Shoegazing Podcast
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 10 ratingsIn this podcast series Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, one of the world's largest blogs on classic men's shoes, does in-depth interviews with various shoe people from all over the world, where each episode will focus on a specific topic related to the interviewee. For much more on classic quality shoes, visit Shoegazing.com.
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Episodes
Ep. 30 - Ben Robinson, Stitchdown, about the workwear boot scene
March 03, 2024 23:05 - 1 hour - 59 MBFor episode 30 I sat down with Ben Robinson of Stitchdown. As you likely know, Shoegazing's focus on the site, podcast, events etc is on classic dress shoes, well Stitchdown is sort of the equivalent within the world of workwear boots, or heritage boots, or whatever you want to call it. In short, Ben knows a whole lot about boots and rugged footwear. So, apart from learning how Ben ended up in the shoe world and the journey with Stitchdown, we talked about the incredible boom that workwear b...
Ep. 29 - Steven Taffel, Leffot, about the classic shoe scene in the US
October 22, 2023 20:11 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBFor this episode, number 29, I visited the well-renowned shoe store Leffot in New York and talked to the founder and owner Steven Taffel. When the world entered the digital era, Leffot was one of the first influential multi-brand stores specialising in classic, mainly welted, men's shoes, and it has had a big impact both on its customer base and on other stores around the world that have been inspired by it. With Steven's long background in the business we went deep on the classic shoe indus...
Ep. 28 - William Efe Laborde, about connecting historic shoemaking with the present
August 13, 2023 19:08 - 59 minutes - 54.1 MBIn this episode, aim is to connect historic shoemaking with the present, and we do this together with William Efe Laborde. An independent bespoke shoemaker based in London, who has a huge interest in old shoes, tools and leathers which he both brings in to his own shoemaking, and as a side business he also refurbish and sell old vintage tools. Given that classic shoes in general use old traditional construction methods, of course a lot is similar in how shoes are made now compared to 100 ye...
Ep. 27 - Q&A Special nr. 2 with Daniel Wegan, Catella Shoemaker
May 26, 2023 17:55 - 1 hour - 58.7 MBThis is the second Q&A Special with Daniel Wegan, the first one was really popular, so we thought we'd do another round. For those who don't know, Daniel Wegan is a Swede who since many years live in the UK in Kettering, Northampton. He used to work for the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling, but a few years ago he left to start his own brand Catella. Worth mentioning as well is that he won the World Championships of Shoemaking in 2019. We go through a bunch of topics in this episode, ...
Ep. 26 - Anders Sundström, Paul Brunngård, about the ingredients in shoe care products
February 08, 2023 20:41 - 1 hour - 55.1 MBIn this episode we will go all in on the nitty gritty of shoe care. We do this together with Anders Sundström, who has developed the new premium shoe care range Paul Brunngård, for the Swedish company with the same name. Paul Brunngård is the largest shoe care company in Scandinavia, but previously focus has been on more basic shoe care products and eco-friendly stuff. Now they wanted to develop their own range of premium products, a task given to the shoe care expert Anders Sundström. We wi...
Ep. 25 - Seiji McCarthy, about revamping a shoe brand
December 19, 2022 18:46 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBIn this episode you'll get to meet Seiji McCarthy, a shoemaker with an American father and a Japanese mother, who grew up in Philadelphia on the US East coast but now since seven years lives in Tokyo, Japan. Here he is merging the Japanese highly skilled craftsmanship with traditional American style footwear. This was not always the case though, up until a few years ago he did more dressy, British-Japanese style shoes, but Seiji felt that it wasn't fully him and what he really wanted to do,...
Ep. 24 - Q&A Special with Yohei Fukuda
October 30, 2022 17:42 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MBIt's time for the second special edition Q&A episode, where you listeners and readers of Shoegazing.com gets to ask questions to some big names from the quality shoe industry. This round it's the most famous of all Japanese bespoke shoemakers that is answering your questions, Yohei Fukuda. Since about 14 years his bespoke shoes and nowadays also top class RTW and MTO offerings has been a holy grail for many shoe lovers around the world. Hear him give his best advice to aspiring shoemakers, ...
