Age-old question “As you get older, your feet can change shape and you may need bigger shoes,” says Tony. “You can put on weight and also your bone structure changes. When you are younger you probably have higher arches which can flatten down and your feet can get a little bit longer and a little bit wider.”


“Shoes have


become more and more colourful, whether that’s rich chestnut colours or a striking blue”


TONY GAZIANO TALKS SAVILE ROW STYLE THROUGH THE PROCESS OF PRODUCING A BESPOKE PAIR OF SHOES


Tony, top, and Dean, middle, both have a great deal of experience in the trade. The pair met when they were both working in London when, between the two of them, they would complete a pair of handmade shoes


“The first thing that would happen is that you would go through a quite extensive measuring – some 15 to 20 measurements – widths of your foot, lengths of your foot. You would also stand in a mould box which would take an impression of your feet so we can produce a plaster cast of the bottom of your foot so we can get all the angles right. In all, the whole measure takes about 40 minutes to make sure that whatever you are ordering fits you as it should. We would then discuss the kind of style the customer might want but we don’t go into detail of leathers


and soles. From the plaster cast of the bottom of the foot, we get some beech wood and carve out the dimensions of the lathe which represents the foot. That is tricky – it is probably the most complicated part of shoe making because not only do you need to get the shoe to fit the customer in the way the customer wants that shoe to fit but also the way we want the shoe to fit. The same formula can’t be made for two different customers because you have two different mentalities. We will then make up to three dummy shoes and the customer will come in for a


fitting. We can then cut the shoe open – we cut a hole in the toe, a hole in the side, a hole in the heel so we can see inside the shoe to see exactly how the shoe fits. We would then make some alterations and then make another fitting shoe and then another fitting shoe. For a new customer, it can take up to six months just to get to the ‘fit’ stage that both the customer and we are happy with. Once we have reached that stage, then we make the shoe up completely. The first pair would take between 10 to 12 months. A second pair would take between four to six months.” n


SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE 53


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