World Championships of Shoemaking 2026 – Call for competition

For the World Championships of Shoemaking 2026 version, we have a chelsea boot as the model to be made. The final takes place at the London Super Trunk Show on May 9th, 2026. In the prize pool, the winners will take home £6,000 (€6,900 / $8,100), handmade shoemaking awls, and a chance to be showcased in shoe stores around the world. Read on for all the info about the contest.

The World Championships of Shoemaking 2026 is organized by Shoegazing, The Shoe Snob blog, and Kirby Allison, where the latter also financially supports the contest, together with support from the book project Master Shoemakers and Parker Schenecker (the brother of the co-founder of the contest, shoe enthusiast Edmund Schenecker, who passed away in 2021). The hugely successful contest has meant invaluable attention both for individual shoemakers and the shoemaking craft, for example, last year BBC World News covered it in a feature showcased for millions of people globally.

The first round was won by the German Patrick Frei, in 2019 the UK-based Swede Daniel Wegan took the title, 2022, Wataru Shimamoto of Japan won. In 2023, we had Frenchman Athanase Sephocle of Berluti as the winner. In 2024, Ken Hishinuma from Japan won. And this year, the German Louis Lampertsdörfer came 1st, Ken Kataoka 2nd, and Ken Hishinuma returned for a 3rd place. The top shoes in these contests have been serious masterpieces, definitely museum-worthy, and have again started a process of pushing the bar for what can be achieved when making shoes by hand.

Each year, the top three shoes go on a tour to about ten locations around the world. In Tokyo, they will be displayed at one of the largest department stores in the world, Isetan Shinjuku, in the Isetan Men’s building. The fact that shoe lovers around the world have the chance to admire the craftsmanship, and people who don’t know much about shoes have discovered what can be done, is an important aspect of the contest.

We’ve also had great media coverage through the years, both big and small shoemakers have entered, and it’s now well-established in the shoemaking community. Worth noting is that we who organize this make no money on it at all; everything we get from the partners goes directly to the prize sum, to the shoemakers. We do this for the good of the shoemaking community and to push and promote the craft. And it’s also up to good shoemakers to continue to put in the effort to keep this going as well as it has.

Around 100 years ago, there were numerous prestigious shoemaking competitions around the world. These competitions pushed the shoemakers in their craft, made them create amazing stuff which would not necessarily be ideal for actual use, but incredible as showpieces. With the World Championships of Shoemaking, the aim was to bring back some of this. And at the same time, we do our best to show the competition shoes for a wide audience, something that can be a positive thing for the industry and the specific brands/makers. And it’s been evident that placing high in the contest has meant very positive things for the makers in terms of recognition and new customers. For some, the contest has even been vital in making it possible for them to continue their shoemaking careers.

Now it’s time for the seventh round. Below, in the official call for competition, you can find all the details about how everything works, and for bespoke shoe brands or people who work with making shoes, how to enter the world championships. But to summarise it, the contestants will make a black chelsea boot, where the design of it is rather open this round, given that the elastics on each side of the boot will make the style inevitably similar in many ways anyway. It should have a leather sole, be hand-welted with handmade sole stitching.

The criteria that will be judged are the degree of difficulty and the execution of the making, the overall design/aesthetics, and – new for this year – originality. With the originality criteria, we want to award those who come up with new things and don’t copy too much from earlier contest shoes or take clear inspiration from special solutions from others.

The 1st prize is £3,000, 2nd £2,000, and 3rd £1,000, they receive one handmade awl by Phil Norsworthy, medals, plus all podium-placed shoes will be exhibited as usual in various locations around the world, similar to previous tours. When the contest is over all shoes will be sent back to the shoemakers and can be used as sample display shoes (for top three after the tour). On Shoegazing and The Shoe Snob and in our social media channels we will also showcase all entries in the world championships, and Kirby Allison will do films on the contest on his Youtube channel.

