The design and comfort that a wooden last creates: chausser's "shoes you'll still want to wear 30 years from now"

chausser is a leather shoe brand made by Japanese craftsmen. Its shoes have a warmth to them even in their simplicity, and a comfort that feels like your feet are wrapped in soft leather. Wanting to learn more about the appeal of chausser, we visited the brand's shop in Ebisu.

About a seven-minute walk from Ebisu Station, at the top of a slope, you'll find chausser's shoe shop, plus by chausser. The store is divided into women's and men's sections on either side of the road, and this time we mainly visited the women's shop.

The moment you open the door, you're enveloped in the scent of leather. The interior has a somewhat classical, weighty atmosphere, and you can feel that care has gone into every detail of its decoration. The gleaming leather shoes lined up densely within seem to stand there with a certain pride. 

Thank you.

I asked a furniture maker I know to work on it with me. I had an image in my mind of the kind of atmosphere I wanted, and I conveyed that to him, but the women's and men's shops ended up with different feels.

(The women's shop has a classical feel using wood, while the men's shop has a somewhat industrial atmosphere with striking iron doors. Both were comfortable spaces where time seemed to flow at a relaxed pace.)

For women, there are four lines: chausser, plus by chausser, the comfort shoe line MUKAVA, and TRAVEL SHOES, which focuses on functionality. We add to the lineup each season, twice a year, but even combining all the lines, it comes to only about 14 to 15 styles. Some styles continue across seasons, and the ones that feel especially "chausser-like" we keep as long-term standards. 

What "design" means in a shoe

I make them with an image in mind like the people in the American painter Norman Rockwell's paintings, the shoes they're wearing.

Take this boot, for example.

This is a model that's continued since chausser's founding, a boot you could call the face of the brand—it's modeled on the boots a soldier wears in one of Rockwell's paintings.

I draw design inspiration from shoes worn in everyday life in old America, in the 1930s through the 1950s. Even looking at the shoes in those paintings now, I think they're wonderful, and I want to make shoes that feel right no matter how much time passes—shoes that make you think, "I want to wear these."

That's right. I myself sometimes find old shoes at secondhand shops and think they're wonderful, so I'd like to make universal shoes, unbound by era, that people would want to wear even if they came across chausser shoes at a secondhand shop 30 years from now.

I think it comes down to having a solid design for the wooden last. I believe 80 percent of a shoe's design is determined by the last—in other words, its form.

The quality of the last shows most clearly when you make a plain shoe. Whether a simple shoe with no decoration looks truly beautiful, whether it gives a refined impression—that all depends on how good the last is.

Of course, color paneling, decoration, and the type of laces are certainly part of the design too, but unlike clothing, a shoe has a small surface area, so if you only think of the visible elements as "design," what you can do becomes limited. But if you think of the form and the comfort as design too, your perspective changes.

The ideal shoe is one where the design of the last, the visible decoration, and the materials all come together as one and bring each other to life.

I'm always thinking about it, so it's less a matter of squeezing out ideas when it's time to release a season's designs, and more that most ideas come to me in everyday life. I store up ideas, and then when it's time to actually turn a season's pieces into designs, I pull it all together in just a few days. 

Mr. Maeda, the designer and owner who spoke with us. He stands at the shop and serves customers several times a week.

Dress: FilMelange / Cotton Dress

Backpack: vasco / NylonCross×Leather Old Daypack

The challenge of making women's shoes

We work with several shoe workshops, most of them in Tokyo. Each workshop has its own strengths in terms of shoe type and manufacturing method, so we ask whichever workshop we judge best suited based on the shoe's design and construction method.

Yes, there are. Women's shoes are especially difficult.

Men's shoes are relatively simple, so to speak—compared to women's shoes, there aren't as many lasts, so some can be produced on a line. But with women's shoes, a single craftsman takes on one shoe from start to finish, lasting it by hand, which requires more specialized skill.

The reason is that women's shoes have more variation in heels and forms, so it's more efficient for a craftsman to work by hand than to use machines. Even so, people who can make the shoes we want to make are precious. 

A beautiful form: the lace-up pumps

These lace-up pumps are made using chausser's original "Flex Fit construction." We asked our craftsmen to help us realize, through cementing construction, the cushioning of Bologna construction—known for its flexibility and enveloping fit—together with us. This is probably a construction method that isn't done anywhere else.

I hope so (laughs). One of its features is that the lining is lasted into a pouch shape, deeper than usual, creating a more fitted interior space.

A thick numé leather is used for the insole, which also enhances the cushioning. This numé leather is soft enough to be used even for shoe uppers. Normally, insoles for cementing construction are often made of layered, pressed paper, but we use numé leather instead so that it's gentler on the feet and gives better flexibility. 

