Altan Bottier, of Paris, France, just recently decided to use the current state of the world to introduce something new on their Instagram page. One positive thing about facing adversity is it often causes one to question their direction, and see if they can either improve or offer something new/different as a way to ‘think outside the box.’ And so, like most retailers are facing at the moment with the decline in orders, it would appear that Altan took this opportunity to inspire by showing the roots of where their brand came from through the collection of their bespoke archive samples. Most of these shoes are from the 70’s, so anywhere from 30-50 years old.
I always love seeing old bespoke samples, from Foster and Son’s to John Lobb’s archives and even Crockett & Jones, I find it to be so interesting and intriguing to see what they were creating way back when. And more often than not, you see styles far more adventurous than one would think, that even 100 years ago they were pushing the bar in design. Hence the phrase, ‘nothing is new under the sun!’
Here you see just that. That apron derby is amazingly unique. The adelaide featured, showing what we see today and thinking it’s a ‘new’ idea when it’s really not. The amazing saddle oxford (my favorite design of the bunch) and lastly that super cool u-cap squared off with heel counter in alligator/calf combo. Amazing!!
The question becomes, ‘do they still have these patterns available for MTO orders now?’ And I presume the answer is yes….which opens up tenfold their offering to the world as with one pattern can easily create 10 more with small tweaks here and there. And now Altan is more unique then they were before. Check them out if you haven’t already. They are really making some of the more exciting stuff the industry has to offer at the moment.
