I recently inherited a modest sum of money and I decided to do something which I had always fancied but never done because of the cost i.e. get some bespoke shoes made. The reason for this is not vanity but rather the fact that my feet are a bit wider than average and have high insteps. This means a period of discomfort when breaking new shoes in, particularly if they're of the more traditional, formal type. (Actually, it feels as if they're breaking me in.)
A quick dive into the internet showed that the starting prices in London range from more than 4K at John Lobb, which is the most famous bootmaker down to about 2.5k at other places. That's just daft, so I ruled that out and looked a bit closer. I was very surprised to find that Stuttgart has at least six makers of made to measure shoes. I did the rounds and settled on one particular one: a one man operation in what is perhaps the smallest shop I've ever been in. The shoes cost 920 Euros and that for exactly the same job as in the West End. And that seemed to me to be a very good deal. When I put them on I thought that something wasn't right as my feet seemed barely aware of them, rather like putting on a pair of gloves that fit lightly and easily. And to think I've been missing out on that all my life.
The point of all this though is not really the cost or even the fact that it involves shoes (although I do recommend such a service for any fellow wide-footed, high-instepped types - if you can afford it). What I really wanted to mention was something the bootmaker said: in his view craftsmanship of all types has simply vanished from the lives of the overwhelming majority in modern society. I'd never thought of it in those terms and he is, of course, right. In the old days, if you wanted something, you saved like crazy, got the best you could afford and did your very best to make sure you got the longest period of service from it as possible.
Of course mass manufacture changed all that but it also IMO lowered expectations and thus the quality of life. To stick with shoes: if you have more or less standard feet you can get tip top shoes for a couple of hundred quid and it would probably be very difficult for you in purely financial terms to justify going down the bespoke route. The problem is the bottom end of the market: you can buy masses of anything, particularly clothing, at rock bottom prices with the idea in your subconscious that it is probably essentially disposable. I think that this is the area where we all suffer. Cheap tat is often made under more or less slave labour conditions in the far east, we don't get to enjoy, learn about or appreciate real quality and in the long run we end up spending more as we repeatedly replace mass market rubbish. And of course as a result of this craftsmen are becoming a rare breed.
In terms of furniture many of us knock Ikea, although IMO it does have its place. If you're an impoverished student a Billy bookcase might be a life saver. Just don't expect it to survive more than one move. The problem is that if Ikea is all you have ever known, then you're perhaps not likely to make the move up to something of better quality which will last longer.
So to reiterate: Craftsmanship has vanished from the lives of the overwhelming majority and IMO except for the less well off that is doing none of us any good.
Any thoughts?
A quick dive into the internet showed that the starting prices in London range from more than 4K at John Lobb, which is the most famous bootmaker down to about 2.5k at other places. That's just daft, so I ruled that out and looked a bit closer. I was very surprised to find that Stuttgart has at least six makers of made to measure shoes. I did the rounds and settled on one particular one: a one man operation in what is perhaps the smallest shop I've ever been in. The shoes cost 920 Euros and that for exactly the same job as in the West End. And that seemed to me to be a very good deal. When I put them on I thought that something wasn't right as my feet seemed barely aware of them, rather like putting on a pair of gloves that fit lightly and easily. And to think I've been missing out on that all my life.
The point of all this though is not really the cost or even the fact that it involves shoes (although I do recommend such a service for any fellow wide-footed, high-instepped types - if you can afford it). What I really wanted to mention was something the bootmaker said: in his view craftsmanship of all types has simply vanished from the lives of the overwhelming majority in modern society. I'd never thought of it in those terms and he is, of course, right. In the old days, if you wanted something, you saved like crazy, got the best you could afford and did your very best to make sure you got the longest period of service from it as possible.
Of course mass manufacture changed all that but it also IMO lowered expectations and thus the quality of life. To stick with shoes: if you have more or less standard feet you can get tip top shoes for a couple of hundred quid and it would probably be very difficult for you in purely financial terms to justify going down the bespoke route. The problem is the bottom end of the market: you can buy masses of anything, particularly clothing, at rock bottom prices with the idea in your subconscious that it is probably essentially disposable. I think that this is the area where we all suffer. Cheap tat is often made under more or less slave labour conditions in the far east, we don't get to enjoy, learn about or appreciate real quality and in the long run we end up spending more as we repeatedly replace mass market rubbish. And of course as a result of this craftsmen are becoming a rare breed.
In terms of furniture many of us knock Ikea, although IMO it does have its place. If you're an impoverished student a Billy bookcase might be a life saver. Just don't expect it to survive more than one move. The problem is that if Ikea is all you have ever known, then you're perhaps not likely to make the move up to something of better quality which will last longer.
So to reiterate: Craftsmanship has vanished from the lives of the overwhelming majority and IMO except for the less well off that is doing none of us any good.
Any thoughts?
