From London to Melbourne – The Making of Christian Kimber

I remember when I first started working on Savile Row. I was fresh & naive and I did not really know anyone in the industry outside of Carreducker. They had told me about the owner of then Lodger, being American (from the NW like me) and friendly, and offered an introduction so that I could start making contacts and just getting to know people really. So I emailed the owner, told him that I would love a chat when he was free and thankfully he agreed. Soon after, I found myself venturing to Lodger to go make acquaintance. As soon as I popped in, I was greeted by Mr. Christian Kimber and the first words he said to me were, ‘hey aren’t you The Shoe Snob guy?’ It was the first time I had ever been recognized, so needless to say I was quite shocked. I said ‘yes’ and we introduced ourselves by name. He told me (clearly as he was working in a shoe shop) that he was really interested in footwear, particularly design and was thinking about branching out one day to do his own thing. It was nice, because here were two young men with vision of doing great things, and this made me happy, as I felt that Christian was exemplary model of style and would do well if he kept up at it.

Not long after we met, Christian had told me that he had decided to move to Melbourne to see about working more closely with some shoemakers out there and continuing his knowledge of the industry. It would appear that this idea got kind of side-swiped by fate and he found himself working at a gentleman’s style shop, instead of along side some shoemaker….we continued to chat via email and I remembered at one point, he seemed to have given up the idea of starting his own line. I remember being a bit disappointed as I was eager to know his capabilities and see how he would create a collection with his quirky yet elegant style. After a year had gone by and a few Pitti Uomo shows that I saw him at in the picture blogs, I came to find that Christian was back on his original plan, about to release a collection of fun loafers and chukka boots. Needless to say, I was happy of his return to the shoe industry and eager again to see what was going to come of it. Well, that day just happened not long ago and I am pleased to say that Mr. Christian Kimber is now up and running and taking orders!

His collection is quite intimate in size yet grand in execution. His offering of fun, smart loafers and colorful chukka’s are a refreshing take on what can sometimes be very straightforward styles. The contrast tassel is right up my alley and I love the entire range of chukka’s, and would personally have each and every one of his shoes, rocking them with pride!! I am happy that this day has come and that another young kid like myself has made something grand from a simple idea and executed it right. I wish him all the success in the world and hope that all of you can do what you do in order to support him as well!!