Our Cobbler-in-Chief, Tim Cooper, is 50 this week and to celebrate he’s chosen his eight favourite Oliver Sweeney products.





Vear Brown – Vear is the epitome of the shoemaker’s craft. I spent hours getting the pattern right on this shoe. A wholecut shoe made from a single piece of leather with only a back seam. The upper material on this shoe is tamponato leather. This means the leather starts life as natural leather and has the colour applied in layers to give the patina of antique furniture. It’s then finished with an amazing natural leather sole and a beautiful brass plaque. 

Edward Grey – I love the pared down simplicity of this style. It looks great with jeans. A plain derby suede upper, a Goodyear welted construction on the amazing Fin project extra light sole. I wear this shoe on a daily basis and can’t remember another as stylish and as comfortable.

Allen Brown – Simple, yet stylish. This Italian made cup sole trainer in fantastic Sioux leather comes from my favourite Mangusta tannery, a real craft tannery, in the heart of Santa Croche in Tuscany.

Granville Black - A luxurious leather, Gladstone bag perfectly sized for overnight trips. Unlike a normal weekend bag, the Granville is deeper in proportion to its length, and built over a rigid frame which opens and shuts like the jaws of a crocodile. I love the fact that when I’m moving around on my shoemaking trips I don’t have to unpack the whole bag to find something.

Cullen Navy – The thing I love most about this jacket is that it’s inspired by industrial heritage – it almost looks like a factory coat. So practical to wear, yet so comfortable. The jacket’s made in a small artisan factory in Puglia one of my favourite parts of Italy. I love it so much I have this jacket in both the navy and the cream.

Madeira Tan – As I spend most of my time in jeans a great jeans belt is really important to me. I love the single piece construction – the vegetable tanned leather and the oversized brass buckle. I recently lost my favourite belt which I’d had for over 20 years and the Madeira has been the perfect replacement.

Strong Black – Just how I like my coffee when I’m in Italy! The aluminium frame makes them light but practical and I love the anodised finish which I think gives them a very modern look.

Emilia Blue Ink – We wanted to pick up on the whole menswear trend of ‘in vogue with the brogue’ and yet make a feminine shoe using a men’s construction. Every girl I know who has a pair of these, tells me they’re the most comfortable shoes they’ve ever had.

On such a rainy day we were worried our AW12 Press Day would be a bit of a washout. Would anybody brave the wind, rain and hail!?
Well brave it they did. We had a fabulous turn out of bloggers, stylists and editors which kept the Oliver Sweeney team busy from 8.30am to 6.30pm!
The AW12 collection is inspired by the fine wines we enjoy with our Italian colleagues from our family run factory in the Marche region. This means rich colours and deeper shades with a few eccentric designs thrown in too – perhaps after one too many glasses!!!

One style that caught the eye of many yesterday was Santo Gold – our little acknowledgement to that rather big sporting event this Summer! Our collaboration with designer Matthew Miller definitely attracted attention with the different designs and prints and we had great feedback on the Santo and Salento styles with their two-tone rub off leathers.
Our Tattooist-in-Residence was also instore tattooing designs on triangle wallets to make them truly unique for our guests.
All in all a fantastic day showcasing what we do best and a chance to catch up with friends of the brand.

Here are some photos from the day

100 Days To Go - Oliver Sweeney shoes inspired by Olympic athletes


Christie

Linford Christie OBE
At 32 years old Linford became the oldest Olympic 100m champion by four years and the first European to break the 10-second barrier running the final in Barcelona in 9.96s. He’s the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

A wearable two tone option has meant the press have raved about the Christie and it comes in brown and black.




Jackson

Colin Jackson CBE
Colin won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion three times, went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was a two-time Commonwealth champion. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for over a decade, and he is also the 60 metre hurdles world record holder. He’s now an Ambassador for the Jaguar Academy of Sport committed to mentoring and inspiring a new generation of British sporting heroes.

A beautifully simple lace up with soft leathers and subtle detailing; Jackson is a real all rounder.





Edwards

Jonathan Edwards CBE
At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 he walked away with silver having jumped the longest ever jump not to win gold. Four years later in Sydney he won gold and was awarded the CBE shortly afterwards. He also won golds at the World Championships and 2002 Commonwealth Games. At one point in 2002, Edwards held all the gold medals for the "four majors". After the 2003 World Championships he retired as Great Britain's most successful medal winning athlete.

