0:00:03 > 0:00:05- OLD RECORDING:- In the fashionable shopping district
0:00:05 > 0:00:06near St James's Palace stands one
0:00:06 > 0:00:08of London's most exclusive shoe shops.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Mr Eric Lobb supplies boots and shoes to many famous people.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15His grandfather founded the business in the gold rush days,
0:00:15 > 0:00:16by making miners' boots with a
0:00:16 > 0:00:18special heel that concealed the gold.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24Autograph hunters would be interested in this book.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Here are the pencilled outlines of Gordon Harker's feet.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And on the other pages are many more footprints of the famous.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48See for yourself some of the famous
0:00:48 > 0:00:52people whose feet have been carved in wood by the last-maker.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58I think if the original John Lobb were to walk in today,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01he would be very at home with what's going on here.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02Many things have changed,
0:01:02 > 0:01:03but when it comes to having a
0:01:03 > 0:01:05conversation with him about shoemaking,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07I think we would find a lot in common.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12And I would certainly have a lot to learn from him.
0:01:12 > 0:01:13HE LAUGHS
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Jonathan is the fifth generation of Lobbs to follow in the family
0:01:27 > 0:01:31footsteps, and splits his day between workbench and desk.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36He starts each morning crafting wooden lasts.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The precise sculptures of the customer's feet,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41which a bespoke shoe is built on.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45I need a measurement that says 9 5/8ths,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and at the moment I've got just over 9 3/4.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54Even just removing 1/8th of an inch can involve taking off quite a
0:01:54 > 0:01:57lot of the actual volume of the last.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01You've got to take it off in the right place.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13I'm working to the principle that's grown up over a
0:02:13 > 0:02:15period of hundreds of years,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18with conditions that have been tried and tested.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21If you do something outside those parameters,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24you simply end up having a shoe that doesn't fit properly.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Jonathan is just one of a team of seven last-makers,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35including some of the longest serving staff members,
0:02:35 > 0:02:36Michael and Neil.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40I pretty much wanted to be a carpenter.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42That's what my mind-set was.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Mr Lobb suggested I do last-making if I was interested in wood
0:02:45 > 0:02:50and carpentry. It was a part of the trade I didn't even know existed.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I was smitten by it. I didn't think I'd be here for more than a year or
0:02:53 > 0:02:57two. It's been 34 years now. So, that was a shock to the system.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02I started off at a shoemaking college in Hackney,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06and I was there for three years.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Then I just walked into the store, asked for a job, saw John Lobb
0:03:10 > 0:03:12and I started about a month later.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Mike and I have seen more of each other over the years
0:03:14 > 0:03:16than we have of our partners, which is a bit scary.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18But we come in here every day,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20we sit on the same stools. We go through the same actions,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22the same motions. But everything is very different.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Although it looks the same, but what's going on in our head and
0:03:25 > 0:03:28what we're creating is different every day.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49It's not an exact science, it's a craft.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51We've all got our own individual style.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53We can walk down into the last racks,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55and there's over 15,000 lasts down there.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58And I can pick out Michael's, and he can pick out mine because we
0:03:58 > 0:04:01all know our individual style of last-making.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03It's always nice to get a difficult foot.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05When you get a difficult foot it's a joy,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07because you're using all your skills.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09So, it's not all repetition.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24We also get customers bringing in
0:04:24 > 0:04:28their sons to buy their first pair of shoes for them.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31And the greatest one I heard was a customer said to his
0:04:31 > 0:04:35son, "Son, welcome to your most expensive hobby ever."
0:04:38 > 0:04:40We're not far off now.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01It's just nice being around quality shoes.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04I haven't bought a pair of shoes in the shop...
