Hand Made Shoes

Most shoes, including most of the world's best names in ready to wear, are made by machine. But some makers have a different formula - handmade shoes on standard lasts.

By hand made on standard lasts (the last is the block of wood that the shoe is built around), I mean shoes made for stock or to order in standard sizes. Bespoke shoes are made on a last made for the individual customer, which adds significantly to the cost of the first pair of shoes. Most shoes are made on generic sized lasts, just as most suits are made to fit generic men, and that process offers significant savings that doesn't have to compromise fit if the buyer can find a standard shoe that fits his foot.

When it comes to the hand made part, I mean literally made by hand. Maybe the upper is stitched together by a person using a sewing machine, but otherwise the shoes are constructed with needles and thread just as they were 150 years ago. Hand stitching makes a stronger shoe, and one with more shape. There is still no shoemaking machine available at any price that can construct a waist as elegant as one made by hand.

Among hand made shoes, the differentiators are price, styling, and the degree of customization offered by the maker. Some start with a range of models in various shapes and let the customer pick the color, the type of leather and the style of sole. Other makers will also change features of the design, adding or removing punches or customizing toe medallions upon request. Still others will make anything. For the man with an extensive shoe wardrobe, more flexibility is better.

There are literally dozens of providers of hand made shoes on standard lasts, most of them very small operations. Probably the best known name, and certainly the most accessible, is Kiton. A basic set of Kiton models is available in the United States at Nieman Marcus stores in most major cities. It's a very good shoe with some machine sewing and a great finish. Unfortunately, the line is significantly over-priced at $2,500 a pair - several excellent makers of fully bespoke shoes charge less - and a customer can only obtain what Nieman Marcus carries in inventory.

Towards the other end of the hand made spectrum is Laszlo Vass of Budapest, which offers a superbly made traditional shoe starting at about $900 a pair in the United States (less if you travel to Hungary). The company doesn't allow much in the way of modification to their standard designs and it's somewhat difficult to obtain them in North America. Prospective customers either need to visit Budapest to fit the first pair or contact Gabor Halmos, the U. S. representative, to see if they can arrange to try a sample shoe.

I'm currently most excited about the demi-measure shoes of Parisian Dmitri Gomez (that's a version of his Richelieu, above). Gomez will hand make just about anything a customer can conceive on a standard last starting at about $1,600 per pair. That happens to be roughly the same price as a pair of Top Drawer Edward Green, a fine shoe whose make is not in the same class. The negative to Gomez is that you have to travel to Paris to be fitted, and, unless you have a friend that owes you a favor, travel there again to pick them up. He's too busy to ship shoes and a look at his work explains why.

Bespoke vs. Made To Measure

A good suit was once said to be 'well cut', and the fit of a bespoke garment depends on the skill of the man cutting the pattern. The cutter, as he is known, takes the instructions and measurements from the customer and feeds work to the tailors who sew. The measurements, up to twenty of them for a jacket and six more for trousers, are used to make a pattern with chalk on stiff brown paper, like the one Thomas Mahon is making in the photo to the left. The pattern is used to cut the cloth (some tailors chalk the cloth without making a pattern but this adds time to the second and subsequent suits).

This matters because properly constructed bespoke suits usually fit better. Made to measure suits are cut using standard block patterns with dimansions that fit a so-called average man. That works well for average men, and is less satisfactory for the many men with a sloped shoulder, well developed shoulders and a trim waist, or an unusually long or short torso relative to height.

If the pattern were the only difference between made to measure and bespoke suits, keeping them straight would be simple. But it's not, and it isn't, for there is no such thing as a standard construction. Just as we have machine made shoes on bespoke lasts and hand made shoes on standard lasts, so Kiton and Oxxford hand sew jackets to standard patterns while hundreds of individual tailors make custom patterns and then make bespoke jackets with sewing machines. Unfortunately, machine sewing makes a relatively lifeless coat. Hand sewn jackets look better in an almost indescribeable way, moving as if they are part of the wearer.

That said, the differing qualities of machine and hand sewing are for another essay. For now, suffice it to say that if you're trying to classify a suit as made to measure or bespoke, ask if a paper pattern is made before the cloth is cut. If the answer is yes, the jacket is bespoke and you can focus on the quality of construction knowing that the fit should be as good as it gets.

Artisan Made Clothing

It usually happens sometime in a man's thirties. He makes partner, gets the big job or realizes that his business is a success. His closet has the basics and the question becomes he goes from here with his clothes?

If the man cares about clothes, by this time he's probably already having some of them made for himself. Certainly his shirts, because everyone should have their shirts made. Maybe a made to measure suit or two from a quality maker like Kiton or Oxxford. But now he's ready to try the best. And the best is artisan made clothing.

What I call artisan made clothing may be made partly by people operating machines, but it can only come from an individual artisan who fits the customer personally and then leads a team that does the important parts of the work by hand. That's because both hand work and personalized fit is critical in the finest clothing. The graceful curve of the sole on a hand made shoe cannot be duplicated by shoe-making machinery. The collar, shoulders, and armholes of a jacket must be sewn by hand or it won't move fluidly with the wearer.

Hand fitting by the individual artisan is just as important. A shoe may need a bit more room in the toe, or a jacket may not fit closely at the neck on the first or second try (unlike the perfect fit of Jimmy Stewart's coat in the Hitchcock film Rope). Vass shoes are made by hand, but they are not individually lasted and may not fit a particular pair of feet. Fitting is also where the best efforts of the factory-based suppliers can break down. A local fitter often lacks the skill level of the craftsman at the factory.

If a choice has to be made between tailored clothing and bespoke shoes, the benefits of tailored clothing are normally considerably higher. Unless a man has unique feet that require a custom fit, bespoke shoes can be a periodic luxury. Few men will be happy with ready to wear, on the other hand, after wearing their first bespoke suit or odd jacket.

A personal relationship with a couple of artisans requires a considerable investment unless a man lives near a city such as Paris, Naples, London, or New York. Some artisans travel, but not everywhere and usually only twice a year at best. So the customers have to travel themselves, unless they are willing to wait a year or more from order to delivery. That's given rise to a new type of traveller, who combines holidays with fittings.

At a certain stage of life, artisan made clothing becomes worth the trouble.