John Lobb Bootmaker

John Lobb Bootmaker is a company which manufactures and retails a very exclusive luxury brand of shoes and boots mainly for men, but also for women. It is based near St James's Palace, London. Founded in 1849, Lobb is one of England's oldest makers of bench-made shoes, worn by clients such as King Edward VII, famous 20th century opera tenor Enrico Caruso, and actor Daniel Day Lewis. At Lobb, special care is taken to select the fine leather skins - with crocodile skin shoes for about USD 8000 at the top of the range. One of John Lobb's main competitors is G.J.Cleverley, a bespoke shoemaker, based in Old Bond Street (London).

Hermès acquired John Lobb in 1976. It took over all operations except for the original John Lobb shoe shop in London. The original, family-owned Lobb still handmakes shoes one pair at a time, while Hermès broadened the reach of the John Lobb brandname through its ready-to-wear line. The production of each pair of John Lobb shoes is so time-consuming that only about 100 pairs of shoes are finished per day.

Hermès' John Lobb shoes are available in both ready-to-wear and made-to-measure. Its motto is "The Bare Maximum for a Man".

Hermès' John Lobb shoes are sold in its own boutiques or in luxury department stores such as Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman, Selfridges, Neiman Marcus and Lane Crawford.

A pair of bespoke leather shoes costs over £2000.

External links

* [http://www.johnlobbltd.co.uk Original John Lobb Bootmaker official website]
* [http://www.johnlobb.com John Lobb owned by Hermès official website]