Brogueing
It’s an old English technique used on worker's shoes to allow water to drain from the shoe. Punctured holes forming a pattern along the edges. At our workshop in Antigua, our cobblers use a custom made tool to create the design by hand.
It's important to know that handcrafted is not perfect. Each piece is cut and sewn by hand. A machine is not used to stamp out each piece after piece, after piece. The soles are not plastic glued by a machine applying hot glue for speed. Nope. The tools of the trade are basic and simple, an exacto knife to cut the leather, a sewing machine for sewing basic seams, a hammer for securing the small nails. The soles are layers of real leather sewn together. And lots of skill to assemble each pair.