This is part two of the massive walkthrough of all competition shoes in the World Championships in Shoemaking 2019. Here position 11 to 40 is reviewed with comments and pictures.
Blog post in the words of Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing Blog
Pt.1 with more info about the contest and positions 1-10 can be found here.
Results (click on maker/brand to go directly to summary):
11. Dettagli D`Autore
12. Yim Shoemaker
13. Perticone – Seiichi Yoshimoto
14. EuGo
15. Athanase Sephocle
16. Kiyo
17. Lu Yang
18. Fumiya Ando
19. Barbavitra Shoemaker
20. Sergey Grechushkin
21. Naoki Sugimoto
22. Reid Elrod
23. Masachika Morita
24. Oh Sang Jun
25. Rozsnyai Handmade Shoes
26. Valentin Frunza
27. Tomohiro Inamori
28. Jan Buda
29. Lawart
30. Alexey Sod
31. Andrey Kaveshnikov
32. Taichi Shimizu
33. Ivan Below
34. The Last Shoemaker
35. Mikhail Burov
36. Masami Ishizuka
37. Francesco Masci
38. Batyr Bikbulatov
39. Thivakaran
40. Sebastian Makowski
.
11. Dettagli D’Autore
Dettagli D’Autore was born in 2019, in the heart of the Italian shoemaking region of Marche, Montegranaro, from the collaboration between a designer Giulio Giacinti (who made the last and pattern of the shoe) and shoemaker Bogdan Paul Betianu (who did the bottom making), they had help from Giacomo Mezzabotta who did the upper and the company Maximoda who did the brass toe tap. The shoe is a fine example of shoemaking, with not least extremely fine sole stitching, and a heel built from many super thin layers of leather.
.
12. Yim Shoemaker
Chinese Gray Yim, who runs Yim Shoemaker, has made a name of himself first through a collaboration with Japanese firm Hobu, later through his own Instagram. Aggressive last shapes and making is what most recognise him for, which is also evident in the world championship entry. It’s a great shoe, with nice features like the cuban heel, tight sole stitching and a lovely looking sole. It has some minor setbacks in the execution, and received slightly less on design likely due to a bit of an unbalance, but overall a very nice entry.
.
13. Perticone – Seiichi Yoshimoto
Perticone, or Seiichi Yoshimoto, a Japanese shoemaker based in Italy, was placed 18th in last years contest. This year he is found five places up, with a very nice entry. Seiichi Yoshimoto has done all parts of the shoe except the upper closing, which has been made by Pina (ITALIANA). It’s a shoe with lots of decorations, mixed types of brogeing, punched decorations on sides and back, wheel marked sole, and so on.
.
14. EuGo
Another climber, last years 23rd placed is now up at 14th position. EuGo is the brand of Yeruult Gombosed from Mongolia. He splits the time between Mongolia, where he has his euGo brand, and San Francisco in the US, where he collaborates with American bootmaker Frank Beneducci. A lot of effort has clearly been put into this shoe, with some gorgeous parts like the golden lining and accompanying toe and heel plates. Making is of a really good level, while the difficulty is ok but not special.
.
15. Athanase Sephocle
This is a really well-built shoe, scored high on execution, a bit less on difficulty and design. With that said, Athanase Sephocle who is a bottom maker working for Berluti in France, have made some quite complicated parts, especially the lifted middle part of the sole and the very tight nail pattern in the heel. It’s that type of bottom that you can stand looking at admiring for a long time. Athanase made all parts except the upper making, which was done by Sarah Verlac.
.
16. Kiyo
Kiyo, or Kiyo Uda as is his full name, is a bespoke shoemaker based in Tokyo. He does some MTO, MTM and bespoke under his own name, and also outwork for other firms. The shoe is made solely by him. It’s a very traditional shoe, with square outside waist and a basic pattern. The closing and making is perfectly fine, although you can find areas that aren’t 100%, like the heel with a bit uneven lifts and a sligthly flimsy sole edge at some places. Nice shoe, but a bit plain.
.