0:05:05 > 0:05:07..maybe in 30 years now.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09You wear shoes here.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12And we all went out one time to watch a game of football
0:05:12 > 0:05:16and at half-time we were all playing football in our Lobb shoes.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19- Outrageous.- It's just a pair of shoes for us now.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34When you're doing something which is inherently peaceful,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37then your mind thinks about problems that you're trying to resolve and
0:05:37 > 0:05:39what happens when you take away all
0:05:39 > 0:05:41the distractions and things come into mind.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Put yourself in a quiet room and just see what happens.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47See what pops into your head.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02From making the last, to final polish,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06a pair of bespoke shoes passes through the hands of seven skilled
0:06:06 > 0:06:10artisans. Each focusing on just one part of the process.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16And a meticulous process demands a hefty price tag.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Over £4,000 for a pair of leather Oxfords.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Small change, perhaps, for past customers like Aristotle Onassis,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Frank Sinatra or Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31who granted John Lobb their royal warrant
0:06:31 > 0:06:32and remain regular customers.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40John Hunter Lobb has been fitting famous feet since the 1950s,
0:06:40 > 0:06:41and is now the head of the company.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47The measurements we take from a customer's feet are fairly simple.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50You take an outline, a pencilled outline,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53and then three measurements around it.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Basically, that's all. You make note
0:06:55 > 0:06:57of any peculiarities, lumps or bumps,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00but the measurements are really quite simple.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Well, we've taken the measurements.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03They come to the case here and look
0:07:03 > 0:07:07around for what they would like us to make. And it can be anything.
0:07:07 > 0:07:08They can take a bit of this and a
0:07:08 > 0:07:10bit of that and we put them together.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16It always takes us rather a long time to make a pair of shoes.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18The actual work involved itself is slow
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and you can't hurry it because handwork can't be hurried.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Six months or so for a first pair.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25We've got to make the lasts, and then make the uppers,
0:07:25 > 0:07:26and then put the soles on.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29And since we've got a fair amount of work to do,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31it all takes a long time.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Each artisan settles into a different rhythm and pace.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Making and attaching the sole may take days.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49While drawing the pattern and tailoring it
0:07:49 > 0:07:52to the customer's last can take a couple of hours.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55- OLD RECORDING:- The next operation is performed by the clicker,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57as they call it in the business. Cutter-outter, to you.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00He's handled a good many miles of leather in his life,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and can tell at a glance the age and condition
0:08:02 > 0:08:04of the animal that it came from.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18The clicker's job is to cut out the leather from
0:08:18 > 0:08:20patterns made from the last. This is the first rough cutting,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23and he leaves plenty of margin for working.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37So, once I've finished clicking the uppers then they are tied together,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39as I'm doing now.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43And they are sent to one of the closers and they do the
0:08:43 > 0:08:46next part of the process which, of course, is to then close the uppers,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48stitch the uppers together.
0:09:05 > 0:09:06Morning.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Historian and author Brian Dobbs has been spending one morning a week in
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Lobb's for the past 40 years.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Many years ago, I wrote the history of the firm.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23I became really intrigued by the fact that they
0:09:23 > 0:09:25had spent no time whatsoever
0:09:25 > 0:09:27really considering the history previously.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31When you look across these shelves,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36you can see there is no coherent order whatsoever.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Some I had there and some I found over here, too.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Brian is on the hunt for the names of the great and the good amongst
0:09:47 > 0:09:50almost 100 years' worth of customer records.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58These are also old records which are probably intermediary between the
0:09:58 > 0:10:04ones that are upstairs and the oldest ones, which are across there.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06I'm looking for something...
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Must be put back over there.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23I think I see what I'm looking for.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27I'll need the stepladder to get to it, however.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31This is not only archaeology, this is mountaineering.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06Well, it wasn't arranged for historians, that's for sure.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Now I can go and look at this at my leisure.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49I get to the leather from clicker as a rough cut,
0:11:49 > 0:11:56and then I open it and started to cut out leather as a pattern.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09So, the closing part is not that long, actually.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Most of the time it's preparation.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24And, also, because it's bespoke,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29I think we ought to pay attention to even small details,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33because the customer is paying for every single detail.
