Crockett & Jones' Cordovan Creations

It’s the connoisseur’s choice – for those who want a little bit more than usual. And, of course, there’s the rarity factor too. After all, it is that much more exclusive,” says James Fox, marketing director of the esteemed English shoemakers Crockett & Jones. “It’s for those with a real appreciation for materials.”

Indeed, Fox isn’t singing the praises of any particular type of shoe, so much as a certain kind of leather, specifically cordovan. Even more specifically, it’s cordovan produced by the Horween Leather Company, a Chicago-based tannery that is also the United States’ oldest tannery – with which Crockett & Jones has been working for more than 40 years.

It’s a material that has been available in just nine core styles from the shoemaker, to which it is now adding a further two – Lanark, a five-eyelet derby in dark brown ‘hatch grain’ cordovan, and Ascot, a split-toe apron-fronted derby in burgundy. These will be the first cordovan shoes Crockett & Jones has put on a rubber sole, too. But here’s the kicker: customers can expect to pay a cool £250 premium on the equivalent shoes in calf leather. That puts these new shoes at £850 and £830 a pair respectively. That would give pause to anyone.

“But they would otherwise be exactly the same shoe, made in the exact same way,” stresses Fox. “All that premium price comes down to the material alone, because cordovan really does make for a more elevated product. And the fact is that cordovan just isn’t that readily available.”

That’s in terms of suppliers – Horween is, says Fox, the only producer in the world tanning to the standard suitable for its shoes and, thankfully, Crockett & Jones has been able to leverage both cash reserves and its long-standing relationship with the company to build up strong cordovan reserves. But it’s also in terms of the 12-week, Goodyear-welted, manufacturing process.

Cordovan is a type of horse leather. Since horses aren’t part of the food chain in many places of the world, their skins are in very short supply. Given the processes involved in making cordovan, that’s in even shorter supply. It’s made from shell, a tight, fibrous connective tissue from the rear portion of a horse’s hindquarters. The hide is nourished with waxes and greases, brushed with oils and then aged for another 90 days in a process called currying, before being planed to reveal the shell. These shells are finally stained, dried, waxed and glazed using a glass roller to give a distinctive sheen. This, all before the material is turned into shoes…Yet, as impressive as this is, why pay so much more for it? Cordovan may be an ancient material; the original horse leather, it was first made by the Visigoths in the seventh century and takes its name from the city of Córdoba in Spain, one of Europe’s historic centres for tanning. But then most leather has an ancient history too. How come cordovan is the one type of leather you may know by name?

“Cordovan is extremely hard-wearing– it’s often used for barber’s strops, to sharpen razors,” explains Fox. The Visigoths and Moors even made armour from it. “It’s rich in fats and, once it’s broken in, by the nature of its fibre structure, it is extremely comfortable too. Add it to a Goodyear-welted shoe construction and it makes for a very sturdy shoe,” says Fox. It also makes for hardy small leather goods such as wallets, which Crockett & Jones is also now making in cordovan for the first time, available from November.

But cordovan’s appeal isn’t just about durability or the consequent longevity that may result. It’s also about its look, creating, with prolonged wear, distinctive large folds or ripples rather than the natural creasing of calf leather, meaning that it’s crack- and stretch-resistant too. It has an alluring natural lustre to it, developing a rich patina over time. To the trained eye, cordovan shouts class and quality.

That, Fox concedes, can be a challenge – so that’s why they spend time educating customers about the benefits of Shell Cordovan and why this material is so valued and priced. It’s also why Crockett & Jones is very picky about which of its wholesale accounts it permits to stock its cordovan shoes. “Often customers who visit one of our shops have heard about cordovan – word of mouth is important here – or have read about it and, while they may not know what it is exactly, they’re curious,” Fox explains.

And then there is the name of Horween, which, remarkably for a tannery – typically considered the messy, somewhat unpleasant front-end of the shoe manufacturing story, but also because so many tanneries have been absorbed by the luxury goods giants over recent years – is becoming a prestige brand in its own right. Indeed, investigate the best cordovan products and has to be Horween Cordovan.

“Horween’s phenomenal operation, using these age-old processes, means that really the brand and cordovan go hand in hand. Horween has become an assurance of quality for cordovan,” says Fox. That doesn’t mean you can’t trump a Crockett & Jones Horween cordovan shoe. You can, with a special edition Crockett & Jones Horween cordovan shoe, such as the two limited-edition models launching for pre-order in October. These include a derby boot in both dark brown hatch grain and dark brown smooth cordovan. Or you might go for a classic penny loafer in – and, since cordovan doesn’t take dye easily, this is extra-special – either navy or deep green. Or, if your enthusiasm for the king of shoe leathers really catches fire, in both.“After all,” says Fox, “there’s always the opportunity to make your Horween cordovan shoe even more exclusive. Some of those connoisseurs demand nothing less.” 

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