17. Lu Yang
Another Chinese contestant, Lu Yang is a bespoke shoemaker, who have made all parts of the shoe, while Jiao Yang made the design. It was a bit debated in the jury if it were to be seen as proper brogueing, but we decided to leave it with no deduction of points. It’s a pretty cool shoe, perhaps not perfectly balanced, and the degree of difficulty is higher than the level of the execution. Super slim waist with especially an outside part that goes in long, gives the shoe a special character.
.
18. Fumiya Ando
Japanese maker Fumiya Ando managed to snap a fifth place in last year’s world championships, this year he is found a bit further down. It’s still a good entry he gives us this year, no doubt a bout it, both the making and difficulty level is good, though not at the absolute highest level. The aesthetics of the shoe also appears a bit off, with a bulkier front part clashing a bit against a slim, elegant back part of the shoe. Fumiya Ando used to be an art student, but has now made shoes for about four years, so quite new in this game.
.
19. Barbavitra Shoemaker
Barbavitra Shoemaker is the brand of another Japanese, Yasuhiro Koui. He has made the whole shoe himself. A beautiful shoe, classic style that looks like it could come from an old British bespoke firm, and also well-made. Nothing that really stands out in either way, but an overall level that show skill. Nice parts include the proper welt finishing and the lovely way the tapered heel continues the shape of the back when seen in profile.
.
20. Sergey Grechushkin
Russian bespoke shoemaker Sergey Grechushkin, who run the brand G-shoes, has made a shoe that varies a bit in the level of the making. Heel and waist work is nice and very elegantly done and the closing is at a good leve, while the welt and sole edge finishing is a bit coarse and has its flaws. Evgeniy Zelentinov did the design and upper, Sergey Gregushkin did the making.
.
21. Naoki Sugimoto
Naoki Sugimoto is one of many independent Japanese bespoke shoemakers who work buy themselves, and the shoe is a good piece of footwear. Especially the well-made heel stands out, with the evenly made concave shape and with a clear levelling towards the waist, making it stand alone in nice looking way.
.
22. Reid Elrod
Reid Elrod of Elrod Shoes, a young shoemaker based in Portland, USA, studied shoemaking in Europe a few years ago, and has been working from home in the US, connecting the European and American shoemaking traditions in a nice way. He has some interesting pattern work on this shoe, and parts were high on difficulty, like the tight sole stitching.
.
23. Masachika Morita
We are now down on 23rd place, and as evident here the level of the shoes are still on a high level. This slightly special pattern full brogue is made by Japanese Masachika Morita, now based in Italy, who also run the brand GranGoron. It’s solid shoemaking, and the level of difficulty is still rather high. Aesthetically maybe not everyones cup of tea with the pointy toe and the high toe spring.
.
24. Oh Sang Jun
Oh Sang Jun is from South Korea, though he learned to make shoes in Japan about ten years ago, while now working from his home country. His shoe shows of some pretty good making overall and nice features like the tight sole stitching, close-cut waist edge etc. Some minor errors here and there that took away on the scoreboard.
.
25. Rozsnyai Handmade Shoes
A shoe made by the Hungarian firm Rozsnyai, located on the same street as other famous Hungarian brands like Vass, and who make hand welted RTW, MTO and MTM. Good to see this type of companies entering the contest as well. The shoe is a nicely designed one, with various “peaks” returning on different elements of the shoe, everywhere from the lining and several places on the upper toe the breast of the heel and the toe tap. Sándor Rozsnyai did the pattern, Mária Kocsis the upper, and Sándor Blaskó the bottom making.
.
26. Valentin Frunza
Moldovan shoemaker Valentin Frunza started to learn shoemaking in his fathers workshop already at the age of 12, and has run his own brand for many years now. The shoe has some clear influences from cowboy boots, with the toe shape and high toe spring, the accentuated waist shape, and the large brogue holes. Both the level of difficulty as well as the execution is at a more than decent level, while a bit plain perhaps.
.
27. Tomohiro Inamori
More Japanese representatives, Tomohiri Inamori has done the whole shoe himself, a pretty round full brogue that gets a slightly special appearance with the sparse brogueing and small tweaks of a classic pattern. The shoe looks better from above than from below, upper, welt and heel making is overall quite good.
.
