Custom made boots - help!

[sm]

Hi - does anyone have any experience of having a pair of thigh boots made for them, or any idea what I might reasonably be expected to pay for a pair of custom-made thigh or maybe crotch boots? I've been looking at some websites for shoemakers in London, but they look quite posh! Would I expect to pay as much as £1,000 for something like this? Anyone got any ideas, or advice where to look? Steve

[crotchboots-m]

check out www.thighhighboots.net ive gotten quite a few pairs from there. the quality is good and the prices are fair. the boots in my avatar are from there.

[Guy N. Heels]

Sorry, but if yer looking in jolly old London town then I can't offer much help. It sounds like a call for Dr. Shoe.

However, I would suggest that one approach might be a cost plus basis by which you offer/contract for the boots on a estimated fixed price plus a fair markup for profit. Another approach, which I actually prefer, is to work from a reasonable estimate of labor and materials. If the bootmaker is worth his salt, then he should be able to give you an accurate estimate of the materials and a reasonable estimate on his labor (assuming that you don't expect a lot of unusual artistic work on the boots).

Now I have absolutely no idea what labor and materials are going for in London. But here in the states $50 - $70 per hour (depending on level of expertise) would be a reasonable rate for labor. I am very hesitant to offer any sort of suggestion on materials because I've never even watched boots being made and I have no idea what is involved. But, obviously, the cost of materials will depend upon both the quantity and the quality used.

There are, of course, many other ways to approach the matter, so I was merely offering a few suggestions. Good luck to you.

[Dr. Shoe]

To have them made is going to cost you serious money... I'd settle for a ready made pair. However, you could try Jean Gaborit, they do custom made boots in as far as they make them to order from their own designs, the prices aren't too bad either and should cost you less than a grand...

[Guest Loveshiheels]

You could try Leatherworks in London

[teeza]

My husband has his boots made by Natacha Marro, House of Harlot, London. His recent ultra high thigh boots were about £550. Three week delivery.

[flavio]

I'm sorry I can't help you telling some place to go find your boots since I'm from Brazil. What I can say is that I have a pair of custom made shoes. They were very expensive, about US$200 4 years ago. A pair of good ready boots costs less then US$50 around here. The point is that the boots are worth every cent!!! they fit like gloves in my feet, they are more comfortable then any shoe I have (including the men's ones) and they are 5 inches high, very soft leather and the design was chosen by me and made exactly how I expected. My recomendation is that if you can pay the price and know a trusty place to do it, go for it!

[Mike Hinch]

Actually I am still working on that one my self. The current project is to construct spike heel lug sole knee high lace up no zip. While it is coming slow they are coming. After I get the lining sewn together I will need to make the last then wrap that in plastic and stretch the lining over and get it to shape then the middle layer and not worked out the details of how to attach the heel and sole but got some plans for that. Also making my ballet heels but that project is stopped for the moment. Now if there is anyone truly serious about custom made boots I still welcome anyone to get together and we can share the material cost and labor. Have already posted some pix of the lining partly sewn together.

[Dr. Shoe]

Amateur! LOL You're supposed to start with the last and make the lining and the upper from a pattern. I would have been kicked off my course had I tried to make boots like that!

[Mike Hinch]

As much as I have practiced French I know that word Amateur means that I am doing something that I love. As for the lining it is being made from a pattern. And that pattern was cut from the duct tape sample as shaped by the same leg and foot that it is intended to fit. While I could have started with the last first the material still needs to be procured. Also even if I did the lining would still be made from the lining pattern which does not require the last until all the sewing of the lining is complete. Thus-far it is coming slowly but is coming along. Anyone can stay off at a safe distance and laugh at my efforts but in an other year or so I will have my boots the way I want them to be.

[Dr. Shoe]

Yes I know. I've been looking at your pictures. What do you do about clearances, long heel length, toespring, vamp location point, lasting limits, spring offs, feather edges, cones and combs, and joints? It also looks as if you are putting seams under the seat of the last, how does that feel when you wear the finished article?

[Mike Hinch]

Well not really sure what to say about all of that. What do I do about clearances, This looks to me like a phrase peculiar to traditional shoemakers and I am not certain just what that means in this context but I can say that on most store bought shoes there is a lot of clearance at the middle of the bottom especially to the inside. This feature I do not like so my bottom will be foot shape. Any other clearances I guess I hope that they will clear as the mold for the last comes from a fiberglass mold of my knee down. As for long heel length, this will really sound stupid but I just now am not sure if if there will be a short heel so I guess they will be as long as I can make them. Now here is a good one, toespring. My plan is to have the entire frame stiff from toe to heel tip and I like this sort of shoe architecture from other HH shoes that I have and used and tested. The angle or radius or the specification for the toespring will be copied from another pair of HH that I have and possibly adjusted just a bit. Next comes vamp location point, well I am not sure if I plan to have that one because the entire shape comes from that fiberglass impression so it should be close enough. As for lasting limits, spring offs, feather edges, cones and combs, and joints? Probably let me know what those terms refer to and I will do my best to address those points of interest. Then comes the seams. While I did make some effort to keep the seams off the bottom when I cut my pattern to get it to lay flat that is where the seams came to and I know that this is not traditional shoe maker procedure but I want my boot to be foot shape. Just about all the store bought shoes I have the sides come down to the bottom and join in the corner while my foot has curves. The over all effect to joining the seams as I do is to get more foot shape and the shape is top priority and that sort of seam was not a problem on a previous creation however my other shoe creation did have one big drawback is that they were too comfortable so that if I had to wear some other shoes for some reason I just hated to change out of my creation.