0:13:00 > 0:13:06This machine is already at least 60, 70 years old.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11But I quite like it.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15This old machine's stitch, it's like a more bespoke look.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Modern machine is like a more patchy stitch.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22That's why I like it, the old one.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Closing is... You get satisfaction when you finish one pair of uppers
0:13:40 > 0:13:43because you see all these finished products.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Sometimes it really upsets me if it doesn't go well,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12but when it goes well it really gives me joy.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39To keep the craft alive, new artisans
0:14:39 > 0:14:41are continually being trained.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45This morning, Iranian apprentice
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Parum is making the threads he will need
0:14:48 > 0:14:51to hand stitch the detail on a pair of shoes.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54We put three threads together.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59The reason is to make the thread stronger for the hand stitch.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02And it's three because we don't want
0:15:02 > 0:15:06it to be really thick and we don't want it to be really thin.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10We want something to look very neat and nice,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12because it's in front of the shoes.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30British shoes are, for me, the best.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Construction-wise, the craft of British shoes,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36the best shoes in the world. That's why I came here.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46The artisans working in the warrens of St James's are just one part of a
0:15:46 > 0:15:48widespread shoemaking network.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Closers and makers are often employed as piece workers,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56carrying out their work in home workshops.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Charlotte Wainwright does most of her closing at home
0:16:14 > 0:16:17but comes in one day a week to train Parum.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22Yesterday I tried to last it, I couldn't, really.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Do you want me to do it?
0:16:24 > 0:16:26You want to have a go? Please, thank you.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32You're not pulling it far enough forward,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and then you're just pulling it sideways.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37You're not pulling it away from the angle.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39I think it's just technique.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48I started here when I was about 21, which is a long time ago.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52And I knew I wanted to do a craft, I wanted to make things.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56I wrote a letter to Eric Lobb and asked him if I could come and have a
0:16:56 > 0:16:59job. And he wrote me a very funny letter back saying that they didn't
0:16:59 > 0:17:02really employ very many women and there weren't any vacancies,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04but I could come and have a look round.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08So, I came and then started on Monday,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10which was a bit of a shock to all of us.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13He also told me I couldn't wear trousers, which was...
0:17:13 > 0:17:17That went. On Monday morning I came in with trousers on.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19In fact, they were jeans, which nearly gave him a fit.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Things tend not to change here that dramatically, to be honest.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36In fact, we got really quite excited one year because John Lobb said he
0:17:36 > 0:17:39was buying a new carpet for the shop.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41When we came in and the new carpet was there,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45it was an exact replica of the old one. So, there you go.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47That's how they feel about change here.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58A lot of the tools that I used I
0:17:58 > 0:18:01bought from people who had them for...
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Well, they probably worked with them for a good 60-odd years.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08These I bought from somebody called Harry,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10who's probably long gone now.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13And everything that they taught me will,
0:18:13 > 0:18:19hopefully, Parum will teach somebody else in years to come.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22That's the idea, at least you've passed something on.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24A bit of knowledge that won't die.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Down in the basement,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51the leather is cut for the soles and everything is finally gathered
0:18:51 > 0:18:53together to build the shoe.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59- OLD RECORDING:- Now meet Mr Henson, a maker.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02He's the man who finishes off the job by sewing on the soles.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11These days, the job is finished by Mariano.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Another craftsman drawn to London by Lobb's traditional ways.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26When I came over here, I discovered that there are many
0:19:26 > 0:19:30techniques that in Spain have already died.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35It will take between three to five years of an apprenticeship,
0:19:35 > 0:19:42and then it will take your entire life to master the skills.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47What I'm going to do is sew...
0:19:48 > 0:19:51This is the weld. ..around the shoe.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00This is the piece of leather that attach and connects
0:20:00 > 0:20:02everything on the shoe.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09To weld a pair of shoes, each shoe, it depends on the size of the shoe.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13But say, like, one hour and a half, each one.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17Each shoe, not a pair.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Well, in this particular book, these are the accounts.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02And the first person I see under the As is
0:21:02 > 0:21:07the Right Honourable the Viscount Alexander of Tunis.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Who, of course, is the wartime leader,
0:21:09 > 0:21:14wartime hero from the African campaign.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17This is always the raw material for
0:21:17 > 0:21:21social history, for economic history.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24And you never know what you're going to find.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33I come to another one which looks like an ordinary military person,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Lieutenant Colonel.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37But it's Lieutenant Colonel
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Hardy Amies who, of course,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43becomes Sir Hardy Amies the fashion designer.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45And although Lobb shoes are
0:21:45 > 0:21:49sometimes accused of being old-fashioned,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52there are any number of fashion designers who actually
0:21:52 > 0:21:54have worn Lobb shoes.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59Like Sir Norman Hartnell, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta,
0:21:59 > 0:22:05so there's really a bit of a tribute to the fact that craftsmanship is
0:22:05 > 0:22:07never, perhaps, unfashionable.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16For customers who come through that door downstairs,
0:22:16 > 0:22:22they are coming and joining in the footsteps of celebrities, heroes,
0:22:22 > 0:22:28villains, people who have been coming to have Lobb shoes over
0:22:28 > 0:22:29three centuries.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35I think the holding of royal warrants
0:22:35 > 0:22:37has been very important throughout
0:22:37 > 0:22:40the luxury trades of London.
