Church's Footwear Service

Casual suede Church's brand shoes - The culprit

A little bit of a rant today. During my last trip to London in January I picked up a pair of high end shoes to replace a pair of sneakers that were both out of fashion and destroyed. After a few recommendations from my fiance, who as you all know knows more about shoes than most I decided on a great pair of casual suede leather shoes from Church's Footwear.

Church's Footwear began as a family shoe making business in 1873 and built up a remarkable reputation as  some of the finest men's shoes coming out of England. They received such wide acclaim that they became James Bond's (Pierce Bronsan era 1995-2002) go to shoe. Know for their extraordinarily high quality, and classic men's styling they became a well known gentleman's shoe.

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Luxury Elven Heels

Frontal view; goat suede on the sides,
sheep leather for the upper and tongue
and rawhide lacing.

My fiance has completed another set of shoes, and this is one of my favorite designs to date.  They incorporate goat suede and leather made from sheep. This is her first boot style heel, but I think it came out great. The first thing that came to mind, much to her dismay, was that they look like elven shoes. I may be a bit biased, but honestly I don't think these would be out of place a shelf at Saks or Nordstrom selling for a few hundred dollars.

 

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Shoe Making Part 1 - Pattern Cutting

Shoe making primer through photos.

My fiance has been kind enough to share some of her footwear making notes with me. She documents every part of the process of making a shoe so this will be the first in a series of posts about the art of shoe making. The process involved in making proper footwear is quite complex so I'll be doing my best to outline the majority of it through captioned photos. In order to get the form of the shoe and start cutting the pattern the process starts out with the use of a shoe last made of wood, plastic, or in rare cases iron. For most modern shoes these lasts come in pairs; one left and one right.

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New Barefoot Kicks

On days when I have to do a bit of walking or hiking my dressy Chruch's brand shoes however fashionable don't quite cut it in the endurance comfort department. Just the other day while doing a bit of shopping I spotted the Merrell Trail Glove at a local outdoors store.

I've been keen on the "barefoot running/walking" fad since the release of the Vibram Five Fingers shoes. Unfortunately my footwear design studying fiance considers them the most hideous footwear on the planet short of anything made by Crocs. Luckily there exists a few alternatives; the Nike Free shoes, Vivo Barefoot shoes, the Feelmax shoes. The pair I've been sporting are the Merrell Trail Glove in the ninjaesque black/molten lava color scheme.

It does take a while to get used to the way you walk/run in them, it shy's away from the heel toe action we're all so used to and encourages a more flat running stance, which should help lessen impact injuries and improve your posture. The whole concept of barefoot running/walking is to go back to a more natural running style, which makes you feel more at one with your surroundings but also helps take the strain off your leg muscles.

Footwear design.

Inspiration/sketches

 My fiance is currently studying footwear design, and recently had a project working with a prominent UK sporting good company. The project was to design an outdoors shoe for the teen Asian market. Quite a lot of research goes into all of her projects, and makes a shoe takes a lot of time and effort. Unfortunately I can't detail the entire process here, so here are the basics.

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Trees for shoes

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Footwear is often a neglected piece of a person's wardrobe. Sure people spend time choosing a pair of shoes which suits their needs, but that's the extent of it. It's typical to buy a new pair of shoes every 2 or 3 years. That's fine when you're rocking a pair of Chuck Taylors, or a pair of glued together faux-leather oxfords that you picked up at Target for $20, but if you have a quality pair of leather dress shoes then trees are important.

Their most important feature is maintaining the original shape of the shoe; especially where it bends as you walk, and especially when it has been raining. Also, most quality trees are made of cedar which aids in deodorizing, so even if you have the funkiest feet in the world your shoes don't have to be funky as well.

Look for a set of shoe trees made of cedar because of it's natural deodorizing ability. Also ensure that the heel is wide and the general shape of a shoe heel as a wire heel will do more harm in deforming the heel than good. Your shoes will make or break any look so make sure you treat them right and they'll do the same for you for a lifetime.

Allen Edmonds Men's Combination Cedar Shoe Tree