Many years back when I was living in London, I visited the John Lobb shop on Jermyn st and found this awesome pair of double monks in dark teal suede. I was immediately enamored with this shoe and probably would have bought it if it was not 5x out of my budget. I had seen teal in patina prior to this shoe but never in an actual pre-dyed suede or leather color. I immediately thought to myself, ‘why do we not see more of this?’ And then I actually searched for it in my own abilities as a shoe designer and found that outside of cheap leather for women’s shoes and whatnot, no high-end tanneries had anything in the shade of Teal. I imagine that John Lobb, being owned by Hermes, who owned Tannery Annonay probably had a special makeup created for this run of shoes. As I couldn’t find anything, I let the idea go…..until recently
In the last months, I have seen Teal coming back and what appears to not just be coincidental as it is coming from more than one maker and from more than one continent. As you see more and more of something you start to wonder about it more and more and come to conclusions about its presence. It has now shown up enough to make me think that it could be something here to stay or rather in this case, something soon to come. Like with all new ‘trends’ or ideas, the select few start it and then after the big boys see others doing so and liking it, they follow suit. My guess is that we will start to see it more often. Truth be told, and funny enough, I ordered a teal suede loafer for my SS2020 collection. Step 1. And while I imagine that there are only a select few who might incorporate it into their collections for 2020, I would imagine that 2021 will bring a lot more of this unique color to light in the shoe industry. Time shall tell….
Stay Safe everyone and remember to keep positivity high
-Justin FitzPatrick