0:22:40 > 0:22:46Here we are, right in the middle of clubland, with Boodles and Whites,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49around the corner is St James's Palace.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52So, this has always been a place
0:22:52 > 0:22:55where distinguished people have gathered.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57And to have the royal seal of
0:22:57 > 0:23:00approval, this is like an imprimatur...
0:23:01 > 0:23:03..and very precious to them.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15What I'm doing is building the heels
0:23:15 > 0:23:18and you build a heel layer by layer.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27Whatever you do with one shoe, you do the same thing to the other one.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29So, you carry on the whole process at the same time.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Physically, it is hard as well because I spend
0:23:42 > 0:23:47most of the time sitting down with my head bent down.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49At the end of the day, you feel stiff.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53You need to love it.
0:23:53 > 0:23:59It's something that has to come from your heart,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01otherwise it's not going to work.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46- OLD RECORDING:- And here are some of the finished
0:24:46 > 0:24:47results of the processes you see.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50All made by hand in the old traditional way that's still the
0:24:50 > 0:24:52best, even in this machine age.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56All that remains now is to wrap them up and deliver them to the customer.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59And that's how famous people get their shoes.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02You can have a pair made yourself, for about ten guineas.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26At the end of the day, John Hunter Lobb
0:25:26 > 0:25:29gives the completed shoes a final inspection.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33I just look through them, just to make sure everything seems OK.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36And then they're ready for the customer.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Some shoes sit there for ever. Sometimes a customer
0:25:40 > 0:25:42goes abroad for a few years.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Occasionally, they've been known to run out of money.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47That happens to people and they can't afford them any more.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48So, they leave them with us.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57When I started, there were lots of nobility in England still.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00They've taken rather a low profile and they haven't quite got the same
0:26:00 > 0:26:02incomes that they had in those days.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Our customers have changed,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09and nowadays we get people from the Middle East and Japan,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11and even from Russia and from China.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13They're in countries where they still have
0:26:13 > 0:26:16the ability to make enough money to have expensive items.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23One regular customer is Wayne Scholes,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26head of an American technology company,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30who is such an admirer of Lobb shoes that he pays his staff bonuses in
0:26:30 > 0:26:31bespoke footwear.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Here, you get something that's made for your feet.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40For all those little weird things that my wife makes fun of,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42here they're just custom. And I love that.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Look, it was something I could never afford as a kid.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51My family could never have afforded it so I think there's definitely an
0:26:51 > 0:26:53aspiration thing to it,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55that you want to be able to get something that's made just
0:26:55 > 0:27:00for you. Some people choose cars and they'll spend 100,000 or 200,000 on
0:27:00 > 0:27:02a car that, for me...
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Not that much interest in. But, you know, a pair of shoes
0:27:06 > 0:27:08that's made for me, that's comfortable,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10it's going to last for a long, long time.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13I find that pretty cool. I think that's unique.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- Thank you very much.- No problem.
0:27:18 > 0:27:19Thank you.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44It's terrible, I can't stop looking at them.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46I want to change something.
0:27:48 > 0:27:49It's fatal.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01MUSIC: In These Shoes? by Kirsty MacColl
0:28:09 > 0:28:12# I once met a man with a sense of adventure
0:28:12 > 0:28:16# He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
0:28:16 > 0:28:20# He said, let's make love on a mountain top
0:28:20 > 0:28:23# Under the stars on a big hard rock"
0:28:23 > 0:28:25# I said, in these shoes?
0:28:27 > 0:28:29# I don't think so
0:28:31 > 0:28:36# I said, honey, let's do it here. #