My New Service at Gieves & Hawkes on Savile Row

 

The Shoe Snob is now reachable and is offering a new service at Gieves & Hawkes at No.1 Savile Row in London, England. To continue on my journey within the shoe industry, I have found myself offering artisan shines for those who wish to set their shoes apart from the rest.

Taken from my background in shoemaking, I have added to London, with the help of Gieves & Hawkes, what we believe to be fairly uncommon: the opportunity to get a shoe-shine in the artisan/military type of way. When I first learned how to make shoes, my first 2 weeks were literally just polishing finished shoes by hand. Not only did this teach me the art of patience and discipline, but it helped me realize that the polishing of the shoe, is one of the most important parts of the shoemaking process, yet is also a part that may go frequently overlooked and unappreciated. However, few people seem to realize that leather is not naturally shiny, nor beautiful and it takes a good 1-3 hours (depending on leather and state of shoe) of hand-polishing to give it that $3000 mirror-looking quality.

So for those of you who truly care about your shoe's lifespan and looks, I thought that I would inform you that as well as offering my services to you as a writer on my blog I am also now offering them as an artisan shiner for your shoes. So if you ever happen to be on Savile Row in London, come pop in to say hello and possibly leave your shoes for a great mirror-like shine!

On some of the pictures, you will notice before (out of the box) and after's (when I am done shining them), like the black cap-toe and cognac colored derby's.

Today's Favorites - Saint Crispin's

Saint Crispin's shoes never cease to amaze me! And while their shoes are not off-the-wall or anything, they have this feel and look about them that just sets them completely apart from the rest. Also the little details, like the saddle type of leather piece on the monk strap right above and the lacing on the loafer (in the background) of picture 3 of 6, from the top. Like I have said before, in a saturated world, it's hard to really create something completely new that has not already been done before so what you find is the little minute details that will start to set you apart but also really bring out your creativity and look. Probably my favorite thing though that Saint Crispin's does is add quite a thick, yet sleek sole to their dress shoes. It's funny because I hate clunky things, but because they cut the sides of the sole very close to the shape of the last, it takes away that heavy feeling and gives you a pretty sturdy dress shoe. I just wish that they were more easily accessible!!

Photos Courtesy Of: Style Forum

Shoes Of The Week

The shoes made by Pierre Corthay are simply indescribable. I wouldn't know what to do if I actually could afford to own a pair. Take this shoe for example, I would have a love/hate relationship with it. Part of me would want to wear the hell out of it and rock it proud on the streets of England but another part of me would want to stick it on my shelf as a piece of art to admire. I would be torn! Aaagghh, I am torn just looking at this pair. If only I was good enough to make something of this nature. It seems like he made the shoe, created the patina and then applied the applicator in order to create a patent shoe. I feel like I could do such a thing but I am not so confident that it would come out even close to these. But that leaves me with something to think about. Creating the amazing patina from scratch might actually be the hardest thing, but I would not be opposed to giving it a go!

Parisian Gentleman English Version

Dear Readers,

I wanted to make you aware that our friend Hugo at Parisian Gentleman has just now made his site accessible in English as well as created a new forum for discussion which also has an English section . So for those of you who have appreciated his site but were not able to read the content, now is your opportunity. And for those of you who have yet to check Parisian Gentleman out, I would suggest that you at least give it a look. There are some great articles and a lot of nice clothing to look at!

http://parisiangentleman.fr/en/

Forum Here

-Justin, "The Shoe Snob"

Today's Favorites - Barker Black

Here are just a few of the bad-ass Barker Black shoes that grace shoe shelves around the world. While I have known about Barker Black for quite some time, I have yet to really put their shoes up on my blog and I can't realize why, especially since I think that they make some very cool shoes. I guess, like many things, it just slipped my mind. But better late than never, right? Right! Anyway, if you don't know about Barker Black, best you study up. To give a quick bio, the company is an offset of Barker (from England) created by two American brothers (although Derrick is the founding brother) in the successful attempt to take an old and relatively fading company and revamp it's image, which they sure did! And ever since then, they have taken the shoe industry by storm, creating some very new and unique designs that truly set them apart as industry leaders! Enjoy the pics and look out for more!