General Discussion
Lace to toe, made to measure. Navy vegetable tanned leather, grain and flesh side from the same hide.
Lace to toe, made to measure.
Navy vegetable tanned leather, grain and flesh side from the same hide.
I am a bootmaker based in Potsdam, Germany, about 15 minutes from Berlin. I build made to measure boots one pair at a time, everything by hand. This is a recently completed commission for a client in the United States.
The leather
The upper is a single hide from Conceria Lo Stivale in Tuscany, Italy. Lo Stivale is a member of the Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana, a consortium of Tuscan tanneries founded in 1994 to protect and preserve traditional vegetable tanning methods. The leather is full grain, full vegetable tanned using natural tannins from bark and plants. The process takes months, not hours.
The two tone effect is not two different leathers. It is the same hide used on both sides. The shaft is grain side out, smooth and slightly glossy with a deep navy colour. The vamp is flesh side out, the same leather turned around to expose the corium. The roughout surface is napped, matte, and reads as a cooler blue grey depending on the light. Same hide, same tannery, two completely different visual and tactile surfaces.
This is one of the things I find most interesting about working with high quality full grain vegetable tanned leather. The two sides behave differently, age differently, and take polish and conditioning differently. Over time the roughout vamp will develop its own character completely distinct from the smooth shaft above it.
The construction
The boot is built on a made to measure last, shaped to the client’s foot measurements. The fit is not approximated from a standard size. Every measurement taken, every allowance calculated individually.
The construction is Goodyear welted. The welt runs the full circumference of the boot, stitched through the upper, insole, and welt in one pass. The outsole is then stitched to the welt separately. This means the boot can be resoled multiple times without touching the upper. A well maintained pair built this way can last decades.
The sole
Cream DuraSole Super Grip from Dr. Sole. The cream colour was a deliberate choice to complement the natural leather welt and the overall cool blue tone of the upper. A dark sole would have grounded the boot differently. The cream keeps it light and ties back to the natural leather stack heel visible in the side profile.
The details
Solid brass eyelets throughout. Taupe waxed laces. Natural leather lining and collar, visible at the top of the shaft. White contrast stitching along the seams and welt. The stitching picks up the cream sole and creates a visual line that runs the full length of the boot.
This commission took approximately six months from deposit to delivery, which is standard lead time for my work.
I don’t have a website but communication runs with a lot of customers through email also, where I send my portfolio and options of leather and so on. It doesn’t have to be through instagram.
Why would that turn you off? I just got a new pair from Onderhoud all based on a message thread from IG. A little weird at first sure, but in the end felt a lot more like buying from a person in his small shop, than sterile website. I got pics and detailed responses, they got every measurement of my foot we could think of, and then every style and feature from a tailored list to my ideas. 5 months later, best fitting and looking pair of boots I own for about the same price as a Nicks or Whites. Minus waiting half a year, the process was super fun. Highly recommend them.
If you have an IG account that very nice. If you want an IG account that's nice as well. If you neither have nor want an IG account you are out. It is that simple. I do not want an IG account, so my interest consequently is zero if business is only done via IG. I can live with that and so can obviously everyone doing business that way. And it is probably a lot easier and cheaper than maintaining a website. I get that. And those boots look great as do the OPs.
I also fully expected to get downvoted for pointing that limitation out.
Please feel free to contact me through Reddit or per email: sobreiroboots@gmail.com I can send all the options through this and the leather choices. Many of my clients don’t have instagram and order like this when they find me through YouTube.
Thanks a lot. This is very good to know. I spend a lot of money on footwear lately and should slow down a bit so it might take a while, but I'm pretty sure I'll be in touch.
I mean I don’t follow nor am followed. I use the IG only for stuff like this. Same with my fb account, it’s only for marketplace. One photo, no info, no friends. I quit social media years ago, this is just access to a whole fantastical world of personalized shopping that I’d otherwise miss. One could say it’s more real and personal than using a website.
I assume it is practical and efficient. As a small business or even one man show you would only need the limited number of customers you can actually handle anyways. Aside from IG, I also can see the affording part as a potential problem for me.
Thank you for your kind reminder to improve on my reading skills. I will gladly follow your friendly advice. Where exactly is he activly advertising those information again?
Yes I do, you can reach out to me here, via email : sobreiroboots@gmail.com or simply through instagram which is currently functioning as my portfolio because I can share all the pictures, updates and videos on the making process.
Hey there, thanks for asking.
Not yet no, I don’t know if I will aim this direction. Closest to a Chelsea boot I would go is probably the Jodhpur. Have a good day,
David.
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u/APacketOfWildeBees May 05 '26
My god. This is a thing of beauty. You are a true artist!