You know you’ve officially reached Shoe King (or Queen) status when a luxury brand has a pair of lasts in your name.

For those not quite in the know, a shoe last is made according to your foot’s exact measurements and is used whenever you commission the brand for a pair of bespoke shoes. 

Even if you know the terminology, and even if you are fortunate enough to get bespoke shoes made, you might not know exactly what the bespoke process entails. 

In this edition of our Atelier series, we spoke to luxury brand Corthay and went behind the scenes to discover what happens when a shoemaker creates bespoke men’s shoes for its clients