all wearing white shirts and black ties, wearing black aprons on their chests, and they are busy in an orderly way. Some of them lean down and look at every difference in the customer’s foot shape. Some people sometimes modify the shoe last with a file in their hands, and sometimes stop to frown and think; Others seriously carry out blanking and printing on their own workbench. The store is very quiet, and the traditional British decoration style is like the magical world of Harry Potter, which gives you an illusion that you don’t know whether you are in the Victorian era of England more than 100 years ago or today in the 21st century.

According to the name on the card George gave me, I found his friend, a young man in charge of post-processing. After a brief greeting, the young man took me through the stairs to the attic on the second floor of the store, where the office of the boss, John Jonathan Lobb, was located. The small space was tidy and transparent, and the beautiful St. James Street was outside the window. Mr. John Jonathan Lobb didn’t know my origin. I was a little nervous and hurriedly introduced myself in fluent English, saying, “I was introduced by George. I love shoes. I think I am a genius in making shoes. George and I both think I should come here to study!” Mr. John Jonathan Lobb is a typical British gentleman with a thin appearance and a pair of glasses. He smiled slightly and told me that he would arrange this matter and told me to go back and wait for news.

I discussed with *John Jonathan Lobb about the shoes made by HUANG Niu*

A week later, I received an email from Mr. John Jonathan and came to LOBB to study as I wished. It was an unforgettable experience. In summary, the progress of skills and the accumulation of experience gave me a deeper understanding of bespoke’s culture and philosophy.

On Christmas Eve, 2012, I received an invitation from Mr. John Jonathan LOBB to attend the company’s Christmas dinner. During this time, I asked what was the secret of Lobb’s glory and standing for a hundred years? Mr. John Jonathan Lobb smiled slightly and said, “Dong, stick to one thing for a long time and you will succeed.”

At present, Lobb Head Office in St James Street in London only accepts Bespoke service. When you enter this shoe store, which is known as the most beautiful in the world, you can see the oil painting of John Lobb hanging high on the wall, and you are always looking at the shoe kingdom he built.

You won’t see that John Lobb is a cripple, and you won’t think that Lobb was not popular in the shoe industry in London at first, and hit a wall one after another. In desperation, Lobb chose to go to Australia thousands of miles away to look for opportunities. At that time, Australia was in a gold rush, and Lobb made shoes that could hide gold in the heels for those gold diggers, which was immediately popular. Then Lobb returned to London and resumed his shoemaking business in St James Street. By chance, Lobb was lucky enough to make a pair of boots for the prince of Wales at that time, and was praised by the prince. The following story is much smoother. Lobb has been certified by the royal family, and has been famous all over the world since then, and it is still a model of men’s footwear industry.

In 1901, Lobb’s son came to Paris to open another branch with his ancestral skills. In 1976, Hermes Group incorporated John Lobb’s Paris branch. With Hermes’ financial support, John Lobb, a high-end brand of men’s shoes, has also quickly opened up markets around the world. However, the John Lobb shoes sold in the market only belong to the category of Ready To Wear, and consumers don’t need to customize them according to the standard shoe size. This business model can reduce the production cost of shoes and allow more consumers to enjoy Lobb products. This is also the development mode of most luxury brands in the world. Dior, Chanel and other brands all started from a small designer’s custom-made shop with the same name. The constant pursuit of design and quality has made them step by step to the world and won the respect of the world.

At present, there are not many shoe customization shops left in London. John Lobb, James Taylor & Son, George Cleverly and Foster & Son are the only four. They formed the London Shoes Customization Association, and they also set the industry standards for the price, workers’ treatment and maintenance costs of customized shoes in London, so that this ancient and noble industry can be passed down from generation to generation.

Nicholas is a familiar friend of mine. His parents are from Greece and South Africa respectively. He is a middle-aged man who always has a bald head and loves to laugh. Nicholas and I met through Robert, when I was already working at James Taylor & Son and Nicholas was working at Lobb. According to Robert, Nicholas used to work in James Taylor & Son, and then he went to Lobb.

Winter in London is rainy and lingering, and the night will come at five or six o’clock, and there are fewer pedestrians on the street. Robert and I usually stay in James Taylor & Son’s basement after the store closes and continue to make shoes. Warm lights, slow music and the aroma of leather constitute the shoemaker’s purest world. Paddington Street is above us, and you will hear the ticking sound of pedestrians’ leather shoes hitting the ground, mixed with the scratching sound of long-handled umbrellas rubbing the ground. Nicholas always visits James Taylor & Son at this time to chat with us about various custom-made shops. Maybe he only has time at night, so I call him a friend at night. I remember Nicholas corrected my knife-holding posture. He said that when he was making shoes in Lobb, he accidentally cut his left hand severely, and immediately blood was everywhere. Several guys around him rushed him to the hospital for stitches, and there was a long string of blood behind him.

