George Cleverley was born in a shoemaking family in London on August 10th, 1898. As a child, he sold shoelaces and shoe polish. He was stationed in London at the age of 15 and then joined a military shipyard in Calais, France.
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In the leather shoes industry in recent 20 years, there are some famous Italian shoemakers. In my humble opinion, I think there are three, Stefano Bemer, Roberto Ugolini and Riccardo Bestetti. Although Silvano Lattanzi and Paolo Scafora are equally prominent as brands, they are not talked about as shoemakers alone.
Two of these three masters died young. Today, let’s take a look at Riccardo Bestetti’s experience.
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I have interviewed many Japanese bespoke shoemakers and they all mentioned one place in the early stage of their career, that is WFG, World Footwear Gallery. World Footwear Gallery is a Japanese shoe shop.
Let’s talk about the history of this shoe shop today.
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If you are not a vintage dress shoe collector, you probably never heard it. Hanover was once among the four kings of the United States dress shoes, the quality is absolutely not lost to their British counterparts, such as Edward Green and Church’s. Why not mention John Lobb and Gaziano & Girling? Because at the peak of the quality of American leather shoes industry, these two brands did not exist (I mean John Lobb Paris).
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I have known for a long time that the owner of this coffee shop featuring shoeshine. I had the oppoturnity to have conversation with Don in Nanjing and at the China Trunk Show in 2021. Even the runner-up in the shoeshine competition is a shoeshine professional in this store.
Until last month, I was lucky enough to come to this unique shoeshine coffee shop in Shanghai, China.
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FU Jie is the founder of the SLIMSHOES brand, which was established in 2018.
SLIMSHOES/Yearn Shoemaker is a brand based in Chengdu, At present, there are two physical stores in Chengdu, and there are also online stores on Taobao. The UK haberdashery Arterton is carrying them to showcase to discerning customers in Europe.
Main players of handmade shoes in China are from Guangzhou and Shanghai (both are regions, not necessarily in this city), and as the strongest consumption city in the west, Chengdu has its own, which is reasonable.
Let’s find out what his journey is.
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Mathieu Preiss is the founder of French welted shoe brand, Septieme Largeur, and also the friend of Justin FitzPatrick, the ShoeSnob.
His uncle, Marcos Fernandez Cabezas is regarded as one of the most powerful man in this industry.
The establishment of Septieme Largeur was naturally supported by Marcos, but it’s really Mathieu who took the lead.
Let me give my final conclusion first, NO.
However, the thinking process is not so stragitforward as there are many aspects and dimensions in this question.
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Where comes this question? Because during the holiday, I thought carefully about what my outlook on life is, and what I blog and business are for.
I found the answer. I have said this answer a long time ago. After so long, it has not changed. I think this answer is true.
That is to help others.
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In Van Gogh’s paintings, there are a lot of shoes as a single subject of the work.
Not quite sure why Van Gogh has such an interest in shoes, when I take a look at his works, I certainly do not know enough about the art of painting, but it is quite fun to talk about shoes.
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