2_0_DiscoverGermany_August 2015_Issue29:Scan Magazine 1

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LLOYD sticks to its lasts Since 127 years, LLOYD is passionately creating high quality premium men’s shoes in Germany, winning over customers from over 60 countries who particularly value the fit of the shoes from Sulingen in Lower Saxony. LLOYD shoes bear one trademark, the internationally recognised red stripe. And the secret to LLOYD’s success? Its own last workshop. TEXT: LLOYD | PHOTOS: LLOYD/JOACHIM VON RAMIN | TRANSLATION: EMMIE COLLINGE

Shoe lasts are the forms on which the shoes are made, and are subsequently removed at the end of the production process. As the foundation for every high quality shoe, they define the fit and are decisive when it comes to comfort and design. In a way, lasts can be seen as the ‘soul’ of the shoes, shaping the shoe’s life-long character. In classic shoemaking, lasts are made from wood types such as white beech and maple, which were stored for a long time. In modern shoe production, the wood has been swapped for synthetic lasts.To ensure these

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take the perfect form, LLOYD meticulously creates a prototype last by hand for every single shoe – and this with a production of 7,400 shoes per day. Originally founded in Bremen as the H. F. Meyer Schuhfabrik, the premium shoe manufacturer is based in Lower Saxony’s Sulingen since 1942. As one of very few German shoe producers, LLOYD has the luxury of having its own prototype last workshop. In this room, flooded with natural light and more reminiscent of an

artist’s studio, Hanne Claussen works. A trained bespoke shoemaker, she explains the value of her work:“We have a very direct decision-making process at LLOYD and supervise every step of the shoe manufacturing process in-house. This is carried out in close cooperation with our colleagues – from the initial idea right through to the wooden prototype. The internal building of the lasts guarantees a high quality result for the fit of any LLOYD shoe. It’s the tiny intricacies that really make or break a shoe.”Intricacies, that she feels with the tips of her fingers and with a rare combination of craftsmanship, intuition and anatomic knowledge turns into forms.“The rear part is devoted to how the shoe sits, and the fashion is at the front – I devote equal attention to both these aspects. Feet are as unique as people; so a comfortable fit is always a personal thing. Our claim is to