Occasionally, when I get off work, Robert and Nicholas and I will meet at the Metropolitan Tavern on the corner of Baker Street. Nicholas will hand over the shoes in the Lobb store to Robert for handling, and sometimes it is the work of replacing old shoes with stripes and soles. Robert’s practice is a private job, which is more common in London’s shoe customization industry, because the salary in this industry is not high, but it still cannot stop many shoemakers from studying in Lobb. Robert also considered changing his job to Freelance and making shoes for Lobb and James Taylor & Son at the same time. Later, the idea came to nothing. I think James Taylor & Son needs Robert to work full-time in the store.

I didn’t take this photo of Nicholas, but I accidentally browsed it on the Internet after I returned to China. The familiar environment and faces make me feel a lot. I don’t know Nicholas’s recent state and whether he is still healthy, but I am sure that he must still be making shoes. I know many shoemakers in London, and almost none of them change careers halfway. On the contrary, after returning to China, I found that it was normal for shoemakers to change careers.

The core of customization lies in the production of shoe last. If the customer feels comfortable in your shoes, he will come back again. If the shoes are beautifully made, but the customer doesn’t feel comfortable and just takes them out on important occasions, then you may lose this customer. Mr. John Jonathan Lobb, the boss of Lobb, spends a lot of time making shoe last every day besides dealing with the company’s business affairs. Sometimes a customer will customize several pairs of shoes, such as a pair of MONK and a pair of Derby. Although they are the shoes of the same customer, different styles of shoes need different shoe lasts. MONK has no lace-up structure, and its adjustability is a little worse than that of Derby, so the instep height of shoe last will be slightly different.

Lobb’s shoe last is not made from a wooden block, but from a rough shoe last prototype, which is called Rough turned last in English, which can save a lot of manpower and time. Even so, there are fewer and fewer masters with this technology in the world. Lobb’s family doesn’t have any modern machinery and equipment, and the polishing of shoe last is all done by hand, so the time invested in each pair of shoes is very long. It usually takes half a year from the beginning of foot measurement to the final removal of shoes. All Rough turned last came from Sprinkling Line Shoe Last Factory in Northampton, which is the only last shoe last factory in Britain, and was established in 1982.

Most customers only have the opportunity to visit the first floor of Lobb, and the shoe last library and production links hidden in the basement will be even more amazing. The shoe last library is also the beginning of my study in Lobb.

The experience of studying and working in Lobb is both pleasant and challenging. What happened a few years ago is vivid in my mind, and my communication record with Mr. John Jonathan Lobb is still kept in my mailbox. I go back to London once a year to meet my former friends and ask each other about the recent situation.

The floor of the Lobb shop is covered with a comfortable wool floral carpet. Walking on the carpet, there is a staircase leading to the basement at the other end of the hall, and an ancient saddle stands on the staircase. Maybe you will wonder, why does a saddle appear in a custom shop that makes shoes? A paragraph on the saddle tells us the answer: Many years ago, a Spanish king ordered a saddle from Lobb, but before the saddle was made, the king died of illness, so the saddle remained in Lobb. A king who gave directions and swallowed Wan Li like a tiger, never feared the enemy Enemy at the Gates, nor worried about the fate and future of the country, but eventually lost to time. Before he died, he failed to wear his own customized saddle to gallop a battlefield. Which is more important, the king or the saddle? Can willpower change everything? This story tells us the answer. Bespoke culture is an indispensable part of modern British civilization, and there are many similar stories. Does this product-fearing and ingenuity-oriented spirit have something to do with the industrial revolution that originated in Britain in the 18th century? It’s worth thinking about.

*King Charles visited Lobb last storage*

The basement is divided into two sides, one is the shoe last library, and the other is the place where shoemakers work. The shoe last library lists dozens of rows of neat wooden frames, which rise from the ground and are more than three meters high; The storage rooms are separated by wooden boards on the wooden frame, and the size of the storage room is just enough to fit a pair of shoe lasts, not much, not little. Each shoe last will have a number, which is placed in order. One side of the big wooden frame will also indicate the stored shoe last code segment, for example, 3100-3600. If you want to find a shoe last with code 3250, then you can go to the corresponding wooden frame. The entire shoe last library stores nearly 30,000 pairs of shoe lasts, which has witnessed the history of Lobb for more than 100 years. Here you can find the shoe lasts of the entire British royal family and dignitaries from all over the world, and it is no exaggeration to describe it as a database. I once met Daniel Day Lewis’s shoe last here. This is a world-famous actor who was born in London, England, and graduated from the Old Vic Drama School in England. One year later, he won the 85th Academy Award for Best Actor for his film Lincoln, becoming the first actor in history to win the Oscar for Best Actor for three times.

