Sebastian Tarek
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I mentioned Sebastian Tarek in the Other Footwear thread. Since I'm spending far too much on a pair of boots with him, I figured that I'd kick off a new topic.
To recap, Sebastian's a bespoke shoemaker, which is something of a dying art in the UK. I can think of eight or ten companies, and apart from John Lobb Ltd., most will no more than half a dozen employees.
This is a picture of him. He's got an excellent gnarly beard, and his favourite pair of jeans are Iron Hearts. He'd fit right in here…
Sebastian's currently working in conjunction with Hostem, a cutting-end fashion retailer in Shoreditch, which looks like the sort of place where Tim Burton would shop.
The pair that I'm going for will be something like these.
I've got big, broad, inelegant feet, so mine will have a more rounded toe to them, and another inch or two in the shaft.
The other style I was seriously considering, and Giles sounded keen on, are the Monkey Boots.
I opted for the Balmorals in the end because they're usable in more situations. Sebastian has a pair that he took on a trip to the States, and they did everything from hiking through to formal wear at a wedding.
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So what are the advantages of bespoke?
The main one is that you'll get a shoe that fits. If you've got awkward feet, orthopedic problems, or other issues then it'll mean that off-the-shelf footwear isn't going to work for you. In the photo of Sebastian at the top of the page there are a number of wooden lasts, and each of these will have been carved individually for a customer.
The second is that the shoes should last at least twenty or thirty years with proper care and if you rotate them. The English style of construction allows them to be rebuilt, but ultimately the uppers will wear out where they crease over your toes.
The third is that they'll be largely hand made, and from better materials. I think that it takes about a day for Sebastian to hand sew the uppers of a pair of boots, and the Monkey boots take another day because there's more stitching.
And the fourth is that you can have pretty much whatever you want. Though, like most in the bespoke trade, Sebastian will advise if he thinks that something is a bit dodgy. I recall a comment along the lines of "and I'm a man who has a pair of pink shoes" in relation to him thinking that undyed English crust would be a good idea.
In terms of options, one thing that we briefly discussed was doing a pair of boots based on the side-laced Fallschirmjägerstiefel. That would have been possible, but not necessarily practical.
Downsides?
You think Viberg are expensive? You can buy three pairs for one of these, as the starting price is around £1500. Trees are extra. If you've got a suitable medical condition then you can get them VAT free, and something like flat feet would count.
And there's a three to four month delivery time for a pair.
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I mentioned crust above. This refers to leather that's been tanned, but not yet dyed and finished. The stuff that Sebastian uses is thick and pretty stiff, so some breaking in will be necessary.
His objection is that I'd end up with a pair of boots that look like this, and he thinks would be a statement too far. Which he underscored by saying that he's a man who has a pair of pink shoes!
I really need to show him the after picture…
Or the after the after picture.
The boots above were made by William Lennon for Tender. They're not mine, in fact Lennon don't do that style in my size.
If you ever order anything bespoke then at some point you'll have a conversation where you're steered away from what would be a bad choice. I think that might have been mine.
The other leathers that Sebastian uses are vegetable tanned, with some visible grain. He's only got black and a couple of shades of brown in his sample book, but he might be able to get other colours. It's nice looking stuff, though. And lends the boot a slightly lived-in appearance, rather than a more formal appearance of the competition.
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Nice stuff, Graeme. Ordering fully bespoke boots is a unique experience, isn't it?
Those Tender boots really aged well, by the way.
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The measuring process is similar to that used by companies like Russell or Wesco: Sebastian draws a tracing around your foot, uses a tape to take the circumference of various bits, and asks questions about foot, leg and back pains.
He also used an antique measuring stick to get my foot size. I'm actually around about an 11, but my joy at being a couple of sizes smaller than I thought was curtailed because the convention is to make shoes two sizes bigger than your feet. Hence my usual 13s.
A foot impression was also taken, due to having flat feet. I'm getting a set of orthotics built into the boot, which will hopefully lead to a more elegant look.
Yeah, like that's going to happen with my giant plates of meat…
Incidentally, one of the shoemakers was bought out by a businessman who developed a 3D foot scanner. In future maybe we'll be emailing CAD models to Viberg and Whites instead of tracings.
The next step is the first fitting, which will be in a few weeks.
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Nice stuff, Graeme. Ordering fully bespoke boots is a unique experience, isn't it?
Those Tender boots really aged well, by the way.
I agree on both fronts.
I've been wanting to get a bespoke pair for years, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. There's already a request that I take them down to Gosport when they arrive.
I like the idea of undyed / natural leather because of the way it ages. I suspect that William Kroll (owner of Tender and those boots) hasn't treated his as well as I'll look after mine, so any patina would develop slower.