A perfect choice for summer the Edwards is a simpler version of its cousin Abrahams.





Halswelle

Wyndham Halswelle
Wyndham won his Olympic gold medal in controversial circumstances in London 1908. The initial final race was declared void after the umpire Roscoe badger shouted “Foul” as Halswelle’s competitor John Carpenter blocked him, intentionally or not, with his elbow. The race was ordered to be rerun in lanes two days later without Carpenter; however, the other two U.S. runners refused to race, so Halswelle ran the race by himself to win the gold in a time of 50.2s. It is the only occasion in Olympic history where the final was a walkover and as a result from the next Olympics in 1912 all 400 metre races were run in lanes.

With a crocodile print insert the Halswelle certainly looks the part; one might almost say snappy!





Bannister

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister
Despite finishing just outside the medals in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Roger Bannister went on to set the first sub four minute mile in a time of 3 min 59.4 sec.

The Bannister is a relaxed summer shoe with a unique 's' broguing pattern and washed leather sole. Available in an array of spring colours we’re sure you’ll find one that suits your mood.

Oliver Sweeney Meets Mikill Pane

Busy recording tracks with Paloma Faith and featuring on Ed Sheeran’s No.5 Collaborations EP, we were flattered Mikill Pane took the time to take part in our Oliver Sweeney Meets Series. Already well known on the London music scene his career is starting to take flight, recently appearing on Channel 4′s ‘Random Acts’ and being given airtime on Radio 1 by DJ Huw Stephens. He loves Oliver Sweeney shoes so much he even mentions them on his latest track with Paloma that will be released on April 22nd.

How do you walk your own path?
It’s a very subconscious thing.  I don’t actively try and be different to anyone else, or try and be consciously unique.  It just so happens that everyone has their own sort of blueprint...creative fingerprint...and I always stick to that.  I very rarely listen to rap music, so even though I rap, I don’t sound like other rappers consciously, by virtue of the fact I don’t listen to other rappers.  I don’t wake up in the morning and try and be different to everyone else, I try and be myself and portray that creatively, and it has seemed to work thus far.
 
What makes my toes curl?
Bootcut jeans...aaah Jesus!  A range of things.  That just made me seem really shallow, saying boot cut jeans, didn’t it?  When I could have said stuff like 'the fact that there isn’t world peace'.  The fact that there isn’t world peace and it’s caused by the people in bootcut jeans - that makes my toes curl.
 
How many pairs of shoes do you own?
How long have you got?  At first it was mainly sports shoes.  I think this was a sign of rebellion, I went to two boys' schools, and they were both uniform schools, and we had to wear shoes, and they were quite strict on this.  When I had the opportunity to wear sports shoes every day, I really did.  I have a massive collection of over 600 pairs of sports shoes and,  with the help of Oliver Sweeney, some more formal shoes as well.  Getting older, I do love a good brogue.  I’d say my shoe collection is about 600 strong and I love every pair dearly, and that’s pretty much all I can say on my shoe collection.
 
How do you choose a pair to wear each day if you have such a huge collection?
I cycle a lot, so I generally go for flat, comfortable shoes like the Vans Authentic or Nike SB Janoski to wear on an everyday basis.  I buy shoes for particular gigs a lot of the time as well, so I find myself having more than just my collection to look to.

Do you prefer shoes or clothes?
Shoes.  

Do shoes make your outfit?
Nah, I'm pretty sure humans do.  Honestly though, I do think shoes can either complement or ruin anyone's outfit.

Which is your favourite Oliver Sweeney shoe?
My favourite Oliver Sweeney shoe is, funnily enough, on my foot right now.  It’s the Abrahams navy brogue, and I actually have the gaucho colour right here too.  I love the brogue in general and I think a lot of people can get it wrong.  I think Oliver Sweeney have got it spot on.  They’re definitely my favourite and they probably will be for a very, very long time.

How would you describe your style: both musically and fashion?
In order for something to be classified, it has to follow certain rules.  I'm neither a fan of classification nor rules.

What are you working on at the moment?
The release of You Guest It EP, my album Blame Miss Barclay, and a crossword.  I'm joking.  I'm just trying to sound intelligent.  It's actually a word search.

What can we expect to hear from you over 2012?
Don't expect to hear anything.  I like surprises...