Just this past week I visited the Compass show in NYC's Puck building. It featured shoe designers and companies from all over the world displaying their latest collections for all to see. I stopped by the Timberland booth and took a short video of their Made to Order initiative. Here is how an all leather loafer gets hand stitched. Check out the video at the bottom of the post for the process in action.
Each pattern piece is pre-cut from leather and holes are punched where the thread will be hand-stitched.
Each shoe size has a separate last, made to ensure proper fit.
And then each leather piece is clamped so it doesn't move, while the skillful hands pass two different waxed threads through each hole in opposite directions.
In and out, in and out, the thread gets passed until all parts are are attached together, and the shoe is finished.
And here is the finished shoe. All leather hand-stitched men's moccasin loafer
The video is coming up in a bit.
