Son of the owner of  the historical shoe brand, George Glasgow Jr. continues to preserve the chiseled toe design unique to George Cleverley. Not only has George Cleverley received an excellent response for its craftsmanship over the decades, it has also carved a name for itself for creating the world’s finest shoes with the perfect fit and an ineffable style. He details the intricate process of bespoke shoemaking and shares with us about the brand’s exclusive rights to the Russian Reindeer hide that belongs to the Prince of Wales himself. Albeit charming, witty and fully passionate, it is George Glasgow Jr.’s humility that has earned our greatest respect.

Give a brief introduction about yourself and what you do.

My name is George Glasgow and I’m the CEO of George Cleverley, a family run business. The whole Cleverley family has been shoemakers for ages, George himself obviously, George’s nephew, my dad and myself. It all started in 1958 but the actual Cleverley name goes back over a hundred years.

We’ve been travelling to America twice a year every year for 35 years doing trunk shows at Beams, offering our bespoke services and ready to wear collections; and this year is our first year in Singapore. We don’t make tons of shoes because of the amount of hard work that is involved, but the market is still really big. Firstly, it’s because people are really starting to appreciate footwear and secondly, there’s no real competitor for us because of our shapes and styles.

Take us through the process of bespoke shoemaking.

It starts with taking all of the measurements of the customer’s foot – contours, support, and anything else that the person might have on his foot. We take all these things into account and when we go back to London, we build a last. Basically the idea of a last is to replicate your foot depending on the style that you have chosen. We usually recommend the lace-up for starters because it’s normally a better fitting shoe. From there, we discuss the style options with the customer so that we can cut the paper pattern, which is essentially the pattern of how the shoe is going to look like.

Once we’ve got the pattern down from the customer’s requirements, we start cutting the leather , and that’s where the clicking comes in and the shoe starts to take shape. The leather goes around the last, which is the individual customer’s measurements, and then its closed to give its the shape.

And then it goes into the making, where the bottom, which is kind of the foundation, is put in. After this is done, the shoe is sent to the customer for the first time. He will get to try it on, tell us what he thinks about the fit, style, look, support and if we’ve achieved what he was looking for. We wouldn’t be able to change the actual pattern at this point, but we will be able to change the shape, fit and a few other things. We then make the necessary adjustments from the last and then the shoe, and we send it back to London for the soles to be hand stitched on. After which the heels are built up, the shoes are polished and treated, the trees are made and it’s ready to go to the customer.

From start to finish, this process takes about nine months.

How about if it were for a repeat customer?

Well it’s not much different; it would still take about four to five months. But that’s because there are five people really involved in making the shoe; some people are very talented so they can do two parts (of the process), but normally it’s five people.  There’s so much handwork involved that even if all five of them were sitting next to each other, if the shoe went from person to person, it will still take probably about close to 80 – 90 hours for just one pair.

What’s the trickiest part when it comes to bespoke shoemaking?

It is understanding what the customer is looking for because there are some who like their shoes to fit like a glove, which is what we recommend; there are some who like them skintight, and others, just really loose. I always get customers who wear shoes that are way too small for them or they wear shoes that are falling out. So it’s about understanding what the customer wants or is used to because what we think is a good fitting shoe might not be what the customer is accustomed to.

George Cleverley has the exclusive rights to the ancient Russian Reindeer leather; how did that happen?

So from 1786, there was a brigantine sailing from St. Petersburg in Russia. In those days, a brigantine was like a cruise ship and this brigantine was piled high with Russian leather. The ship hit bad weather and it sank off the bed of Cornwall, England. When it sunk, the ship stayed there for almost 200 years.

So about 25 to 30 years ago, amateur divers who were looking for the H.M.S Harwich came across this brigantine-ful of Russian hide. It was so well made and unique; and very usable and strong. Since the rights to everything in Cornwall belong to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, the Prince of Wales have the rights to use it. So we met him and made the first pair of shoes using this leather.

Since then, the agreement was that this leather would never be put up for huge profits. The only difference between our regular leather shoes and the Russian leather shoes is the price we pay the amateur divers to go down and get it.

And how often do these divers visit this brigantine?

Well, for about two weeks a year the divers will go down and bring up as much as they possibly can, normally enough for maybe ten pairs or so. But of last year, the diving stopped. There’s still bunch of leather left down there but that obviously belongs to the Prince of Wales and maybe that will be down there for another 200 hundred years.

How different is it to work with this leather?

It’s a thicker, tougher material because back then, the idea behind it was “make it strong and make it last”. Whereas today, you can tan leathers in a few months, sometimes even quicker with dyes and other chemicals. During the old days, the estimated tanning process would take about three to five years. It was also because labour was very cheap, so they didn’t care how long it took to tan the leather; as long as it was strong and tough nothing else really mattered. So that’s why we have some customers who wear their Russian Reindeer leather shoes out for hiking or tracking all around the world, and they wear them to death. Others will put these shoes on a shelf and call it art. So, yes, it is definitely tougher than soft calf leather but its not exceptionally tough.

