The Shoemakers Happiness

One piece oxford with perforation

Museum calf navy

Twins

Regarding different specifications…..

This also changes the impression.

こちらも印象が変わります。

厚みは一緒なんですが…印象が変わりますね。

The thickness is the same, but... it gives a different impression.

Various bottom balances

Lazyman blind welt / vintage Bordeaux calf

I have a pair of boots that a friend of over ten years gave me, which had belonged to his grandfather.

Over the years, I have been gifted many old shoes with special connections by various people.It's not the best analogy, but when I look at these shoes, I sometimes feel as though I've taken on the role of a graveyard keeper.

Yesterday, the aforementioned friend visited the workshop with his eldest son.I was surprised when the once-small boy hugged me from head-over-shoulders height, yet the reunion after so long and the passing years filled me with deep emotion.

Whenever he visited, my friend would look at his grandfather's boots with evident pleasure, but yesterday he asked, ‘Ryota, I have a favour to ask. Might I let my son try on his grandfather's boots?’

Indeed, the boots fit his eldest son like a glove, leaving both the boy and his father visibly astonished. I found myself entertaining the perhaps overly romantic notion that great-grandfather might have waited for the day these boots would be entrusted to his great-grandson. At the very least, it was a fine afternoon, witnessing a glimpse of family lineage and experiencing a touch of surprise and emotion.