Here we discover the rest of the contestants in the World Championships of Shoemaking 2025 Part 2. Discover positions 11 to 25, which are presented with comments and pictures.

All original wording written by Jesper Ingelvaldsson of Shoegazing and slightly edited by me.

Pt.1 with more info about the contest and positions 1-10 can be found here.

World Championships of Shoemaking 2025 Part 2

11. Yasunari Shimozaki
12. Dmitry Avdyukhov
13. Paul.B.d.n.
14. Hwang Taewook
15. Valerio Frattari
16. Valentin Jardé
17. Teruo Hoshino
18. Fausto Ripani
19. Giovanni Lorenzo
20. Gagik Hakobyan
21. Fabula Bespoke Shoes
22. Kulsiri Kamonpakorn
23. Tieshidani
24. Grace O’Leary
25. Tsuneda Yusuke

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 11. Yasunari Shimozaki

A pretty cool shoe, with some nice handmade features on the upper, and a rather special waist edge making. This shoe scored relatively high on difficulty and design, a bit lower on execution. Made by the Japanese bespoke shoemaker Yasunari Shimozaki, who apprenticed at Spigola but now runs his own brand in Kobe, called Seica.

12. Dmitry Avdyukhov

A shoe that sort of takes the bottom of Athanase Sephocle’s winning shoe two years ago to the extreme. Since the entire jury could tell only that it only had sole stitching along one side of the super narrow waist and was not a 270° sole stitch, it received a 5% deduction. Overall scored best on difficulty, standard on design/aesthetics, and lower on execution. A cool shoe for sure. The Russian Dmitry Avdyukhov is a well-known shoemaker in his home country, not least since he runs the largest shoemaking forum in Russia.

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 13. Paul.B.d.n.

A shoe from Paul.B.d.n. is always instantly recognisable, with his bulbous round shapes and special last shapes. The design is really tough and minimalistic, with all seams hidden and no heel (which is okay since the criteria doesn’t state anything on this, you can, for example, see channels for the sole stitch so it is there). Paul Bogdan Bietanau is based in Italy’s Marche region, where he focuses on bespoke shoemaking. Paul made the entire shoe himself.

 14. Taewook Hwang

Another one with a clear source of inspiration when it comes to the bottom. It’s made with tight sole stitching and fine thin heel lifts. Not the best execution, but relatively high difficulty. Made by Taewook Hwang, a South Korean shoemaker who started learning shoemaking in 2018, and who entered the contest for the first time last year.

15. Valerio Frattari

Valerio Frattari runs a very small workshop in Civitanova, in the center of the shoe region, Marche in Italy. What I particularly like about the shoe is the cool design of the outside of the heel, really unique. A pretty well-made shoe that scored more average on difficulty and aesthetics.

 16. Valentin Jardé

A shoe that leans to the outwards, so to speak. With toe shape, cap toe, and straps. Solid stuff overall, though it doesn’t really stand out anywhere. Made by the French bespoke shoemaker Valentin Jardé, who made all of the shoe apart from the upper making which was done by Stéphane Raineau, and the shoe tree, which isn’t part of the judging, was made by Christophe Varraut.

17. Teruo Hoshino

A classic double monk strap in most regards, even if the square waist combined with the ridge fiddle back is a bit unorthodox. Nice and clean make, but not particularly high on difficulty. Teruo Hoshino did it all himself. He’s a freelance shoemaker based in Tokyo, Japan, and makes custom-made shoes and bags at home under the name Vigoria Leather Works.

 18. Fausto Ripani

The company Fausto Ripani was founded in 1978 in Montegranaro, Italy, by the man with the same name. Fausto Ripani, Andrea Ripani, and Rosanna Papa participated in the construction of the shoe. It’s a relatively playful shoe with the red welt top, skin stitched upper details, and of course the special star-shaped heel. 

 19. Giovanni Lorenzo

A shoe that sort of has time as the overlaying theme, with a decorative “clock” built into the heel, and a lot of other decorations along the same line. Especially on the bottom, where it has more stuff going on than the more classic upper part, which consists of two upper pieces. All was made by Giovanni Lorenzo, who has been working for fifteen years in the workshop of Mannina in Florence, Italy.

20. Gagik Hakobyan

These shoes are entirely handmade without any electric tools used whatsoever. The upper stitching is done by a thin silver wire, which looks really cool. Due to the upper being seamless one piece (not consisting of the minimum two pieces) and the bottom not being a natural finish, it received a 10% deduction of points. Gagik Hakobyan is an independent shoemaker from Armenia.

 21. Fabula Bespoke Shoes

László Fabula, a bespoke shoemaker running Fabula Bespoke Shoes in Dömsöd, Hungary, made the entire shoe himself; the accompanying shoe tree was made by Kálmán Berta. Classic design, pretty stable make, especially the heel is neat. Received a 5% deduction due to the sole not having a natural finish.

 22. Kulsiri Kamonpakorn

Kulsiri Kamonpakorn has been to Stefano Bemer’s shoemaking school in Florence. Now he works in shoe repair and shining at Brift H in his home country, Bangkok, Thailand. At the same time, he runs the brand Head over Heels. The shoe has some unique design features, including the long straps and rounded heel, and very long toe cap. Not too high on difficulty and design, higher on execution.

 23. Tieshidanni

A shoe that is really nice overall in many ways, just without the tops perhaps, but it’s well put together and has some really sturdy Norwegian stitching that stands out. Received 5% deduction due to missing out on the toe cap. Tieshidanni is a Chinese brand run by Johnny Chen, who has trained in shoemaking in Italy.

 24. Grace O’Leary

Grace O’Leary is an independent shoemaker from Australia. The difficulty level of her shoe is relatively high, with hand stitching of the uppers and a very cool heel, where parts are made with lifts placed at an angle. Never seen it before, looks really nice. Execution and design got fewer points.

 25. Tsuneda Yusuke

Tsuneda Yusuke’s shoe was stuck in customs and arrived just minutes before the jury review. Thankfully, it arrived in time to be part of the contest, but unfortunately, that means we don’t have photos of it other than the one above, since they were photographed the day before. Tsuneda Yusuke is a young hobby shoemaker from Japan who makes shoes out of his room at his parents’ house. The shoe is a bit rough; he has more to learn, but seems keen to do so and will hopefully return in the future after more practice.

If you missed the top ten of the World Championships of Shoemaking 2025, make sure to check those out here.

—Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob

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