We hope to continue to get a wide variety of brands and shoemakers entering the competition this time as well. Both larger, more established firms and smaller less known one-man operations, which has been the case every year. To enter the competition, you need to register by sending an e-mail to [email protected] no later than January 31 2026. Any questions about the competition can also be sent here (do read the Call for competition found below carefully first, though).

We do know that there can be discussions on how this type of competition is set up and how it’s judged, but hope that most people continue to understand that what we do here and judge here is what is stated in this text below (for example, wearability is not a criteria, since it’s more or less impossible to draw the line of what is wearable or not, and it’s the craftsmanship of the shoes that are in focus since fit is more or less impossible to judge, and it’s not something that is especially thrilling to make a contest around).

In the jury who will review the shoes are several bespoke shoemakers and professionals within the industry, the preliminary jury members are shoemakers Jean-Michel Casalonga (bespoke shoemaker based in France, previously at Berluti but now runs his own brand) , William Laborde (bespoke shoemaker based in London, runs his brand Efe Laborde, plus do outwork), Emiko Matsuda (Japanese maker based in the UK, runs her own brand, previously many years at Foster & Son), Jim McCormack (one of the most well-renowned freelance makers in the UK shoemaking world) Sebastian Tarek (independent shoemaker who previously have done outwork for many of the London West End firms), Saskia Wittmer (bespoke shoemaker based in Florence, Italy), Daniel Wegan (previous world champion, of Catella Shoemaker), and Athanase Sephocle (also previous world champion, bespoke shoemaker at Berluti).  To also add a slightly different view, we have shoe experts Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob, and Kirby Allison of Kirbyallison.com part of the jury, and the sponsors who are making this contest possible (together with Parker Schenecker), Gary Tok, author of Master Shoemakers.

The final of the World Championships of Shoemaking 2026 will, as usual, take place at the next London Super Trunk Show, which is on Saturday, May 9th, 2026, at the regular spot Showcase.co on Regent Street just below Piccadilly Circus. Stay tuned for more info about the event in the Spring. The Super Trunk will, as in previous years, gather up to 15 exhibitors from around the world, hosting the final of the World Championships of Shoe Shining and the World Championships of Shoe Patina, among other events. Do mark May 9th in your calendars, book your flights, and so on. And as always, please help us spread the word about the contest!

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OF SHOEMAKING 2026 – OFFICIAL CALL FOR COMPETITION

Criteria for the shoe:
– Chelsea boot model, ankle high with elastics on each side of the shaft, 1-4 pieces of leather, decorative stitching, brogueing, punched holes, etc. are okay but not necessary.
– One left shoe, size UK8 (or corresponding size), maximum 2 width sizes up or down from an acceptable standard width. (NOTE: We will be more strict this year with the size and width. Following these guidelines, the risk of deduction for not following them is higher than before.
– Smooth black leather, box calf or aniline dyed, no patina.
– Leather sole.
– Hand-welted, handmade sole stitch. The shoe has to have a 270° welt, so there has to be a waist, and the welt with the sole stitching should go on both sides of the waist all the way to the back of the heel (although it can of course be a hidden blind welt at the waist).
– Black sole and heel edges, natural coloured bottom (decorations with, for example, wheels or nails are ok, but no dye or burnish).
– Finished inside the shoe, with sock lining, etc.
– No branding.
– Due to practical reasons, we will not remove potential shoe trees for the jury review, but the shoe trees won’t be part of the judging (we highly encourage making lightweight shoe trees, for practical reasons).

Errors with respect to the above specifications will result in deductions of points: 5% deduction of total points for small errors, a 10% deduction of total points for larger errors. If the shoe does not follow specifications at all, it can be disqualified. Jury decisions on the above cannot be overruled.

Competitors can enter both as a company or as an individual. All persons who have been involved in the making of the shoe should be stated, and the process(es) each person has made.

The criteria that will be judged:

Degree of difficulty (maximum 10 points per jury member)

The jury looks at how complicated construction methods have been used, how advanced they have been built, both in large and in smaller details, etc.

Execution (maximum 10 points)

The jury looks at how well the various parts of the shoe construction have been made, how neat and clean the work is, how well executed the level of finishing is, etc.