Narrator: Shaving off a millimeter too much of leather
could ruin the fit of this bespoke shoe.
To make a finished pair,
artisans must carve,
hammer,
and stitch each detail
to the exact specifications of a customer's foot —
twice.
One pair can cost over £5,000.
Some designs cost over £12,000.
So, what's so special
about how bespoke dress shoes are made?
And is that what makes them so expensive?
Canons of London makes
some of the world's most expensive bespoke shoes,
all by hand, using traditional techniques.
Even the thread the artisans use is hand-spun.
Simon: You could bring a craftsperson in here
that made our shoes 100 years ago,
and they'd be able to start work probably straightaway.
Narrator: That's Simon.
He's been making shoes for over 15 years.
Simon: The fit is tailored completely to each person,
whereas a ready-made shoe is essentially a generic shape.
It will either fit your right foot or your left foot,
but it won't perfectly fit both.
Narrator: The key difference is this — the last.
It's a wooden mold carved to the exact measurements
and features of the customer's foot.
Simon: It's the foundation of the whole shoe.
It determines whether the shoe's going to be comfortable.
It's also the style.
Narrator: He starts by cutting away large amounts of wood,
then makes small adjustments with hand tools.
Simon: Even the smallest little half a millimeter
sometimes can just make all the difference.
It can just throw the whole thing off.
The easiest thing for me to do
would be to just make a beautiful last.
The challenge is to make it beautiful
and actually make it fit.
Narrator: Last-making is Simon's specialty.
He inherited this workbench
from the shoemaker who trained him.
Simon: This has been in the business for forever.
I believe it was with the business
before he came into it, which was in the 1950s.
Narrator: Making a last can take days.
It's a constant process of carving wood
and checking the measurements.
But that effort is worth it
because a last can be reused for future pairs,
saving time and bringing down the cost.
This workshop has thousands of lasts,
some over 100 years old.
Simon: We're lucky enough to have many famous lasts.
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt;
Charlie Chaplin's one, really amazing shape as well.
Very high arch there.
We also have Fred Astaire.
These are very, very elegant.
If they're done right,
they have the character of the person.
So you can almost see everyone's character, really.
It's very fun working in a workshop.
Bespoke-shoe-making workshop has a particular smell to it.
There's the oak-bark-tanned leather.
Almost everybody comments on that
when they first enter the workshop.
Narrator: The most popular material for bespoke shoes
is leather. And the more expensive the leather,
the pricier the shoe.
Simon: I think our most expensive shoe,
well, they're always ones made of crocodile or alligator.
They generally cost around £11,000 or £12,000.
Narrator: Before cutting,
Reese examines the leather for any defects.
Reese: As I go through the skin,
I pull up every section of the skin and examine it.
And what I'm looking for is a blemish-free section.
So it can't have any tick marks, tick bites,
any stretch marks,
because that will show up when the shoe is lasted
and spoil the look of the shoe.
At this level, anything like that is unacceptable.
We have to have perfect skin.
Often we only cut one pair per skin.
Narrator: This leather will become the upper,
the top part of the shoe.
Artisans pull it tightly over the last
and carefully work it into shape
to ensure there's no excess material or wrinkles.
This step alone can take two days.
It's a constant process of stretching,
hammering, and scraping.
Yasu has been a shoemaker for over 25 years.
He works quickly, but each motion is intentional,
bringing the shoe closer to its final shape.
Achieving a clean fit is essential
for premium bespoke shoes.
But the upper isn't the only part of the shoe
that needs a clean fit.
The bottom of the shoe has two parts.
The outer sole, which touches the ground,
and the inner sole, which sits under your foot.
To make the inner sole, artisans cut out leather
and meticulously tack it around the last.
As with the upper part of the shoe, artisans shape
this material to perfectly match the customer's foot.
Reese: So, this customer's got a really high arch in here.
So we're going to do an insole up for support.
And he's also got this pocket here
where his joint sits that's been added.
So, basically this is going to be
molded completely to the last.
And this is one of the fundamental things that separates
ready-to-wear or factory-made shoes from bespoke shoes.
Narrator: For each step, shoemakers work
with the shoe on their lap.
Reese: It basically just gives you control.
You're able to switch back and forth.
You can change the position of this quite freely.
Check how it's sitting,
check the movement of the leather.
I think if you've got it in a held position
you just don't have that flexibility.
Narrator: To fuse all of these pieces together,
shoemakers use a sewing technique called welting.
They sew a strip of leather around the shoe
to attach the sole to the upper.
Some shoe manufacturers use glue
to combine all of the parts,
but Simon says a stitched welt like this
makes the shoe easier to repair.
Simon: It's ideal actually, because the outsole
can be stripped off.
You can just take another piece of leather
and stitch back through the welt again.
So it's almost infinitely repairable.
As long as the upper is kept in reasonable condition,
the shoe really can last a lifetime.
Narrator: All of the time and materials that go into
making a bespoke shoe are reflected in the price.
A well-made pair can easily cost five to 10 times more
than ready-to-wear shoes.
Simon: A ready-made shoe would easily be made in a day.
Made in a factory environment.
You could quite easily notice the difference.
When you put your feet into the shoe,
you'll lock into a bespoke shoe.
It's because the inside has been blocked
to the shape of the bottom of your foot.
Narrator: For Simon, crafting the perfect fit
for a client makes all the effort worth it.
Simon: I like the journey that it takes,
that you go on a journey
with each of these individual people
which might last for many, many years.
Could last for your whole career when you're doing it.
Narrator: For centuries, the UK was a hub
for all kinds of shoemaking.
But in the late 20th century,
the industry struggled to compete
with cheaper mass-produced shoes.
Today, there is far less demand
and far fewer shoemakers.
Simon makes around 200 bespoke pairs each year.
But the industry isn't gone yet.
Over the past decade, there has been increased demand
for bespoke shoes from Japan and the US.
Many bespoke-shoe makers in the UK
now rely on their international clients.
And Simon says there has been an increase
in young craftspeople looking to learn the trade.
Simon: When I started, I was told
by the master last-maker that it was a dying trade,
and actually the complete opposite has happened.
There's so many young people now
that are coming into the craft and learning about it
and wanting to get involved
and become shoemakers or last-makers.