[Dr. Shoe]

The long heel length is a measurement you must take to ensure that you can get pull on boots on and indeed off! A feather edge is the straight edge of a last that forms the bottom of the toe wall, without a good feather edge the shoes will look misshapen. I suggest that you take a look at how shoes are made commercially because the way you make them can lead to all sorts of problems, especially with a higher heel.

[Mike Hinch]

Been giving this some consideration about The long heel length is a measurement you must take to ensure that you can get pull on boots on and indeed off! From the pictures and particularity the description of the project but some of them may be hard to find of worse than that I may have sent some of that information to others in a privet message. Well I do try to not make things too privet. Anyway this project is the lug sole actually Vibram #100 with a spike heel probably no smaller than about .800 diameter at the tip. Probably not a straight taper but a curve. Open toe like a Courreges. Toes not sticking out only visible from the front. Unlike the Courreges my design will be front lace with no zip. So then if I find that I am unable to get them on then I would unlace some more. While I know that a true laceup makes putting on and off more involved this is what I desire. As for that other. A feather edge is the straight edge of a last that forms the bottom of the toe wall, without a good feather edge the shoes will look misshapen. The way that I plan to make what I am using for my last is not what a commercial shoemaker would use but more like Allen Murray would use. Now rather than to use Calcium Sulphate plaster I plan to use potters clay. On my last there are no straight edges. And as for looking misshapen that is not a problem for many shoe factories just look at all the pointy toes.

[Mike Hinch]

Today I made my fiberglass impression and am about to stuff it with clay. Things are coming slowly and in about a month I need to clear out from the shop where I hang out. There will be some transition and possibly I can continue making me HH boots at the music shop. Anyway I am about to make the left in potters clay just like the one in the picture only this is not ballet pointe.

[Mike Hinch]

Got a question for Dr. Shoe regarding the tongue. This will be good for a touch of humor in that I did not regard how I would arrange for the tongue when I started building. Well I am not regretting as if I were to plan everything completely I would be for ever planning and not building. So my question is how to attach the tongue. Possible method one is make the tongue from the same material red liner and black outside with the liner a bit wider and skive the edge for a smooth fit and sew the inner edge of the tongue to the liner before gluing the three layers together. This I was afraid to reveal but that is the plan for the boot top, three layers the first red liner in three parts about one third the way around each. The middle layer is not yet determined but possibly nearly half way around so that the seams do not come together, but crossing is permitted. The outer black layer will be more stretched into shape than cut to a shape that came from the duct tape pattern. The outer black will have one back seam and around to the front lacing grommets. Now I will seriously consider all of your reasons why I should not make them this way and then go ahead with my plan. The very few boots that I have made like this I really like. So we got three layers from the back to the front lacing grommets and the tongue attached by sewing to the liner before gluing. And plan #2 is to add an inch of liner from the grommet edge to replace the liner that will be used as part of the tongue. Either way will look the same from the front view. When laced there is planned to have about a half inch gap (12mm) and grommet spacing of about 600 to 700 mil (15 to 18mm) lots of close spaced holes are more sexy. Anyone else feel free to respond also.

[Shafted]

Mike, you just gave me a great design idea talking about the tongue. I do airbrush work (from my figure modeling) and was wondering wouldn't it be great to take a pair of boots and airbrush a design on them. Make the tongue look like an actual tongue, make teeth over the lacing eyelets with upper and lower lips on either side of the lacing. How awesome looking would that be?

[Mike Hinch]

Hard for me to visualize that one. The airbrush is a sort of delicate instrument and boots are a sort of heavy duty sort of thing but anyway let me know if you can make it work.

[Shafted]

Hard for me to visualize that one. The airbrush is a sort of delicate instrument and boots are a sort of heavy duty sort of thing but anyway let me know if you can make it work.

I'm thinking along the lines of some of the shoes by Ironfist with the crazy skull and zombie designs that one of our female members turned me on to. An airbrush is a delicate form of paint sprayer that allows for precise and variable control over the paint air mixture and spray pattern and is a great tool for spray painting with precision. I have had a few tees with airbrush art on them. I actually watched the airbrush artist create a t-shirt design just for me.