In the tradition of all fine craftsmen, the firm of John Lobb continues to make handmade shoes of distinction. Renowned for the quality of their products and still enjoying the patronage of the Royal Family since the mid-1800's, this firm of skilled bootmakers takes great pride in creating individual shoes for individual needs and expectations.

When a customer once telephoned the London office of John Lobb Bootmakers and demanded that one of their craftsmen be sent immediately to his hotel suite, Lobb obliged - even though all the man wanted was for the shoelaces on his Lobb shoes to be changed. Lobb also obliged when an engineer sent precise blueprints to be followed exactly in the making of his shoes. One gentleman always insisted on examining his Lobb shoes under a magnifying glass and yet never found any reason for complaint, for his shoes were always perfect, even 40 years on.

From Edward VII to Charles the Prince of Wales, the Royals have always stepped forward to meet the public in gleaming Lobb shoes. They've adorned the feet of such illustrious clients as the Shah of Iran, Hardy Amies, Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn. When the distinguished essayist and critic Max Beerbohm was interviewed on his death bed in 1956, his first inquiry was not to do with the state of the English economy, the theatre or his many friends in London society, but rather, "Tell me, is Lobb still the best bootmaker in London?" Lobb shoes and boots have been described in many men's journals as one of the secrets of the best-dressed men in the world. Robert Speaigh in 'The Angel in the Mist' writes with even greater acclaim, "Beautiful brogues, these ... Lobb of course, Lobb and Lock (the hatters) are the two last luxuries of noble minds".

Customers have been known to wait for over four months for a pair of made-to-measure, one-off John Lobb shoes, but it seems that when one is dealing with a firm whose mark of excellence is reflected in Royal Warrants held proudly from both Britain and Thailand, time is not of the essence.

"There is an expression of delight on the faces of people when they buy their first tailor-made shoes from us", says the great grandson and namesake of the firm's founder. "People seem to walk on air when they have picked up the shoes we have made for them to their exact requirements. The wait is of no consequence to them; it is the shoes that matter, their quality and fit, not the time spent making them as perfect as they can be, which is what we do".

The story behind how the firm acquired its first Royal Warrant has all the hallmarks of folklore about it. At the great London Exhibition of 1862, the gold medal for bootmakers is awarded to an unknown Englishman, John Lobb, who is unable to accept the prize for he is three months' sail away in Australia, shodding the feet of prospectors on the goldfields. The following year another pair of boots arrives from the prospering colonies, this time to the door of Edward, Prince of Wales and future King Edward VII of England. Together with the unexpected boots is a request that Mr. Lobb, of George Street, Sydney, be appointed as bootmaker to the Prince. Whether or not the Prince was so impressed by Mr. Lobb's effrontery, or so amazed that he had somehow been able to obtain the exact measurements of the royal feet, on October 12, 1863, John Lobb, Bootmaker, is awarded a Royal Warrant in official recognition of the quality of the workmanship.

While the exact details of the story are lost to history, the fact remains that to the discerning buyer a shoe from the John Lobb workshops carries with it all the prestige associated with a firm whose products have won approval from the highest quarters.

Lobb shoes are renowned for their craftsmanship and the impeccability of the materials from which they are made. A wide array of people are involved in the creation of a single shoe, from those specifically trained to tan the leather to those whose task it is to carve the wooden lasts on which the shoes are to be moulded. From the very beginning of the process, nothing is left to chance. The animals which are to provide the leather are carefully screened for the quality of their hides to standards set by the firm itself. The skins are tanned for up to six months in oak-bark filled vats by which time they have acquired the precise degree of suppleness and shade of colour needed to achieve the flawless results which maintain John Lobb's reputation for making some of the world's finest shoes and boots.

One of the world's leading handmade shoe firms today, Lobb's had a most humble beginning back in the early 1800's. Had an accident at the age of 12 not left him crippled in one leg, John Lobb's may have never eventuated. As it was, young John left his parents' farm to take on apprenticeship with a local shoemaker in the hope that despite his disability, he would build a future for himself through the boot trade.

"My great grandfather had ambition", explains John Lobb, "and once he had learned the craft of shoemaking he didn't want to remain in a Cornish village, but decided that London with its lure of adventure and prospect of fortune was right for him. As far as we know he walked the 200 miles to London, despite his crippled leg, and once there went about looking for work in the more famous bootmaking establishments.

"One of the places he went to was Thomas's, probably the leading bootmaker of the day, where he was literally thrown out. After all, here was this country bumpkin coming to the West End trying to get a job as a bootmaker without a letter of introduction and nothing but the pair of shoes he had made to demonstrate his skills. but my great grandfather was a real character, I am told, and it is said that he shook his fist at the owner and said that he would set up his own bootmaking business and knock them all sideways".

