Herring Shoes Journal

We like to make a big deal out of the factories we use to make our shoes. We are proud to have such prestigious shoe makers turn our designs into reality.

There is no better place to start than with Carlos Santos.

A brief history: Aged just 14, a young Portuguese man named Carlos Santos started working at the office in Zarco’s shoes. This kicked off his passion and he was often found escaping the office to be on the factory floor so he could study how shoes were made. It didn’t take him long to move up in the company and eventually he found himself in management, travelling to all of the best fashion shows he could get to. He would often purchase shoes he would never wear, with the intention of simply taking them apart back home to understand their construction. He had faith his artisan makers could reproduce these techniques, and he was right. Eventually, the boy who started his shoe journey at just 14 years-old became the sole owner of Zarco’s and so, Carlos Santos shoes were born.

It wasn’t until 2009 when we first took notice of the brand and started to create some iconic designs with them. It’s fair to say we were impressed with what they had to offer. A combination of supple leathers and the attention to detail on the stitching blew us away, as did the fact they are all hand-finished so the end result is a spectacular pair of shoes that have a real bespoke look.

It didn’t take long for our first design to be made, the wholecut Herring Chaucer, which is still one of our best selling styles to date. This is the shoe that kicked off our successful relationship with Carlos Santos, and from the ‘hand-grade‘ collection to our more modest ‘classic’ collection, they have proven to be extremely popular with our customers. They even make a few luxury trainer and sneaker styles for us, like the Herring Goodwood and Silverstone II.

Fancy a sneak peak into their factory? It just so happens that when Herring Shoes MD Jason Simmonds recently visited them, he managed to follow a pair of our Herring Villiers around as they were being finished.

Do you have a favourite pair of shoes made by Carlos Santos? Let us know, we would love to hear your feedback (a photo of them being worn is always welcomed too, we may even post it on our socials).