A propos of the 1st West Coast Chapter meeting a few weeks ago, I wrote in the dressing room some notes on Edward Green shoes. I am happy to write them in the bespoke shoes forum, with a couple of additional notes.
The meeting was a great opportunity to learn directly from Tony aspects on the bespoke shoe industry, which thankfully, appears to be doing relatively well, and also on shoemaking. I'll focus my attention on the latter.
Tony's shoes are remarkable works of craftsmanship and Tony is involved directly in many steps of the shoemaking process. He carves the lasts, the foundation of the whole process, and also executes the clicking, and, in many occasions, the closing. In addition, he does the antiquing and polishing -- an Edward Green specialty.
Among the many new things I learned is that soles of the finest shoes are not pressed into their final thickness by the supplier. Rather, soles are extensively compressed over the actual shoe, by the artisan, with the aid of a hammer --a painstaking operation. This method allows the maker to mold the soles as closely as possible against the last. The benefits of this method are better fit, lighter weight, and more intricate shapes (e.g. extreme beveling and fiddle-back shape) of the soles, in comparison to soles built from leather that is completely rolled by suppliers such as Rendenbach.
It was interesting to study the shoes in the fitting stage, in particular the underside of the insoles. The history of the making process is printed on this surface. For example, the welting awl, lasting nails, feather skiving, and welting, leave their signature on the leather. Some of them are readily identifiable, some others not quite so, unless they're pointed out by the expert. Among the less apparent aspects conveyed by this "open book", is the number and type of layers perforated with the awl, both of which differ greatly along the perifery of the insole.
The allusion to a series of layers of leather leads me to mention some aspects on the interplay between internal reinforcements and aesthetics. Reinforcements in the heel counter, toe puff, and arch supports, for customers with special needs, are made of special hardened leather pieces, sandwiched between the outer leather and interior lining upon the lasting process. In plain-front shoes in particular, the manner in which the reinforcements are laid out is extremely critical in achieving a seamless exterior. Done incorrectly, the polished exterior magnifies any unevenness caused by the reinforcements. But Tony lays out a middle piece that connects the "islands" and hence the shoe appears completely smooth, without any interruptions of the lines he so painstakingly carved in the last.
The fit of his shoes is excellent. I was really impressed by how Tony manages to render the outline and measurements set of information into a 3-D last, that not only reflects those measurements, but also the customer's foot intricacies, such as the shape of the heels, not captured by the numbers and outlines. As an example, expert lastmaking results in a shoe that literally hugs the customer's heels. This is one of the traits that separate a well-fitting bespoke shoe from other shoes: there's no slip at the heel as the customer walks.
Next time we see Tony in San Francisco, chapter members will witness one of his extreme antiquing jobs, the canvass of which is a crust Italian calf in pale tan, and a finished brown Kudu leather, a skin that has not been tanned in a long time and that is very rare, mainly due to wildlife protection programs in Africa. It has a most distinctive grain, not as flamboyant as other exotics, but rather, tastefully understated.
Cheers,
Miguel