Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Crockett & Jones

A year ago or so, I walked into a gentleman's shoestore offering classic English bootmaker Crockett & Jones. I was looking for a pair of black Jodhpurs, but the styles on offer were not really to my liking. I was looking for more of a 70ies round-nosed look. No problem said the salesperson, who invited me to his office. There he produced Crockett & Jones catalogues dating back to pre-war days.

He informed me that Crockett & Jones could still produce one-off pairs of boots or shoes from past collections, since they keep an archive of all the mandrels and molds of their old styles. The boot would be a standard size - eight and a half in my case - not made-to-measure, but if would be a boot identical to the boot produced decades ago. Not a reproduction, not a copy, but the real thing, produced by Crockett & Jones with the same mandrels, molds and tools. This service was priced accordingly, approximately at regular retail price plus fifty percent.

I chose a pair of black 1972 Crockett & Jones Jodhpurs that set me back five hundred euros, with a three month delivery time. Well worth it. I have now worn the boots for one winter season, and they're absolute heaven.

http://www.crockettandjones.co.uk/

1 comment:

  1. Howdy,

    Bij dit schoenenmerk denk ik altijd terug aan ons gezamelijk bezoek aan een van de beste schoenenzaken van Nederland van een jaar of 23 geleden. Toen paste ik een paar en dat zat toen ook fantastisch, misschien wel beter dan Greve.

    Daarnaast denk ik ook aan Crockett and Tubbs, de helden van die tijd. Ze droegen alleen geen brogues, maar wel leuke jasjes met een T-shirt eronder. Stijliconen van die tijd; gekopieerd door sommigen....

    Crockett and Tubbs - is dat geen leuke naam voor een vrijetijdsschoenenmerk - of zou dat problemen geven ;-)

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