Watson & Parker, a single model, developed in many different fabrics, hides and colours

When Sir Watson and Mr. Parker undertook their first trip, they headed towards numbers 12/14 of Long Acre, London, not far from their Club in Covent Garden. There was, and still is, the bookshop founded in 1853 by Edward Stanford, a treasure chest of ancient maps and logbooks, a destination already known by famous explorers, such as Robert Falcon Scott and David Livingstone. Soon after they embarked on a British Navy ship and sailed up to unknown and distant lands. They came back more conscious and free. All the experience gained became part of them: from the point of view of manners and from that of clothes and the original footwear they had designed and made by hand, in order to move in those unknown places. Watson & Parker, precisely: the shoes that enclose the British simplicity and concreteness in the spirit and emotions of the world. They are not another rethink of a sneaker, but rather uncommon shoes, with two fundamental characteristics that differentiate them from all the others. First of all, they are unstructured, completely unlined, created just with natural materials (hides, cotton, wool, etc.) and with an ultralight sole. Moreover, they are the result of an artisan making, made in Italy. The particular stitching follows the ancient San Crispino making, in which upper and insole are joined by means of the manual threading of a very thick wire, too thick to be stitched by a machine. A unique product, in taste and workmanship: a step towards a new elegance, in the sign of the great explorers’ farsightedness, with the comfort and aesthetics typical of our days.