Ep. 23 - Affan Mohammed, Bridlen, about making premium shoes in lower wage countries
October 09, 2022 18:42 - 1 hour - 62.8 MBAffan Mohammed is the Managing Director of Bridlen Shoes, an Indian maker of Goodyear welted footwear that is getting more and more attention both domestically and internationally. Founded by Affan's father Hasan who had worked his whole life with leather craft and shoemaking, and Mr. Watanabe from Japan, who among other things was involved in the start of Meermin. To make high quality Goodyear welted shoes like Bridlen in India, a country with lower wages which mainly has a reputation of d...
Ep. 22 - Jean-Michel Casalonga, Berluti, about running a large bespoke workshop
August 31, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 59 MBThis episode, number 22, will be featuring no other than Jean-Michel Casalonga. He is the main lastmaker and workshop manager of Berluti's Paris workshop. The French company Berluti is one of the bigger quality shoe brands in the world, nowadays more of a full fashion menswear brand , owned by the luxury conglomerate LVMH, with stores all around the world. Berluti has two workshops making their bespoke shoes, one in Paris above their original Rue Marbeuf store just next to the Champs Élysées,...
Ep. 21 - Emil Rahmana Putra, Winson / Midas, about the Indonesian boot and shoemaking scene
April 15, 2022 18:34 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MBIn this episode we put the spotlight on the thriving boot and shoemaking scene in Indonesia, we do this together with Emil Rahmana Putra. He is the founder of the two brands Winson and Midas Bootmaker, where the first now is making the finest fully handmade dress shoes in the country, a true premium product of absolute top quality, while Midas focus on more affordable still excellent handmade Ready to Wear and Made to Order workwear boots. The company I work for, Skolyx, has been collaboratin...
Ep. 20 - Patrick Frei, about making shoes with an own identity
January 21, 2022 17:53 - 51 minutes - 47 MBIn this episode you'll get to meet the very charismatic bespoke shoemaker Patrick Frei from Germany. He made a name of himself more widely when he won the World Championships in Shoemaking in 2018, and is seen by many as one of the greatest shoemakers around today. He works out of his workshop in Freiburg in Southwest of Germany, together with his shoemaking partner Kazuya Kimura. For those of you who have seen shoes made by the Patrick Frei workshop, you'll know they have a distinct person...
Ep. 19 - Jacques Kress, Tanneries Haas, about calf leather tanning
November 14, 2021 19:30 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBFor this episode I once again was able to sit down with the interviewee in person. A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Germany and France, and one of the stops was Tanneries Haas, one of the leading calf leather tanneries in Europe. Here I met Jacques Kress, Export manager and responsible for all the Tanneries Haas' clients from the shoe industry, who has a background as European agent for Allen Edmonds. In this conversation with Jacques we'll get to know the background of the famous tanner...
Ep. 18 - André Simha, about collecting shoes
October 08, 2021 15:12 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBIn this episode we are meeting a proper shoe collector - André Simha, from Geneva, Switzerland. Known to many as andrel42 on Instagram, where he shows off his seriously impressive shoe collection, with around 300 pairs of welted shoes from literally all over the world. For over four decades he's had a big interest in classic shoes, and owns everything from the most famous brands down to very obscure new makers very few have heard of. We talk about what it is that drives him to continue to buy...
Ep. 17 - Nicholas Templeman, about the experience ordering bespoke shoes
August 01, 2021 19:38 - 52 minutes - 48.1 MBThis time we're going to go in-depth on the experience of ordering bespoke shoes, this from a bespoke shoemakers viewpoint. Nicholas Templeman is an independent bespoke maker based in London, England, who left his job at the legendary workshop of John Lobb to set up his own brand. He has a reputation of being very service-minded, going that extra length to make both the process and the final products something special for the clients. We talked a lot on the customer experience topic, but also...
