From commission to delivery. One pair, one bench, start to finish.

Choose the pair, then your fit, the leather, the build, the sole edge and your mark. Three builds, one price. Your mark is free: initials heat-stamped under the shoe, inside the lining or on the heelstrip.

You pay in full through Payfast. Prices include VAT, and delivery in South Africa. Your commission gets its own reference, which the bench uses in every message.

The bench messages you on WhatsApp. It reads your size or your measurements and asks how you like them to fit: heel, instep and toes, snug, true or roomy. Then it sends Your fit, confirmed: one page with your measurements.

Until the leather is cut, you may cancel for a full refund.

How a shoe should fit

Every last is worked to your foot. There are no width fittings and no stock sizes. The leather is cut, and the upper is lasted by hand over your last.

The sole is sewn by hand in the build you chose: Blake-stitched, hand-welted or storm welt. Nothing that leaves the bench is machine-sewn. Ready 2–4 weeks after your fit is confirmed.

If a pair will be late, the bench tells you as soon as it knows, with a new date.

Three builds, one price

Delivered by courier anywhere in South Africa, included, or collected at the Atelier, Shop 11, Greenlyn Village, Menlo Park. You get an email when it is on its way.

Try the pair indoors, on a clean floor, in the socks you will wear. Check the heel, the instep and the toes. If the fit isn’t what was confirmed, tell the bench within ten business days of delivery, before wearing it outside. The bench puts right what can be put right; where it can’t, you agree a remake together.

When the sole wears through, the pair comes back to the same bench. Resole R750, repair R450, back in 1–2 weeks. Your next commission starts from what the bench already knows about your feet.