However, it is not an easy task to work in such a large number of shoe last warehouses. Even if you step on the bench, you can’t reach the top of the wooden frame. At this time, you need the help of a ladder. Every morning, when I arrive at Lobb, another young man in the shoe last library will hand me a list with the number of the shoe last to be taken out and the number of the shoe last to be put back. Then I will carry the ladder around in the narrow aisle. The wooden frame is more than three meters high, and the ladder is also more than three meters high. You should always pay attention to the tip of the ladder not to knock off the shoe last. No one will help you when erecting the ladder, and you need a person to climb up and down.

Another young man in the shoe last library routinely handles the work of taking off the last every morning, because Lobb’s last shoes are all made of non-foldable wooden ones, and the period of making shoes by hand is long. When the shoes are finished, the shoes have been firmly wrapped, so you need a lot of effort to take them out. The tool is a T-shaped metal bracket, the end of which hooks the hole at the tail of the shoe last. Two pedals hold the two ends of the T-shaped bracket, and the hands cross over the tail of the shoe. Then the hands and feet work together to force the shoe to separate from the shoe last by the friction between the palm and the tail of the shoe. In the process of taking off the last, fingers can’t buckle the edge of the shoe, and nails can’t touch the shoe, otherwise the shoe will be wrinkled or scratched. Many times, the combination of shoes and shoe last is too strong, and craftsmen will knock hard at the rubber part of the heel with a hammer to make the shoes loose. If the process of taking off the last tree is not handled properly, all previous efforts will be wasted, and a pair of perfect shoes may tear at the tongue. Therefore, before making shoes, shoemakers evenly sprinkle a layer of toner on the surface of the last tree to make it smoother, which will save a lot of time and effort when taking off the last tree.

As the top of the pyramid of men’s shoes in Britain and even the whole world, the recruitment standard of shoemakers in Lobb is very high. First of all, you should be full of love for shoes, a sincere and heartfelt love, and a false love driven by money interests behind it can’t stand the test of time. Then you need to have a high professional quality and a solid technical foundation. Lobb has no time to train a layman who is new to the footwear industry, but if you are very talented, you can get a better promotion in Lobb. Some shoemakers who have worked in Lobb for many years have made new remarkable achievements with the knowledge and experience they learned in Lobb. For example, Nicolas Templeman, a new generation of shoemakers, came out of the training system of the old generation of Lobb.

I am very satisfied with my first job in Lobb, even if it is simply to manage the last warehouse, but it is indeed the most basic tempering and test for a shoemaker. Handmade men’s shoes are complicated, such as Pattern Cutting, Lasting, and edge sewing, which require the shoemaker’s experience for more than ten years. Most people who are impetuous or lack ingenuity will give up halfway.

I once met several young Japanese in Lobb’s shop. They did part-time maintenance work, which should be just simple vamp maintenance. In fact, my vamp sewing skills are also good, but I didn’t have a chance to learn from them. I seldom meet other apprentices from China in Lobb. Although China’s designers and craftsmen are gradually emerging in the foreign design field, to be fair, are we doing well enough?

A few months later, I have been able to easily do the work of the shoe last library, and I was assigned to the production post as an apprentice, so I have more opportunities to contact with the production process, and some of what I have seen and heard will be shared with you slowly.

The last shape of Brock Oxford recommended at the end of today’s article is very similar to that of Mr. Daniel Day Lewis’s Bespoke. The last shape has been properly adjusted according to the Asian foot shape, making it more comfortable to wear. In order to perfectly interpret this last shape, James Taylor & Son specially made this batch of Brock Oxford with the best Bespoke-grade burgundy calf leather in France, which was elegant, restrained and gentlemanly, in order to remember my learning experience in Lobb.

Comment

As a pioneer working in John Lobb London in China, it is worthy of respect. It is understandable that James Taylor & Son hopes to make more money by making shoes and let Mr. Zhang Dong return to China for production. Unfortunately, Mr. Zhang Dong died young, and James Taylor & Son also had a dispute.