Saint Crispin’s Trunk Show at LeatherFoot

Trunk shows are very hot right now. And I find that wonderfully anachronistic: the age-old practice of travelling around the world with a trunk full of wares is thriving thanks to, not in spite of, the internet. Online shopping is ubiquitous, as are blogs (like this one) that extol the virtues of various makers and sellers. But when it comes to handcrafted items, there is only so much a web site can do, the personal touch is necessary. As Saint Crispin’s general manager Phillip Car told me, “I want to talk to people and people want to talk to me. What we do is very highly detailed, and people want to know there is somebody behind the process.”

I met Phillip at the Saint Crispin’s trunk show last week at Leatherfoot. While he is based in Austria, the shoes are made, almost entirely by hand and one pair at a time, in Romania (you can see an excellent tour of the factory thanks to The Shoe Snob). The shoes are simply stunning and the craftsmanship is matched by the style and design. “We can do everything a high-end bespoke shoemaker does,” Phillip told me, “because we are a high-end bespoke shoemaker.” Unlike many traditional bespoke makers, however, Saint Crispin’s doesn’t do multiple fittings, which drive up the price and which Phillip doesn’t think are necessary.

There are other shoemakers similar to Saint Crispin’s – handcrafted shoes made of quality materials – many of them carried by LeatherFoot. But Saint Crispin’s is different, as Phillip told me, “because we offer a very high level of service and quality and craft for the price.” Their shoes start at just under $2000 and in the world of handcrafted footwear, that is a bargain. However, if you are paying that much and the shoe will be made to your specifications, a personal touch is essential. And thus, the trunk show. While many people may first hear about Saint Crispin’s online, they can only be purchased in person. And with Phillip present, you are being measured by someone with a deep understanding of the shoe’s construction and lasts, someone who can suggest which model will work best and which adjustments can be made for the perfect fit, not to mention talking you through all the options for the shoe’s design, shape and style. And this is why he spends around five to six months a year on the road.

That’s a lot of time to be away from home especially when, like Phillip, you have two kids. “I have two boys, 5 and 7 years old,” Phillip told me as he lit up, “so every day of the year is planned so I can be home with my family for holidays and days off school.” While family is his first priority, Phillip and his wife have had to work out this system because, as he told me they say in Austria, “I provide the butter on the bread.”

That said, there is another reason Phillip does so much travelling: to lesson travelling in the future. He spends a lot of his time training retailers and brand ambassadors around the world so they can represent Saint Crispin’s the way he wants them too. Plus, they have local knowledge and insights he doesn’t. And so in the future “I will still travel,” said Phillip, “but more to support these people.”

Still, I wondered if there were any plans to take Saint Crispin’s into the online ordering world. “None,” Phillip assured me. “A shoe in front of you in pure light shows reality,” he explained, “but a picture on a screen is always a bit different. This is why there will always be a little bit of brick and mortar in the business.” That said, I was impressed to see how much of the Saint Crispin’s back-end is wired in. Phillip was able to show me every order ever placed, their status, details, even customer notes. But that’s where the technology is staying, in the background. “I still answer every email myself,” Phillip said emphatically, pointing out that this approach is kind of niche in an already niche marketplace. “Personal intercommunications has a value.”

And some of that personal touch involves Phillip steering customers in the right direction, especially when his company offers so many styles, colours and finishes. Especially with your first pair of shoes. “I try to talk people out of buying too fancy,” he explained, “because they then don’t use them.” That said, Phillip told me that the vast majority of sales are for traditional shoes. “Many of our customers like that we have funky and fancy shoes but when they order: ‘The dark brown captoe oxfords, please’.”

Which got me thinking about Toronto’s shoe culture. We are a very conservative, very frugal city. So I was surprised, and delighted, when Phillip told me that we represent a significant portion of Saint Crispin’s worldwide sales. Phillip isn’t surprised, however, because he’s come to understand, from talking to the folks at LeatherFoot, that the sartorially minded high-end shopper has been around for a while in Toronto, they just didn’t have local options. And while Phillip acknowledges that Toronto has a way to go until it becomes a world style capital, shops like LeatherFoot are doing a good job of educating and helping men’s style develop.

And most excitingly for me, I have a pair of Saint Crispin’s shoes on the way. Taking Phillip’s advice to go for something classic and understated, so that I’ll wear it more often, currently in production in Romania for me is a pair of Pedder oxfords. They are being made in a brown “inca” leather, which is beautifully textured, while the shoe itself evokes the “galosh” shoe of the early 20th century. Here is the in-store stock pair: