How your shoes should fit

When trying your new Shoes on, make sure that you open up the shoe as much as possible by loosening the laces all the way to the bottom so that you can glide your foot in easily. Once you are in, pull your laces in as tightly as you can to create the support around your arch. You should feel held all around the arch and the heel and free at the toebox.

After so many years of wearing uncomfortable, badly fitting shoes, many people who buy custom made shoes already have foot problems. When they first put on a pair of my shoes suddenly their feet can spread out and the most common reaction is ‘they are so comfortable I don't feel like I'm wearing anything on my feet'.

Suddenly the weakened, under-used muscles and tendons have a chance to stretch and strengthen. Corned, squashed little toes will heal and bunions

My soft, full grain leathers come from Italy through a handful of suppliers in the UK. My leather soles come from tannery in the south of England. Each skin of leather is used to the fullest. The smallest scraps become reserved for smaller projects. I have salvaged some of my stock leathers which is why I often have assortment of finishes and colours in my collection.

Nowadays most manufactured shoes are dictated by the fashion industry. The majority of factory made shoes wear out after a couple of years, ending their short lives in landfill. It is a waste of skills and energy, precious materials and your money.  By contrast, mine are made with replaceable rubber soles, so that even with constant wear, they will last for years and years. All my footwear has double out - soled stitching for extra strength and durability.

I make the uppers using a very strong, soft, full-grain Italian leather, available in a large range of colours. I roll the edges and fully line them in soft suede or leather making them highly durable.The uppers are sewn to the thick 5mm leather inner soles which are soft so that your unique footprints will embed into them. They are made from a very special leather not used in traditional leather shoes. 

The soles on my shoes have a very minimal heel because I think it is better for the whole body however for some people this can be a problem so I can build up my shoes a little and often build up one shoe higher than the other for those with one longer leg or similar problems. I can also make my shoes completely flat - zero drop or with a thinner 3mm sole for those that like a barefoot feel.

I have trained to make shoes using leather as the main element of the shoe, a natural accompaniment to feet as it instinctively bends, flexes and stretches to each movement.

Slowly over the years I have come to understand this unique fabric so full of integrity and strength. Over time I have learned to follow its intuitive movement. If you skive the leather against the grain it misbehaves and moves out of your grasp in indignation. If you skive in unison with the grain the smooth movement feels natural and accepted, as if the leather smiles in approval.

We try and use leathers from as local to us as possible - we are very excited to begin using some of the first Welsh Leather from Haley Hansen from her own herd - and in 2021 we have started a collection of 3 Mile Radius shoes from Jane Robertson - a natural tanner. These hides have all come from farms local to Machynlleth and slaughtered in our local abattoir by Will Lloyd, our local butcher. 

All our other stock leathers are high quality, full grain, Italian leathers which are the best in the world in terms of durability and finish. With a buttersoft tannage and following 100% inspection at the tannery the hides are transported to Northampton before we use them to make our shoes. 

We only use the best quality we can find to make shoes which will last. 

As you can see from my gallery we specialise in lots of colours and delight in giving customers choice in every part of their shoes. You can choose to have one red and one lime green or different colour linings/stitching. No two pairs are the same in all the pairs we have made over the years.

Over time I have introduced fabrics into my work. Woven cloth and British tweed have featured in my boots and shoes, the natural evolution of my work has become focused on the diversity of cloth in combination with leather.

All my shoes have been hand cut, the uppers all have rolled edges, fully lined in soft velvety suede or leather for extra durability. 

All my leather soles are tanned in England and the replaceable rubber soles are manufactured in Spain. I offer traditional leather soles, vibram or topy. 

I make my shoes with low heels, you can also choose a zero drop sole (no heel). 

All my footwear is designed to last and to be repaired after decades of wear. 

See below for the choices we have in stock leathers for lined and unlined - of course if you wish to have a different finish/colour there are hundreds more we have in our workshop - we can send you samples in the post also.

View our leather and suede swatches here.