World Championships of Shoemaking — New York

1st Place: Louis Lampertsdörfer

This winning shoe is clearly inspired by old contest shoes, with a thin sole and a finely made horseshoe heel. The sole stitching is done at a whopping 30 stitches per inch. There is lovely inlay in the waist area, and super-thin 0.5 mm heel nails. About 200 hours were spent on the making.

Louis Lampertsdörfer is based in Munich. He was an apprentice and later worked in the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling in England. He has had several top positions in the contest before, the best being third place in 2023. Today he runs his own brand Mogada, offering both bespoke and a small hand-welted RTW range.

Raz Maftei did the closing of the upper, goldsmith Sebastian Schober made the buckles and toe tap, and the rest of the shoe was made by Louis.

2nd Place: Ken Kataoka

This is a charismatic shoe with plenty to admire. The closing of the upper is superb, and the heel is incredible. The shoe features beautiful metal parts and a narrow waist, which is made with a 270° welt. The buckles and metal details come from disassembled vintage jewelery, and match perfectly with the overall feel of the shoe. Ken made the entire shoe himself.

Ken Kataoka is a Japanese maker based in Tokyo. He has worked under the brand name Siroeno Yosui but plans to use his own name going forward. He trained partly at the shoemaking school of Noriyuki Misawa.

He runs one of the largest YouTube channels in the world, where he showcases shoemaking by hand. In 2022 he finished in second place.

3rd Place: Ken Hishinuma

This shoe, made by last year’s champion, is very classy, with a beautifully-made two-level welt with different sole stitch versions. It features hand-braided decoration seams on the upper, finely made heel lifts, and a gorgeous metal insert in the heel. Ken made everything himself, apart from polishing, which was done by Go Ishimi.

Ken Hishinuma runs the shoe brand Khish the Work, working in the Japanese woods outside Hokuto City, Yamanashi prefecture. The brand offers MTO and bespoke. Ken has one of Japan’s largest YouTube channels about shoemaking, called Crazy About Shoes.