Ep. 16 - Rezső Kuti, Vass Shoes, about handmade shoes from Hungary
Description
In this episode I talk with Rezső Kuti of the Hungarian brand Vass Shoes, certainly the most famous shoe brand of the country, who've been making hand welted fully handmade shoes since the 1970's. Rezső worked as Sales Manager for the company for about a decade and built up its internationally successful MTO programme, he then spent a couple of years as Factory Manager for Heinrich Dinkelacker's Budapest factory and started the brand Passus Shoes, before re-joining Vass as Sales Consultant about 1,5 years ago.
We of course talk a lot about Vass, about the reasons for the brand's fame around the world, about the massive challenges that the covid situation has put them in and how they've run a lot of sales simply to not have to lay off their shoemakers and staff, etc, but also about the Hungarian quality shoe business in general, with a long heritage and a characteristic style as a base, where most still do everything all by hand.
It's time for another edition of the appreciated Question and answers specials, with Daniel Wegan of Catella Shoemaker. Daniel made a name of himself when he for several years ran the bespoke department at the English company Gaziano & Girling, now since some years he has his own bespoke shoe...
Published 10/20/24
For this episode I met up with Jim McCormack, a legendary bespoke shoemaker in England, who has spent over five decades in the trade. For more or less all of these years, he has worked as an outworker, doing bottom making for many different firms. England is the country in the world where the...
Published 05/26/24