Scotch Grain Calfskin
Full Wing-Tip Brogue Derby
Hand sewn, Bespoke-Custom Made – Circa 1990
by Hong Kong’s great traditional master shoemaker
Lee Kee
This shoe is Lee Kees answer to Florsheim’s “Golden Harvest” model.

The old Asia hands among us will remember Lee Kee, the custom shoemaker in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. Their shoes represented the height of luxury, not to mention prices, and they specialized in exotic reptile leathers, alligator, crocodile, lizard, snake and the forbidden giant sea turtle, listed elsewhere in the website. I have no doubt that somewhere in the outer districts of the city Lee Kee’s workers were eating what did not go into the shoes, but we were spared that sight in his pristine showroom in the Peninsula. Since the 1950’s and the occupation of Shanghai by the Red forces, Hong Kong, long the Eastern outpost of the British Empire, became the Mecca for tailoring, dressmaking and shoemaking to the European trade, and the premiere destination for exacting shoppers in the Orient. Lee Kee, occupying the most prominent shop, in the most prominent location in the most luxurious hotel in Hong Kong, naturally garnered much of this elevated trade. And deservedly, his handwork is a testament to the skill of his workmen and this present shoe is a prime example of bespoke shoemaking at its very finest.

This shoe is made to measure, bench-made, with split reverse welt (storm-welt) and a hand sewn, channeled sole. (See close-up of hand sewing.)