Very little is known of the period immediately after this inauspicious beginning, other than the fact that John Lobb soon boarded a ship bound for Australia, following in the wake of his brother William who had already been lured there by the tales of fortunes made during the gold rush. John Lobb was one of the few whose dreams were realised on the goldfields - not by discovering a magnificent golden nugget, but by offering his services to the thousands of prospectors in return for some of their hard-earned gold dust or nuggets.

John Lobb walked off the goldfields a rich man without ever shovelling a single load of dirt. In Sydney's prestigious George Street he opened his first premises under the imposing title, John Lobb, Bootmaker. In 1857 he married the Harbour Master's daughter and fathered the first of his six children, two of whom were to die tragically young. As his reputation grew steadily, Lobb never relinquished his driving ambition to return to London and receive his just rewards. The tyranny of distance was not sufficient to silence his claim to be the world's best bootmaker and in 1866 he returned to London and opened shop at 296 Regent Street, supported by the fame and patronage afforded by his Exhibition win and the Royal Warrant, granted in his absence, three years earlier.

As the rest of the boot and shoe trade turned to mechanisation towards the latter half of the century, John Lobb turned his back on the Industrial Revolution and continued to prosper while many others failed. The quality of his handmade articles became legendary and he won many awards at exhibitions held around the world. In 1880, he opened his second London premises in St. James's Street, the famous address of jewellers, wine merchants, booksellers .. and one other bootmaker. Lobb opened his new store with a less than modest coat of arms set high above 29 St. James's Street, across from and in direct competition with his old adversary, Thomas's, who for many years had been the only bootmaker to boast such a prestigious address.

By the time John Lobb died in 1895, he had become, in the words of historian Brian Dobbs, "the best bootmaker in the world in his own times, and had seen the justice of his own obstinate belief in his own abilities proved beyond the shadow of a doubt".

Under the leadership of his son, William Hunter, Lobb's faced difficult times during the early years of the new century, William Hunter had attempted to expand the firm by opening a store in Paris in 1901, however it wasn't until 1913 that the business began to show signs of sustaining a profitable existence. By that time he had already been forced to sell the Regent Street premises and he would not live to see the revival of the firm as he died in 1916, leaving his wife and Tom Moore, whom the founder had appointed as a shop boy many years before, to nurture the firm through the war years. The Great Depression further eroded the business left by John Lobb and to make matters worse no-one had bothered to seek the renewal of the Royal Warrant since the death of George V and the firm faced total collapse before Eric Lobb, John's youngest grandson, took over the business.
Despite no training in the field, Eric Lobb set about instilling a new vision and drive into the firm, leading it through the ensuing war years and capitalising on the burgeoning American market of 1949. The business continued to prosper, maintaining its old world courtesy and tradition of service whilst flourishing under Eric's enterprising approach to the ways of modern business. Over the years he acquired Royal Warrants from the Duke of Edinburgh, Her majesty Queen Elizabeth Ii, and Prince Charles.

"My Uncle Eric is still the head of the firm", says John Lobb, "and he comes in from time to time, but not as much as he used to, so at present I'm doing some of the work he used to do; dealing with correspondence, or when I'm not doing that I keep busy in the shop taking measurements, or making the lasts upon which we create each shoe".

Every customer at Lobb's have their precise measurements taken by an experienced fitter who maps out every bunion and corn before passing the information to the last-maker who painstakingly handcrafts the wooden lasts on which the shoe will be moulded. So precise is the mould for the shoe that there is almost no need for the customer to try on the shoes for fit once they are ready.

Making shoes and boots to the highest possible quality requires training, and the craftsmen at Lobb's train for several years before working unsupervised at their individual tasks. Each craftsman has his own area of expertise, and it is this individual concern for quality work that gives their clients confidence in the finished product. Says John Lobb, "Many of our customers request the same craftsmen every time they order new shoes and this is an indication of the excellence of the work they do".

Leather of every possible description is selected from around the world and cut by a 'clicker' who takes into account the height and weight of the client when shaping the leather to the required cut and form. The individual pieces are then passed on to the 'closer' who fashions them together on the last before the moulded body is given to the 'maker'. It is this craftsman's deft hand at adding the sole and heel which brings the process to its completion, save for the meticulous inspection and polishing the shoes will undergo prior to the customer receiving them. Any flaws or errors and the shoes are rejected by the makers themselves. In this way no Lobb customer ever gets anything but a perfect pair of shoes, exact in every detail and feature.

"When our customers first come to us we take their measurements then discuss all the possible styles they might like to consider", explains John Lobb. "We may choose from amongst our models or the customers may make up their own styles. We spend time selecting the leathers, deciding on the thickness of the sole, the height of the heel and so on. Only when we know exactly what a customer wants to do we make the lasts, and the shoes follow from this. Ideally they come back to try on their shoes, but this isn't always possible as we receive orders from all over the world.

