Sleevehead: Leather Soul, Beverly Hills: Alden and Cleverley trunk shows                                                          

Leather Soul, Beverly Hills: Alden and Cleverley trunk shows

    A couple of years ago I wrote about my visit to high end men's shoe store Leather Soul in Hawaii. The owner has since expanded to Beverly Hills in Los Angeles and I stopped by the new expansion store earlier this month during the Alden and Cleverly trunk shows.

Leather Soul BH - Lobb & Cleverley

Nate Humble of Alden was on the main floor covering Alden and George Glasgow, Jr. was upstairs taking care of Cleverley customers.

Cleverley offers three lines: RTW ($500), Anthony Cleverley ($1600) and bespoke ($3450). Each step up the line reflects greater range of options, higher level of craftmanship and personalization in fit and shoe features.

Leather Soul BH - Cleverley

Leather Soul BH - Cleverley Russian reindeer

The Anthony Cleverley line was named after a nephew in the Cleverley family and based on his shoe designs for clients such as Winston Churchill and Douglas Fairbanks. If you visit, be sure to peruse the black and white spiral bound book containing photos of those original designs. At the bespoke level, the customer can choose from calfskin to exotic skins such as alligator or even frogskin. Cleverley also has an Asia trip planned next year to Japan, Korea and China (their first visit to the latter two countries).

I also spoke with Nate Humble of Alden and we chatted a bit about the unrelenting demand for Alden shoes worldwide. The Leather Soul store has an impressive lineup of Alden shoes (see below).

Leather Soul BH - Alden 02

Leather Soul BH - Alden 01

The Alden factory is still backlogged and shell cordovan in lighter finishes (like whiskey) continues to remain in short supply. In fact, when we spoke, they had just delivered a 2008 order to a Japanese customer. So patience is certainly a virtue when placing special make orders with this unique American shoemaker.

Below is the store's lineup of Edward Green shoes, which were temporarily relocated to the stairs.

Leather Soul BH - Edward Green

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