Ep. 16 - Rezső Kuti, Vass Shoes, about handmade shoes from Hungary
May 16, 2021 16:05 - 40 minutes - 37 MBIn this episode I talk with Rezső Kuti of the Hungarian brand Vass Shoes, certainly the most famous shoe brand of the country, who've been making hand welted fully handmade shoes since the 1970's. Rezső worked as Sales Manager for the company for about a decade and built up its internationally successful MTO programme, he then spent a couple of years as Factory Manager for Heinrich Dinkelacker's Budapest factory and started the brand Passus Shoes, before re-joining Vass as Sales Consultant ab...
Ep. 15 - Leon Fan, Medallion Shoes, about succeeding in China
March 21, 2021 14:07 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBIn this episode we meet Leon Fan, who together with Kevin Li founded the famous shoe store Medallion Shoes, now with two huge brick and mortar stores in Beijing and Shanghai in China. They have sort of become the Chinese equivalent to the Isetan Men's shoe department in Tokyo, Japan, in the way it's not only setting a big mark on the huge domestic market, but also internationally. This also goes for the brand of fully handmade Ready to Wear, Made to Order and bespoke shoes Acme Shoemaker, wh...
Ep. 14 - Q&A Special with Daniel Wegan, Catella Shoemaker
October 31, 2020 11:57 - 1 hour - 59 MBThe Shoegazing Podcast is back, this time with a new type of special edition episodes that will pop-up every now and then, called Q&A Specials. Basically you listeners and readers of Shoegazing.com get to ask questions to some famous names from the classic shoe industry. This round is with Daniel Wegan, the Swede who made a name of himself working at the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling in England for ten years. He placed second in the World Championships in Shoemaking 2018, and then ...
Ep. 13 - Carina Eneroth, Skomakeri Framåt, about the situation for cobblers
September 13, 2020 20:26 - 38 minutes - 34.8 MBThis time it’s all about shoe repairs and cobblers. I met up with Carina Eneroth of Skomakeri Framåt, which sort of translates to Cobblery Forward, a cobbler and bespoke shoemaker based in Stockholm, Sweden. She’s been in the business for almost four decades now, and apart from being one of the owners of Skomakeri Framåt, with a Royal Warrant of Appointment to the Swedish Royal family, she’s also on the board for the Swedish Cobbler’s Association. With the mature shoe repair industry in Swede...
Ep. 12 - Kostas Mandilaris, The Noble Shoe, about selling shoes digitally
August 09, 2020 19:32 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MBWe live in a digital world, and nowadays a lot of both marketing and sales takes place solely online in various ways. One online shoe retailer who have successfully used all the digital possibilities is Kostas Mandilaris of The Noble Shoe, who sells among others Carlos Santos, Paolo Scafora and Crockett & Jones. In this episode we talk about the benefits and challenges with selling relatively expensive quality shoes only online, about how to work with digital marketing in various ways, and mu...
Ep. 11 - Takashi Fukuda, Isetan, about Isetan Men’s influence on the quality shoe scene
June 21, 2020 14:32 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBFor this episode I met Takashi Fukuda, who is a legendary buyer at the department store Isetan Men’s in Tokyo. For many years he has been the head buyer at their shoe department, and has been highly influential on what will be found on the shoe shelves at Isetan Men’s. Isetan is a Japanese chain of department stores, with it’s huge flagship store in Shinjuku in central Tokyo. There they have one building dedicated to women’s fashion and more, and one whole building with only men’s clothing a...
Ep. 10, Jonathan Church, Cheaney, about leaving private label production
May 22, 2020 12:10 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MBThis episode was recorded at the Micam shoe fair in Milan, Italy, back in February. In this episode we’re meeting Jonathan Church, one of the owners of the British firm Cheaney & Sons. Jonathan has worked in the footwear industry for three decades, first in the firm bearing his family name, Church’s, later with Cheaney. Cheaney was one of the last Northampton based shoe factories to transcend from focusing on Private Label to sell shoes under their own name, which they did after Jonathan and ...
