Saint Crispin Opens Bespoke Footwear Salon in New York

Jill Newman

Updated Thu, Feb 23, 2017, 7:00 PM

Once you have had a pair of bespoke shoes made to satisfy your specific needs and style, nothing else will feel quite as good on your feet. Saint Crispin has just made it easier to get its coveted bespoke shoes through its newly unveiled by-appointment salon on West 57th Street in New York. The living room–like shop is headed by Zachary Jobe (formerly of the Armoury), who assists new clients by taking precise foot measurements and helping them select the best style, leather, and details for their bespoke shoes, which will be delivered in about eight to 12 weeks.

The Saint Crispin’s salon also offers a made-to-measure service that presents a group of various footwear models that are customized to a client’s specifications, and it offers a small collection of ready-made shoes as well. To further accommodate some of his high-power business executive clients, Jobe will visit them at office or meet them after work hours. Jobe also hosts a series of trunk shows across America—with upcoming stops in Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, San Diego, Seattle, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.—to meet a growing list of men interested in bespoke footwear.

Anyone with an appreciation of fine shoemaking knows of Saint Crispin, a brand based in Vienna, Austria, that has earned a reputation as one of best-quality artisan shoemakers. Starting at $1,410, the footwear is handmade in the company’s workshop in Brasov, Romania, by a team of 25 highly skilled shoemakers. Because the process is so labor intensive, they can produce only about 1,500 pairs per year for worldwide distribution.

The company began producing footwear in 1985 for other shoemakers before establishing the Saint Crispin brand in 1992 when it started making bespoke shoes for clients in Germany and Italy. Now, it creates bespoke and made-to-measure footwear through a series of trunk shows at small specialty stores around the world, including Leffot and the Armoury in New York. After the measurements are assessed, a wooden last is carved of each foot in the same way bespoke footwear has been made for generations. From there, a mock shoe is made of leather to appraise the fit, and once approved by the clients, the final shoe is crafted and ready (if necessary) for a final fitting and adjustments. (saintcrispins.com)