Bespoke shoes at Josh Leong

Why it is on the list

Josh Leong learned the trade in Florence, first under Angelo Imperatrice and then at Stefano Bemer, where Kumiko Imata taught him bespoke making, measuring feet and cutting lasts; he opened his own house in Singapore in 2015.¹ Every pair is lasted by hand, welted by hand on a vegetable-tanned leather insole and finished with an outsole stitched by hand, with no synthetic part anywhere in the shoe.²³¹ For a bespoke pair he measures the feet in detail, has lasts made to those measurements and a fitting shoe made from them in the chosen leather, and corrects the lasts after a second fitting before the final pair is made; the lasts stay in the studio, so every later pair starts from the same fit.⁴ The design is open, and the leathers run from Ilcea museum calf and Tanneries Du Puy box calf to crocodile from Heng Long in Singapore.⁴⁵

It is the wrong choice for a visitor with only a few days in the city: bespoke needs at least two visits to the studio. The quicker route at the same bench is made to order: one fitting on one of the house's three lasts, in sizes EU 39 to 45, from a range of classic designs.⁴

How to get it

Write to joshua@joshleongshoes.com, or message the studio through its Facebook page, to book a fitting; visits are by appointment only, Monday to Saturday from 12pm to 6pm, and a fitting takes about an hour.⁶ Ask for a bespoke pair, not made to order. After the design and leather are chosen the studio sends a quotation, and work starts once a 50% deposit is paid by cash, cheque or bank transfer.⁴ Orders cannot be cancelled or returned, and no refunds are given.⁴ Finished shoes can be collected at the studio or delivered free to any address in Singapore, and they can be sent back to be resoled.⁴³

Discretion

There is no shop floor: the studio is on the seventh floor of Central Link on Jalan Kilang Barat and receives clients by appointment only.⁶ Josh Leong takes every fitting himself, and finished shoes can be delivered anywhere in Singapore.⁴