Ep. 9 - Robin Chang, about Asian-made quality shoes
April 24, 2020 16:52 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBThis time you will meet Robin Chang, founder of the leading quality shoe store in Taiwan, Oak Room, located in the capital Taipei. He has been involved in the shoe business for many years, and is considered one of the foremost experts on the classic shoe industry in Asia. In this episode we will focus on the situation for factories making classic quality shoes as well as bespoke shoemakers in Asia, outside of Japan. It’s a topic that many in Europe or the US know very little of. Things are h...
Ep. 8 - Richard Utting, Loake, about succeeding internationally
March 20, 2020 12:28 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBThis episode was recorded at the Micam shoe fair in Milan, Italy, back in February. I sat down with Richard Utting, Export Manager at Loake, the famous British manufacturer of Goodyear welted shoes. Loake was a brand that, contrary to many other Northampton based companies, first got big on the domestic market and then went on to grow internationally. Richard Utting has been a large part of this journey, and we had a very interesting talk about everything from how to succeed internationally a...
Ep. 7 - Christophe Corthay, about shoes and art
March 01, 2020 14:49 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBChristophe Corthay is a legendary bespoke shoemaker from France. He has spent more than three decades making shoes, previously with his brother Pierre at Maison Corthay, but nowadays he runs Atelier du Tranchet together with Sebastian "Toulouz" Algans and Phillippe de Paillette. Those who’ve seen their shoes know that most of them are truly artistic creations, that looks like nothing you see from other brands. So I decided to talk to Christophe Corthay about the sometimes slightly controversi...
Ep. 6 - Maslow So, Mori of Shoemakers, about merging bespoke and factory-made
January 19, 2020 15:32 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MBIn this episode of the Shoegazing Podcast I met Maslow So from Hong Kong, the man behind the brand Mori of Shoemakers, who in a very interesting way try to combine elements from bespoke shoes with factory-made RTW shoes. Mori has various bespoke shoemakers from around the world designing lasts and models, and then a factory in China producing hand welted lovely looking shoes offered at a very competitive price. We sat down and talked about this project, and about merging bespoke and factory-m...
Ep. 5 - Hiro Yanagimachi, about the Japanese bespoke shoe scene
December 15, 2019 18:26 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MBMeet the famous shoemaker Hiro Yanagimachi, one of the pioneers of the new wave of Japanese bespoke shoemaking. When he started his business two decades ago there were only a few Japanese making bespoke shoes, today there’s more than 50 bespoke shoemakers in the country, now one of the leading scenes in the world. How this came to be is what we focused our discussion around.
Ep. 4 - Tom Brone, Sons of Henrey, about starting a new shoe brand
November 24, 2019 17:29 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBWhat's the main challenges when setting up a new shoe brand, how is it to be a small player working together with a big factory, and how do you succeed in today's highly competitive market? These are some of the questions that Tom Brone, the man behind the brand Sons of Henrey, answers in this episode.
Ep. 3 - Daniel Wegan, about dedication
October 25, 2019 12:44 - 46 minutes - 42.1 MBHear bespoke shoemaker Daniel Wegan talk about dedication, which took him to the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling, made him the head of the same department, and this year he won the World Championships in Shoemaking. He also gives a bunch of advice to aspiring shoemakers.
Ep. 2 - Yohei Fukuda, about brand building
September 17, 2019 21:51 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBIn this episode, I met the famous Japanese bespoke shoemaker Yohei Fukuda, who besides making some of the finest shoes in the world, also have been very successful with creating a brand image, something quite difficult especially for small bespoke shoemakers. It’s around this topic we focused our discussion.
Ep. 1 - Patrik Löf, Skoaktiebolaget, about multi-brand shoe stores
July 18, 2019 20:36 - 39 minutes - 36.1 MBFor the first edition of the Shoegazing Podcast, I sat down with Patrik Löf, founder and owner of the famous Swedish shoe shop Skoaktiebolaget, to talk about the journey they have been on and about the past, current and future situation for multi-brand men’s shoe stores.