SAVILE ROW CUSTOMERS STEP CLEVERLEY

'Feet don't come in pairs' top shoemaker tells TONY RUSHMER

SINCE George Cleverley established his shoe-making business in Mayfair in 1958, there has been no shortage of famous customers.

Sir Winston Churchill, Lawrence Olivier, Clark Gable, Rex Harrison, Twiggy, Jackie Stewart and Charlie Watts are just a few of the illustrious names to have commissioned handmade bespoke shoes from G.J Cleverley, located now in the Royal Arcade adjacent to Old Bond Street.

The founder, who worked well into his eighties, died in 1991 at the grand old age of 92, but the business he built continues to thrive.

And just as the nearby Savile Row tailors aim to accommodate the unique characteristics of a client’s frame as well as satisfying personal choice, so Cleverley seeks to deliver a similarly bespoke service that is all about the individual.

The firm’s managing director George Glasgow confirms: “It’s an oddity if I come across ‘a pair’ of feet. You always get one that develops a little bit more than the other over a period of years.

“Most people have got either a difference in length, width or height. Ready-made shoes won’t cater for that, handmade shoes do.

“And the reality is we are one of the last remaining fully handmade bespoke shoemakers that will make a customer a pair of shoes from the exact measurements of his feet.”

The handmade shoemaking process starts – as it does on Savile Row – with a style consultation and measurements. The next step, of course, for a tailor is to draft a paper pattern; for the shoemaker it is all about using those measurements to make a ‘last’, the wooden block from which the shoe is built up. The ‘last’ serves to reproduce the dimensions of the client’s feet.

Glasgow approximates that 45-50 hours of work are required to complete a pair of handmade shoes. They will pass through the hands of several craftsmen, each with a specific skill such as cutting, closing or finishing, which means that the new customer can expect to receive the final product some four to six months down the line.

During that time, after three months or so, he will be invited back for a fitting. Similar to the ‘baste’ stage of the tailoring process, it is at this point changes can be made and the shoe subsequently pulled apart for fine-tuning.

With it being such a labour-intensive process and fewer people committing themselves to learning the trade than in past decades, it means that Cleverley won’t, as a rule, make more than 500 pairs of handmade shoes a year. Such an output may appear small in these modern times, but the firm’s bespoke product is still very much in demand, with Glasgow assessing business as ‘very good’.

“We are going into this year with certainly a fairly hefty order book of work that we've got to produce,” he says. “We can’t grumble.”

Where Glasgow has been pro-active is in following certain tailors’ lead and heading across the Atlantic – and to other corners of the globe – in search of the marketplace.

“We never used to do much travelling until the late 1970s. London was where we were based and it was mainly London people that were fostering our business – with a few overseas clients,” he says.

“But now, we’ve had to travel a bit more to Japan , America and Europe. In March we’ll go to Paris and Switzerland and after Easter we’ll do eight to 10 major cities in America .”

As well as the renowned bespoke business, there is a readymade range that is very much influenced by the firm’s handmade products. On occasion, a bespoke Cleverley model will be placed on show in the shop and if it draws favourable attention from customers the likelihood is it that it will be added to the readymade stock.

As for a defining house style, the so-called ‘Cleverley Shape’ has graced the feet of many through the past half century or so.

Glasgow explains. “When Cleverley was alive, he’d say his shoes were ‘suspiciously square’. That was his terminology. His toe-shape was unique to him. He used to cut the corner off a bit, just a shade.”

What Cleverley’s shoes have also become renowned for is their longevity. Looked after properly, there is no reason why a handmade pair of their bespoke shoes shouldn’t last a man through his working life.

Indeed, Glasgow mentions that ‘it is not uncommon’ for a pair to be brought back for a little care and attention some 25 years after they were made. Shoe trees, diligent polishing and shoe repairs are the requirements to ensure their long life, he adds.

“Those three ingredients and the shoes will last you a lifetime, no question about that. They go on and on.” www.gjcleverley.co.uk