A quick note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from Lodger Footwear.  We will be closing for a few days to spend time with our families and reopening on the 29th of December. 

Enjoy your holiday.

Our fabulous photographer Martin must have had a bit of time on his hands over the past week and put together a little slide show using photos from our English factory.  Think of it as a lighthearted stroll alongside the birth of a pair of Lodger shoes.  Thanks Martin!

http://www.martinphelps.com/lodgerslides/

A great big thank you to Nick Schonberger from Selectism on his recent write up.  It was great talking to someone that is as passionate about detail as Nick.  Our conversation stretched over a month or two and we got to dig deep into the Lodger project, as well as a couple projects of his own.  (Still looking forward to seeing that belt Nick!)

Please take a look for yourself. 

http://www.selectism.com/features/lodger-footwear/

Lodger Gift Certificates are now available to the value of your choice!

Please contact either Laura or Clement on 0207 287 5455 or drop into Lodger HQ to arrange the details.

A wee bit later than planned…but here are a couple of images of next month's Shoe of the Month from England; our Desert Boot!

 There are two schools of thought on origins of this style. A relative newcomer; the boot was initially worn by British army officers in the early 1940s on the North African Desert Campaign. They were non-issue kit so there is very little documented evidence of their conception. Some maintain that the Desert Boots were made by local shoemakers in Cairo; other sources believe the boot to be a version of the 'George' Boot; popular mess wear. After some pretty extensive research I am rather inclined to believe the second version…that officers based out in the desert; tired of their utterly unsuitable issued boots, had their shoemakers back home run up unlined lower-leg versions of the George boot; substituting dress calf for soft sand-coloured suede, and leather long-soles for rough; but light crepe.

 Our version is a two piece pattern; beautifully simple clean lines in biscuit-coloured suede, and remarkably comfortable due to its unstructured, unlined upper. I have substituted the typical stitch-down construction for Good Year Welt..and added an antiqued storm welt and waxed cotton lace. The Desert Boot is an ionic peice of footwear; worn notably by Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, and in chocolate brown by ledgendary SAS founder David Stirling.

Available in Jan 2009…..

-Annejkh

Am hoping to show you a sneak preview of our Desert Boot tomorrow. Our Northampton workshop is getting a pair down to me later today, and I'm pretty eager to see them. Those of you who came along to our party on the 27th would possibly have caught a glimpse of the final sample as it made a bit of an impromptu debut! We were lucky enough to have a military historian with us that night whose interest leans particularly in the direction of British Uniform; so it was great to hear his feedback (which was V.positive by the way!)

Just been putting the design for our Chelsea boot down into factory spec' form (see below left.) I'm a big fan of the sleeker low-cut version of this boot; popular with UK Mods in the early '60s rather than the stuffy higher-leg Victorian style. I'm hoping to get the Chelsea's out for Autumn 2009. Those of you familiar with our English Dress Wingtip will recognise elements of the boots' handwriting.

We've had plenty of requests for boots of all types in the last few weeks. The Desert boot comes out next month and February will see us launch a fine three-lace Chukka boot in rich oxblood from our Italian factory.

In the meantime you may be interested in checking out a project we are running with Real Real Genuine; a great storm-welted Northampton-made brogued boot in waxy tumbled leather. (see below right) available from www.realrealgenuine.com only…..

-Annejkh