Arkishuz

The Craft

200 steps. One pair.

Eight weeks, eleven hands and a workshop that has not changed its methods since 1987. This is how an Arkishuz shoe is made.

Fashion moves fast. We don’t. Every pair is cut, lasted, welted and finished by hand in one workshop, so it can be worn for decades, resoled and handed down.

The process

From hide to heirloom

  1. 01

    Selecting the hide

    We buy full-grain calfskin from two family tanneries and reject any hide with a scar, vein or uneven temper. Barely three in a hundred make the bench.

    Day 1 · 3% of hides accepted

  2. 02

    Cutting by hand

    Every upper is clicked with a round knife, following the stretch of the leather so both shoes in a pair crease and age identically.

    Day 2 · 11 pattern pieces

  3. 03

    Lasting

    The damp upper is pulled over a wooden last and left to rest for ten days, so the shoe remembers its shape long after the last is gone.

    Days 3–13 · 10 days on the last

  4. 04

    Goodyear welting

    A leather welt is stitched to the upper, then the sole to the welt. Nothing is glued that could be sewn, which is why every pair can be resoled again and again.

    Day 14 · 2 rows of lockstitch

  5. 05

    Finishing & patina

    Edges are burnished with hot irons and the toe is glazed by hand with wax, water and patience until the leather holds light like lacquer.

    Days 15–18 · 6 hours of polishing

Materials

Chosen to be worn in, not worn out

  • Box calf

    Chrome-tanned French calfskin with a tight grain that takes a mirror shine.

  • Reverse suede

    Water-resistant suede from the flesh side of the hide, soft yet hard-wearing.

  • Scotch grain

    Embossed pebble-grain leather that hides scuffs and shrugs off rain.

  • Oak-bark soles

    Pit-tanned for twelve months in oak bark for dense, flexible, long-lasting soles.

Workshop founded
1987
Steps per pair
200+
From hide to box
8 wks
With regular resoling
30 yrs

A good shoe is finished when it leaves the bench. A great one is finished twenty years later, by the man who wore it.

Arkishuz Atelier Master shoemaker

Care & resoling

Made to come back to us

Treat them well and they will outlast trends, jobs and cities. When the sole wears thin, our lifetime resoling service rebuilds them on the same last they were born on.

  1. Rest them

    Give each pair a day off between wears so the leather can dry out.

  2. Use cedar trees

    Cedar shoe trees hold the shape, draw out moisture and keep the lining fresh.

  3. Feed the leather

    Condition every month with a cream, then buff with a horsehair brush.

  4. Resole, don’t replace

    Send them home to our workshop. We rebuild the sole on the original last.

Now you know how they are made

Wear the craft

Explore the Collection Book a resole