The winning shoes from the World Championships of Shoemaking arrive at the Bridlen store in Chennai

A shoe may be worn every day, chosen for style, or picked for comfort. But what truly makes a shoe worthy of the World Championships of Shoemaking? It is far more than its overall aesthetic — it lies in the precision of its micro-stitches, the fineness of its cuts, and, most importantly, the quality of its leather.

The recently held World Championships of Shoemaking showcased exactly that. The top three shoes were selected by an international jury and unveiled at the London Super Trunk Show 2025. After travelling all over the world at acclaimed bespoke stores, the shoes have finally arrived at the Bridlen store in Chennai, where they will be held on display till December 7.

The annual event, started in 2018 by Shoegazing (a website run by Swedish journalist Jesper Ingevaldsson who is an authority on men’s classic shoes) and The Shoe Snob (run by former shoemaker Justin FitzPatrick) in collaboration with blogger Kirby Allison and the Master Shoemakers book project. This year’s focus was a cap toe double monk strap model, with two straps made of the same piece of leather that covers the facing, attached to two buckles. 

This year’s first prize went to Louis Lampertsdörfer from Munich, Germany. What makes his shoe stand out is a thin sole with the stitching done at an impressive 30 stitches per inch. The second prize went to Ken Kataoka, a Japanese maker based in Tokyo. The third prize went to Ken Hishinuma from Yamanashi prefecture, Japan. Even for a seasoned shoemaker, securing a spot is not an easy feat.

The overall criteria involve — degree of difficulty, execution, and design or aesthetics.
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According to Shoegazing, some of this year’s key requirements were a ‘leather sole, dark brown sole and heel edges, and a natural coloured bottom.’ The overall criteria involve — degree of difficulty, execution, and design or aesthetics. 

Aaffan Mohamed K, owner of Bridlen, which was also one of the title sponsors of the championship, says, “These shoes are typically not designed to be worn, but they are more designed to show craft. The idea is to preserve the craft of shoe-making because it is a dying craft.” 

By projecting the shoes in India, Affan wants to bring back some of these crafts in his own company. “Like any production process, this process is what we call industrial simplification. Originally, soles were built layer by layer, but with new technology, it became possible to make the entire sole separately and simply attach it to the bottom — it’s faster, more efficient, and offers better value to the customer.”

“I want to take that back, the old school way of shoe making, and see how we can reverse engineer this process. So, we can reintroduce it to factory-made shoes, in an attempt to revive the craft” he further adds.

The 2025 World Championships of Shoemaking shoes will be on display at the Bridlen Labo, 21 Venugopal Avenue, Chetpet, till December 7, from 10.30am to 6.30pm.