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Blog Home Style GuideThe Archive Collection

Edits | December 2024

THE ARCHIVE COLLECTION

In 2016, Grenson turned 150 years old, so we decided to celebrate by bringing back some of the classics. We looked into our archive and chose our favourite shoes and boots from the 20th Century. We have kept them as true to the originals as possible, while making sure they are wearable today. For example, back then - many of the shoes were incredibly narrow, so we widened them without losing the essence of the shoe.

 

The process started by developing new lasts for each style, some of which took four or five attempts as they were so different from modern shapes. We then had to source matching leathers and we decided that where an original shoe was heavily worn and polished, we would try to remake it in the way it would have looked when it was brand new. We didn't want to "distress" it as we felt this would seem unauthentic. Finally, we had to recreate many details that were on the originals, such as old logo stamps, hand stitched details and heel nailing - all of which took many hours of trial and error to get exactly right.

As you know we love to dip into the archive every now and again in order to reproduce some of our old shoes. This time we have chosen something that many of you wouldn’t think of as a Grenson shoe, but back in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s we were making some styles that were regarded as very on trend or “with it” in the parlance of the day!
 
So here is Shoe 13, a slip-on loafer made from high shine mock Hornback croc on a super slim sole and an elegant longer last. Back in the day, this was a big seller and while it won’t be up everyone's strasse, we are very proud that we have always pushed the boundaries.

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