How to Make a Shoe

The most challenging step in making a bespoke shoe isn’t selecting the leather, perfecting the stitching, or ensuring that the heel is weatherproof. The toughest part, cobbler Vivian Saskia Wittmer says, involves something that you won’t wear, ever.

It’s creating what’s known as the “last,” the foot-shaped block that gives the shoe its shape. “Nobody shows you how to make a last, really, so you have to train it by yourself,” says the German-born Wittmer, 45, in her workshop in Florence, Italy, a city of shoemaking royalty and onetime residence of Salvatore Ferragamo. “Normally, no master will show you how to make a last. If the last isn’t correct, then the shoe will never fit. You can be as perfect as you want, but the client will not be happy.”