Men buying shoes at the better end of things tend to get a bit technical and will start talking knowledgeably about ‘Goodyear welting’ or maybe ‘Veltshoen construction’.
In truth, most will probably have little idea what this means, but it’s all part of the mystique of ‘handmade’ shoes.
With this in mind perhaps, the newly opened Joseph Cheaney store on Henrietta Street in Covent Garden has a window featuring a drawing board with two shoes attached to a pegboard.
Next to this, graphics show the tools used to make merchandise of this kind.
Within, the left-hand perimeter features more male footwear on pegboards and more graphics showing shoe-making tools.
The mid-shop is a cantilevered bright white Corian table, which contrasts sharply with the browns and blacks of the sober-coloured shoes, while the back of the store is dark blue with a plain, two-seater sofa.
Not only is this store about taking the shopper back to the world of bespoke shoe manufacturing, it also offers a club-like gentlemen’s outfitters environment. All this, in preparation for the moment when the shopper digs deep.
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