"Once a client has a last made they can simply ring us up from anywhere at all and we can proceed directly. We have customers in America, for instance, whom we have never seen here in London. They simply order their shoes via our representatives over there or ring us direct. Others may write to us with their order and leave the details to us. The final cost of a pair of our shoes will vary depending on the type of leathers used and the workmanship involved, however we try to keep one price for most styles. A pair of our shoes is about English Pounds769, boots cost a little more, as do strange or exotic skins. We make quite a lot of hunting and polo boots which require a specific technique because one needs to get the right size round the ankle in order to have the perfect boot".

While Lobb's do not specialise in orthopaedic shoes, they have been known to make special shoes on request for medical practitioners or people who find that for one reason or another they cannot buy ready-made shoes. In any respect, the one consistent feature of Lobb shoes besides their exceptional quality is their durability.

"Different shoes last different lengths of time depending on such things as how many Paris one has, how one wears them and the weight of the shoe initially", says John Lobb. "We have shoes coming back to us which are 10, 15 or 30 years old. A friend of my Uncle Eric in America has a pair of Lobb shoes which are over 50 years old. We also tend to make more of the walking or practical shoe, rather than the strict fashion shoe, although we do make court shoes or classical evening shoes. And we do make a lot of ladies' shoes to measure, and are probably the only firm doing so".

An important part of the Lobb tradition and signature is the continuing patronage of the British Royal Family, a patronage which even John Lobb admits adds a distinctive and respected mark of excellence and prestige to the firm's reputation.

"We do not actually need to see the Royal Family very much since we have their lasts here", John explains. "They are not extravagant in their tastes, but we would not hold a Royal Warrant unless we supplied them regularly with goods of some sort. Obviously I cannot discuss what we do for them, but we have made shoes for the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles. The Royal Warrant itself is granted to a firm to apply for a warrant which, once granted, gives the holder the right to display it. Currently there are 900 warrant holders in England, and each one is granted for a period of 10 years, after which it has to be applied for again and this of course obliges one to maintain a certain standard of excellence".

Even with such a tapestry of tradition and history behind him, John Lobb is very down to earth and practical about his own role in the firm and the reputation he carries on since first joining in 1953.

"I am pleased to be doing this work", he says. "It gives me enormous satisfaction to produce shoes which people find are very comfortable. I enjoy serving people and carrying on a craft. And I am often relieved to know that I am not in armaments or involved in the other horrid things that go on in the world today. It's nice to know one is participating in a gentle craft. I work in a nice part of London, and deal with customers who on the whole are very nice and I am thankful for that. It is the craft and the service and the actual carrying out of the work that is satisfying. People come to us to learn the trade because we are producing something unique. You can become involved in modern technology, but this is wonderful in that you work with your hands and do a variety of tasks. our craftsmen seem happy and satisfied with what they re doing and so I, too, am satisfied".

Faced with the almost total mechanisation of the shoe and boot industry, save for a few handcrafting firms such as Lobb's, John Lobb believes that traditional bootmaking has a good future as people will always appreciate fine workmanship and perhaps more so in the future as it becomes an increasingly rare craft. As such, John Lobb has refused to automate any part of the boot or shoemaking process.

"I think bootmaking will stay with us for some time yet. We have people in their 20's training with us now, something we didn't have a few years ago. When I joined the firm we had many people in their 60's, but now we have a policy of training young people and going out after business. The young members of our workforce strive to produce shoes to the exacting standards of quality we have always expected, and I see no reason why we shouldn't continue to demand the very best. While it is in the nature of our business to have a lot of older craftsmen, we have quite a young clientele now and our attitude is as always to give them precisely what they want; shoes that fit them properly.

"We don't make shoes by hand just because it is a wonderful ideal", he adds, "but also because it is the only way to meet individual needs - something machines just cannot do. And of course there are all these wonderful craftsmen who love to work with their hands and produce simply the most beautiful shoes".

What is just as important to John Lobb is the continuation of his family's tradition and name, and so his son's recent decision to join the business was a source of satisfaction and pride for him personally and significant in terms of the continuing history of the firm.

"He started with us only very recently", says John, "and he has begun just as I did, learning how to make shoes. He is good with his hands and so we will just have to wait and see how things eventuate. The advantage of a family business is of course the continuity. Staff members come and go and things change, but when there is a family link going through any enterprise, there is a certain continuity that might otherwise be lost. Cut the link and things are likely to disintegrate and disappear. So I do hope my son will take to the work and enjoy it and find it rewarding enough work to continue the Lobb name".

A moment later he adds, "That's the most important thing".