My grandfather raised us up with a fair few sayings. Maybe it was the immigrant in him, or the necessity for betterment that fathered the quotations, I’m not sure, but he always demanded the best of everything. “Only show me the best” he’d proclaim to a shop clerk or waiter, “only the best for me and my family”. This ideology more than extended to his appearance. ”There’s only one thing worse than being broke, and that’s looking broke” was a recurring sentiment passed on to my mother, who in turn has passed it on to me. But his prophetic refrain of “poor people can’t afford cheap shoes” was at the forefront of my mind as I gazed lovingly over my most recent acquisition; a pair of Crockett & Jones Islay Brogue boots.
Founded in 1879 this Northampton based shoemaker is the veritable dogs bollocks when it comes to kicks of the sartorial variety. It’s a family business, and each pair of shoes takes up to 8 weeks to manufacture in a highly skilled process involving over 200 separate operations. The Last is asymmetric which shapes better to the contours of our obviously asymmetric feet, while aniline dyes in the leathers and extensive polishing by hand gives the upper an incredibly rich depth of colour that looks like it’ll only get better with age. The pair I went for are a dark brown Scotch country grain leather upper with a dainite studded rubber sole, and I got some ceder shoe trees with them too. They’re expensive, but I’d highly recommend them if you want to maintain the shape of your shoes. The cedar wood also naturally cleanses the leather and keeps them fresh in that respect too. Without a good enough camera to accurately document such artful extremity-excellence, these meager google images will have to suffice.
