Our guiding principle is that our crafted products are wherever possible made in England.

The centre of this activity is the Foster & Son workshop, situated right over our retail store in Jermyn Street, and staffed by an enthusiastic dedicated team of shoe and bootmakers who have many years’ experience in leather craftsmanship.

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Welcome to Foster & Son.
If you would like to recieve information about Foster & Son, news about special offers or travel, please register your details here. We anticipate offering online purchasing quite shortly and hope this will be well received. For bespoke goods, or those that need fitting we shall continue to encourage customers to contact us personally rather than buying over the web.

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How should I care for my Foster & Son shoes?

Your shoes are worth looking after and with proper care will keep their good looks for many years. Aficionados value the patina of age and prefer a shoe that has developed character after years of wear. Our experts’ advice is:

Use a shoe-horn

(we have some splendid examples!). This will protect your shoe from stretching and damaged stitching.

Use Shoe-trees.

Usually the correct size tree is inserted carefully immediately the shoe is taken off and the shoe is allowed to retain its shape and dry out for a day or two. For bespoke shoes, we make the trees from the customer’s own last so that the shoe is returned to its correct shape after each wearing. If a shoe is very wet, you will be advised to let it air in a cool dry place for a few hours before inserting the tree. Newspaper can be inserted gently if the shoe is really saturated.

Rotate your shoes.

If you wear the same pair day after day, they will not get a chance to recover their shape and dry out properly and will deteriorate more quickly. Laces: Obviously it will harm a shoe if you struggle to get it on or off without loosening the laces properly. A few seconds’ attention can save your shoes unnecessary damage.

Polishing

is advised not only for appearances, but to keep the shoe supple. If a shoe is very dirty, an application of saddle soap will remove dirt, and then the shoe can be polished as usual. The toe cap can be brought up to a high shine, but you should not apply excessive amounts of polish to the soft surfaces of the shoe- just enough to keep the leather in good condition. Neutral wax polish is best for creating a glossy shine and keep the shoe looking good most of the time. For restoring the colour of faded leather, a cream of the correct colour is preferable as it penetrates
the leather better than wax. If you wish to createa more “antique” look to your brown or tan shoes you can experiment with alternate black and brown polish for a variegated darker finish.

Galoshes:

If you are expecting to walk in snow or slush or on salted surfaces galoshes can keep your feet warm and save your shoes unnecessary damage. We stock a range of modern galoshes that slip on and off easily and do not stick to the leather.

Repairs:

Repairs should not be left too long. Your shoes are a complex structure that will suffer unnecessarily if you delay: the “bottoms” consist of several layers of leather and other material, which will be damaged if you break through. It is a sensible investment to get them looked at before our shoe repair team are confronted with a rescue operation.