28. Jan Buda
Jan Buda is a Polish bespoke shoemaker, who has worked for many years, although somewhat under the radar for many internationally. He was a bit stressed putting together his shoe, which is a bit evident, for example with the relatively sloppy toe burnishing that makes the immediate appearance lack a bit. One of only a few entries with pegged waist. Best part is probably the lovely built and finished heel.
.
29. Lawart
A very ambitious shoe by the Czech bespoke brand Lawart, where Erik Martin Lawart has made last, pattern and making, and Aneta Gretzova made the upper. It’s a fully hand stitched shoe, where the upper stitching is dense and well-made, which were part in gaining the shoes relatively high points for difficulty. A bit less well on execution, where there still is some way to go to be as clean as some higher placed shoes, and the design was not fully liked by the jury.
.
30. Alexey Sod
Another ambitious entry, this shoe is made by Alexey Sod, a Russian bespoke shoemaker working out of the city Nizhny Tagil. If the upper was the big feat on the previous shoe, here it’s the sole stitching, which is at very high spi and also made to a nice level. Besides this there’s some good and some less good parts, and designwise it comes of as a bit off.
.
31. Andrey Kaveshnikov
Andrey Kaveshnikov is know under the name Moscow Shoemaker on Instagram. It’s a shoe that is a bit two-faced, with the quite large and bulbous toe in contrast with the small, tapered heel. Could have been better balanced. As last year good sole stitching.
.
32. Taichi Shimizu
Taichi Shimizu is a Japanese who works as an apprentice for Carlino in Italy. He’s quite new in shoemaking, which you can see on the shoe, where the execution is a bit shaky. Heel building and heel bottom finishing is nice, while the sole edge and sole finishing is not on the same level. Also the upper stitching is varied in quality.
.
33. Ivan Below
If the two shoes above are a bit uneven in their making, this one by Russian shoemaker Ivan Below is more levelled throughout. He made the whole shoe himself. No real hits or misses in any directions, but not any real complicated parts either that makes the difficulty points rise.
.
34. The Last Shoemaker
The Last Shoemaker is a new brand from Thailand, which is a high-end offering of Don’s Footwear, offering hand welted and MTM/bespoke. The contest entry is made by several people: Allan Donnely made the last, Chan Onthaisong the upper, and Vinia Chartwong the bottom making. It’s not the most refined shoe, lacking some quality at for example the stitching of the upper, while sole finishing and lining looks really good.
.
35. Mikhail Burov
Another Russian bespoke shoemaker, Mikhail Burov, who made the shoe himself except stitching of the upper which was done by Alexander Kosimovsky. Best part if probably the relatively clean bottom and good sole stitching, while other parts lacked a bit in refinement and skill.
.
36. Masami Ishizuka
Masami Ishizuka is training shoemaking in Tokyo, Japan. She has done a shoe with a rather special pattern, not least with the medallion that looks sort of like a graphic atom sign. It is evident that this shoe is made by someone who is new into shoemaking, it’s simply made and not that exact in the execution.
.
37. Francesco Masci
Francesco Masci is a former lawyer, who now works as a bespoke shoemaker in Rome, Italy, with his brand F&F. The level of difficulty on the shoe, with the tight tapered heel etc, was higher than the level of the execution. Sole edge is wobbly and not the neatest of making in general. Cool red contrasting toe medallion.
.
38. Batyr Bikbulatov
Batyr Bikbulatov is a Russian living in Germany since 20 years. He does shoemaking part time outside his regular job, and has an entry that is a very classic full brogue. Upper stitching is of a quite good level, bottom making has some room for improvement, now sole is a bit dirty and not completely even.
.
39. Thivakaran
An entry from India, from another amateur shoemaker, Thivakaran Palani. The upper is rather special with diamond punching and swirling stitching. It’s not a neatly made shoe, especially the welt finishing is harsh. The shoe also got 10% deduction of points due to the painted sole.
.
40. Sebastian Makowski
Sebastian Makowski from Poland does shoemaking as a hobby, and you can’t expect a super shoe then. It’s upper making is the best part, while bottom making is a bit harsh. A nice touch is the red lining.
Pt.1 with more info about the contest and positions 1-10 can be found here.
looks like I finally made it onto the shoe snob blog abet via shoegazing lol.