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The personal last Basically the last is the inside form of the shoe, over which the shoe is built. If one poured plaster into the finished shoe, it would be a copy of the last. It is made of hard wood, for example white beech, and is made exactly according to the form of the customer’s foot at the bespoke shoe-maker. The making of the last is thus the very beginning and the heart of the made to measure shoe. A made to measure last therefore fits a certain foot, but is not simply its stereotype. In some places it is thinner than the foot, and in others it has more volume. Equally, the outline and the profile are not the same as that of the foot. Basically one can say that from the heel to the tip of the toe, the same rules apply as with the orthopaedic last construction. The tip of the shoe gives the last maker room for creative variation in beauty, fashion and taste. The last determines the shoe. Every mistake made on the last can be found in the finished shoe, and apart from tiny mistakes of about a millimetre, no more alterations can be made to it. In this way we are different to the bespoke tailors. Their alteration capacity even on the finished article is much greater. In good firms the making of the last is master’s work, and is carried out with greatest care. Every shoemaker is proud of his lasts, meaning he builds them in his way, on his line, with his fitting-form, his personal taste and his signature. His whole creative skill is expressed in the last. As the customer’s foot is the basis of made to measure shoe-making, shoe size and width are unheard of. The right and left shoe are never the same either, but as similar as possible, thus imperceptibly different. Once a pair of lasts are perfect, then roughly 40 pairs of shoes can be made on them, by which time they are irreparably worn to shreds and have to be replaced. For the making of a pair of lasts, the last master takes between 6 and 15 hours. |