You’ve been in this business since you were 13 years old, watching your father at work and even traveling with him to trunk shows. How was that like?

It was interesting because as a young person I got to travel the world on a regular basis, which was very strange. Some people take a trip to America once in a lifetime but I was going there two to three times a year. I went to places likes New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, so that was kind of cool.

The best part is the people that I got to meet – well-educated people with great appreciation for top quality footwear and hand-made luxury products. So the people that I got to work with are amazing individuals; you never know who you’re going to come across. I’ve met a government politician and the head of an investment bank here, I’ve met doctors, lawyers and so many other people of different professions.

What do you think you would be doing if not for the shoemaking business?

Well, I went to the University of London and I graduated in Economics. So I did work in investment banking for a bit but I decided that I didn’t like it. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I’d be doing, but I would say that it would be something that involves working with people. I’m not really someone that can sit at a desk; I love to interact with people. So that’s why this is so great for me because I’m seeing clients everyday. But the downside is jetlag and a lot of traveling.

Speaking of meeting various people all the time, who is the most interesting person you have met?

David Beckham, only because I’m a football fan and I love watching him play. It was nice because I was invited to his house where I went over with my dad for some fittings and to discuss some styles. It was very personal, being his house, sitting in the living room and having a drink.

Do you still get nervous or anxious before you meet some clients?

Most of the time, no, because we do shoes for people like Ralph Lauren and Nicola Bulgari, who are very big customers of ours. But with Beckham, it was a little different. I was very excited to meet him because he had come into the shop a few times when I wasn’t around. So going to his house was my first interaction with him. He’s a very nice guy and he’s a gentleman.

There are only a handful of bespoke shoemaking craftsman today, do you think that this trade stands the risk of vanishing?

Well, it’s interesting because when my dad first started the business 45 years ago, we always thought that because there was so much handwork involved, either price or the lack of craftsmen would kill it. But we’re making the same number of shoes today as we did 20 years ago, and we’re very fortunate that in the last five years, people have been really interested in making things again by hand. The amount of internship and work placement requests we get is unbelievable. We even have some begging to come work with us for free just because they want to learn the trade. We’ve received requests from places like Hungary, Paris, Jamaica; just people from everywhere.

The roles have been reversed. Ten years ago, everyone wanted it fast but now we’re going back to what it was way back then.

Exactly. Ten years ago they wanted everything mass-produced. But you guys are right, it’s different today. Our clients wouldn’t want to walk into a store and see the same thing available to everyone else.

Also, they might also see a boot in the store and prefer it in another colour, but because the store doesn’t produce that style in his colour of preference, he will either have to buy it or not. So what actually happens is that the shop dictates what you buy. It tells you, this is my collection and you have to choose from that. But it’s the opposite when a customer walks into the George Cleverley shop (or trunk shows). He walks in, tell us what he wants and we make the shoes for him. We’ve even made boots for a lady.

What other kinds of shoes have you made for ladies?

We don’t make many and we are very selective in who we choose to make shoes for. But this lady’s husband was a customer and they were both very nice people. We used to make a lot for Twiggy but making shoes for women will remain as a few hand selected people.

What elements do you have to look out for in making shoes for women compared to mens’ shoes?

We don’t do anything with high heels or anything like that, so it kind of have to look like a masculine looking spectator. It would be a little different in a sense that the shape is different. We try to stick around the toe for the lady but in terms of the construction, everything remains the same; everything is all hand stitched and hand lasted.

What’s your personal favourite model in the George Cleverley collection?

That would be the Churchill.

Apart from George Cleverley shoes, what other shoes do you wear?

I don’t wear any other shoe brands. But I also wear Nike trainers, they’re probably the only other shoes that I wear.

On top of shoes, George Cleverley bags and wallets are also impeccably made.

Again, everything is made by hand and what we try not to let any skin go to waste. So if we make a pair of shoes, and there are bits of flanks, our craftsmen might use that to make a wallet or a watchstrap, which is kind of nice.

You travel very often. What does your luggage look like?

My case is very beat up. I always bring shirts and ties, and I bring a lot of shoes. I’m probably one of the only guys who likes to travel with six to eight pairs of shoes. There aren’t many guys who travel like that. But that’s because I never wear the same shoe twice in the same trip; I always make sure that I switch up. One thing that’s in there that is probably not my own brand or something that is not bespoke, is a Louis Vuitton watch bag that I have had for ten years. Otherwise, that’s pretty much it.

If there was one person that you could make a pair of shoes for, whether dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Michael Jackson. He’s one guy that I always thought would come to us. If he was still around, I’m sure he would have found us. I know friends that made him jackets and they have said that he loved handmade products. I’d be very curious to meet him because I know a lot of our clients have met him and they tell me these great stories about him.