Orange County News - February 06, 2009
Master Bespoke Fitter and Last Maker Paul Wilson of New York. He hosted a custom fitting at John Lobb in South Coast Plaza on Feb 5-6. ..//ADDITIONAL INFO: The process for crarfting a shoe takes about 9 months with several fittings and measurements going to Paris at least twice. Paul Wilson, a master fitter (see below) will be at the store doing a final fitting on a customer at 12:30 and another at 1:30. These are both Eric's long time customers and he's sure they will be fine with being photographed. (I was hoping to get a first fitting but it turned out the only one during his three days at the store was at the exact time of our staff meeting. That customer is John Tu, CEO of Kingston Technologies, who will be getting fitted for three pairs of John Lobb shoes. All other customers have shoes 6 months or more into the process and will look (almost) like a finished shoe..So the fall back is to go to the store at 12:00, in advance of the 12:30 final fitting, and store manager Eric will ask Paul to demonstrate steps involved in a fitting on someone, hopefully a customer. There will be molds and forms to photograph too to give an idea of why the high price tag these ultra custom fitted shoes. For men who are as obsessed with shoes as the average woman, John Lobb is hosting a custom fitting event this week at South Coast Plaza..And obsession might be required, as these specially tailored shoes will start at ,200 a pair. Exotic skins will cost more..So what does ,200 get you?.First, a 30- to 60-minute consultation with Paul Wilson, whose title is “Master Bespoke Fitter and Last Maker.” “Bespoke” means custom-made. A “last” is a mold of the client’s foot, from which the shoe is made. OK, so for new clients, a new last is made and shoes will take six to nine months for delivery. For current clients, the wait time is two to three months. Among John Lobb’s bespoke styles is the Fransisco, which is cut from one piece of calfskin. mensshoes.0217.cy - 020609 CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - CQ's
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