A Video Tour of Bespoke British Shoemaker John Lobb

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
May 4th 2010 at 8:02AM

At John Lobb, one of Britain's oldest and last remaining bespoke shoemakers, little has changed since the firm was founded in 1849. Preferring to do everything by hand, the storied London firm declines to use machines to make its painstaking production process any easier. Bootmaker to British royalty since the 1860s and fashioner of what is arguably the world's finest men's footwear, Lobb received its first Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales in 1863. Aside from sovereigns and heads of state, Lobbs have long been the favored footwear of fops including Cole Porter, Cecil Beaton, Hugh Grant and Daniel Day-Lewis. In this video produced by London's Guardian newspaper, Lobb Chairman and Managing Director John Hunter Lobb, great-grandson of the firm's founder, gives a guided tour behind the scenes, unlocking the door to "a lost world of craftsmanship." You'll never want to wear ready-made shoes again.

Tags: bespoke, John Lobb, London, mens shoes, mens style, Savile Row, shoemaker, shoes, UK

Filed under: Shoes, Men's Style, Video

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Gusto May 10th 2010 2:24PM

Funny, I was in the John Lobb shop in Jermyn Street, London, and was told that Hermes now owned the company AND that not all of their shoes are handmade. Apparently, they do have lines of ready-made shoes too. Just my 2¢.