Once you put your feet in, it feels as though they're wrapped in socks. The thick 5.5cm heel provides stability and reduces fatigue, and the fact that your foot doesn't slide forward inside the shoe when worn also contributes to ease of walking.

Dress: Yarmo / Smocked Dress

Bag: ARTS&CRAFTS / HORSE LEATHER DRAW STRINGS POUCH/S

The reason it feels soft from the very first wear is that the upper is made of high-quality, soft calf leather. It's an open lacing type, so you can make fine adjustments around the instep. 

With leather wrapped even around the heel, it has a refined, elegant presence.

For your first pair of chausser shoes, TRAVEL SHOES

That's right. We began selling them in 2016, and a year has passed since then. Lately, we get the impression that many people come to know the brand through TRAVEL SHOES. They have the feel and comfort of sneakers, yet the lace-up design gives them a properly put-together look too, so people tell us they can't find anything quite like them elsewhere.

The leather itself is distinctive. During the dyeing process, fluorine resin is worked into the fibers, giving the leather water resistance. Some leathers have a waterproof coating applied to the surface, but because that treatment sits on top of the leather, it tends to reduce breathability. The leather used for TRAVEL SHOES, however, keeps its breathability while still repelling moisture. And since water resistance also helps resist stains, it has the added benefit of being less prone to getting dirty and easier to clean when it does.

Shirt: ZUTTO / to be released soon

Skirt: FACTORY / Cotton Gathered Skirt

On days of heavy rain, like during a typhoon, if you end up walking through puddles, water can seep in through the opening or seams. But for ordinary rain, they can be worn without any problem. In tests done on the leather alone, it didn't absorb water even after being submerged for 48 hours.

I think many people prioritize ease of walking and end up wearing sneakers when traveling, but that limits how stylish you can be at your destination. You might not be able to go to dinner at a nice restaurant, for instance. Bringing along several pairs of shoes is also a hassle, so to remove those kinds of limitations, we wanted to create a shoe that handles comfort, weather, and appearance all at once. 

Of course, they can be worn not just for travel but in everyday life as well. Because of their clean, streamlined look, they can be worn for business too. 

Men face more restrictions than women when it comes to business shoes. With a suit, wearing leather shoes even on rainy days is basically standard, and that's exactly the kind of situation where TRAVEL SHOES come in handy. Since they feel like sneakers, they're also recommended for salespeople who are often out and about. 

Fitting Check Points

It depends on the type of shoe, but shoes that cover the instep tend to fit relatively easily.

You should check whether the shoe stays properly on your foot when walking, so if you need to curl your toes to keep the shoe from slipping off, it's no good.

For shoes with a deep vamp or lace-up shoes, insert your foot all the way to the front, and if there's just enough room at the heel to fit the tip of your index finger's nail, that's a well-fitting shoe.

Pumps with a shallow vamp are trickier, but please check whether the base of your big toe and little toe are firmly held in width when you put them on.

What I notice while standing in the shop is that more and more women these days have a low instep.

When the instep is low, the upper part of the pump can't hold the foot properly, so the shoe tends to slip off when walking, or the heel doesn't come along and flaps loosely. If the length is a good fit, I recommend adjusting by inserting an insole only in the front part of the shoe.

When the sole has good flex, it's easier for the heel to follow along, so we take that kind of manufacturing method into account, and we also narrow the heel area. Since pumps are meant to be worn by holding the width at the base of the big toe and little toe, and holding the back at the heel, it's important that those three points fit well.

No matter which type of shoe you're trying on, please put both shoes on, stand up properly, and check the following four points.

・That your toes are properly extended

・That your toes can move

・That the base of the big toe and little toe fit well (no extra width, but not painful either)

・That the heel fits well (no feeling of being pushed from behind) 

This time, we also asked Maeda-san about caring for leather shoes.

Yes, if a rain stain forms, that method is effective for blending in the stain. Wet a towel with water, wring it out firmly, then wipe the entire shoe—including the stained area—to dampen it evenly, so there's no difference in color between the stain and the rest. After that, let it dry thoroughly in the shade, then apply leather shoe cream.

By the way, if the stain or dirt is from mud or oil, it may be difficult to remove. In any case, it's important to deal with it quickly.

If you wear a pair of shoes two to three times a week, it's good to care for them about once every two weeks. Remove dirt with a shoe brush or cleaner, then apply leather shoe cream.

It's not the case that more care is always better, so please consider it alongside how often you wear the shoes and how dirty they get. If you apply too much mink oil or similar products, the leather can become too soft and lose its shape, so it's also important to check the condition of the leather regularly. 

On the day of our interview, the leather shoes Maeda-san was wearing had developed a lovely worn-in character, yet they were beautifully cared for, and it was clear at a glance how much attention had been given to them. The beautiful chausser shoes, crafted through human hands, have a presence and atmosphere that makes you want to keep wearing them for a long time, just as they are. 

▼ You can find the full list of chausser products here