The derby shoes
Released in July 2025
The upper and the lining are made from full-grain leather, the toughest part of the hide (where the density of collagen fibres is highest) the leather will age well without cracking. Another advantage: because full-grain leather keeps the skin's natural pores, your shoe will be more breathable.
By the way, is leather a bad thing? We tried to answer this huge question in this article.
With excellent grip thanks to Vibram's famous "Carrarmato" design, inspired by tank tracks, which offers superb traction on all terrains.
Room at the toes so they aren't cramped.
These shoes are made at the Portuguese factory JV Calçado, with whom we've worked since 2025.
The techniques behind the quality
Vibram sole
Vibram soles are among the most renowned in the world, and that's no accident: the company started out fitting mountaineering shoes and specialised in tough soles with excellent grip.
Abrasion result in lab testing: volume loss of 105 mm3, a level that's fairly rare for city shoes, more commonly found in safety or hiking footwear.
Vibram sole
Welded construction
Hidden eyelets
Replacement laces
Welded construction
With a generous glued width, for better durability over time. After more than a year of wear by various testers, there wasn't a single case of the sole coming unglued.
If you prefer stitched constructions (which are more expensive), we recommend taking a look at Max Sauveur or Paraboot.
Vibram sole
Welded construction
Hidden eyelets
Replacement laces
Hidden eyelets
So you don't damage the leather when you tie your laces.
Vibram sole
Welded construction
Hidden eyelets
Replacement laces
Replacement laces
The derby shoes come with slim laces in waxed cotton. They look great but can wear out over time, so we also include a spare pair of wider, tougher polyester laces.
Vibram sole
Welded construction
Hidden eyelets
Replacement laces
For our belts and shoes
All-terrain
Beautiful shoes that won't quit on you anytime soon, with their full-grain leather and ultra-tough Vibram sole. To give them a modern, unstuffy look, we went for a generously rounded toe and a thick lugged sole. Derbies that are easy to wear every day.
In detail
Little softies
Placed on the cushioned zones for better comfort: above the tongue, at the heel, under the ball of the foot.
Back tab
To slip your shoe on more easily.
Discreet logo
Embossed on the heel of the left shoe.
Origin and certifications
... make them in Portugal and not in France? Of course, producing in Portugal lets us sell at a lower price. But it's also easier to achieve good quality there: back in the 80s, when France offshored its industry, Portugal was strengthening its own. That said, others besides us manage to make excellent made in France derby shoes, like Kleman, Le Formier or Jacques et Demeter.
How this product will age
How do we know? We ask our customers what they think of the product one year after they've bought it. And if the product is less than a year old, we give you our predictions based on some spontaneous feedback and on our experience with similar products.
Vibram soles are especially hard-wearing, and their lugs are fairly deep: they should carry you for plenty of miles.
The full-grain leather is designed to age well: it will crease where the foot bends and pick up scuffs over time, but without cracking. If you feed it regularly, it too can last for years.
Our heel counter (the inner area in contact with your heel) should last longer than average, but if it wears out, a cobbler can replace it.
That said, the waxed cotton laces may snap over time — that's why we include a second pair in polyester, which are seriously hard-wearing.
Care instructions
The key thing to understand is that leather is made up of around 5% natural oils — they're what give it its suppleness, its strength and its water resistance. If they escape, the leather dries out. So your goal is simple: keep the leather well-oiled.
So every now and then, give your derbies a brush and nourish them with a nourishing leather cream (careful though — tempting as it may be, don't use a cosmetic cream like Nivea: these are water-based emulsions that can contain 70 to 80% water, which over time can drive the natural oils out of the leather and make it crack. So it does the exact opposite of what you're after!)
If your derbies get soaked, whatever you do, don't put them near a radiator, a fire or a stove: that could dry out the leather. Yes, really: moisture drives out the natural oils (something you'll know if you've ever made a vinaigrette — watery vinegar won't mix with oil). Let them air-dry, then nourish the leather.
And use a shoehorn to slip them on.
Reviews for this product
The standard practice is to send review request e-mails a few days after the purchase. We wait a month, the minimum time needed to form a well-informed opinion
Customer review policy
When do you ask customers for reviews?
We send you a review request one month after you receive your order. We reckon that's the minimum amount of time needed to have worn and washed a garment several times and to really form a well-informed opinion. After that, all your reviews are published within the week, whether they're good or not.
Do you ask for reviews on 100% of the products customers order?
We used to do that at first, then we realised we were starting to send far too many emails to some people who buy from us regularly. In short, we were spamming a bit. On top of that, it was starting to take up way too much of the team's time to reply to reviews - since we want to reply individually and privately to almost every person who leaves us a review. Today, we no longer ask for reviews on products that meet the following two criteria: 1/ There are enough reviews shown on the site for people who want to buy to form a well-informed opinion about the product 2/ We've read enough reviews within the Loom team to understand how to improve the product for the next generation.
Hold your horses: what proves we don't tamper with reviews by slapping 5 stars everywhere?
Honestly: nothing, we're just giving you our word. Same as for everything else, by the way: where we manufacture, where our wool comes from, our lab test scores, and so on. The only times we might touch what you write are if your message contains spelling mistakes (and even then, quite a few slip past us) or if it's racist, homophobic, and so on (but that's never happened so far).
Asking for a review after a month isn't enough to know whether the clothes really are durable, is it?
You're right, which is why we send you another review request email a year after your purchase – we even ask for a photo to see how your garment has aged. The answers help us improve our clothes and provide information about "how this product will age" on our product pages. To avoid bothering our customers needlessly, we don't ask for these reviews on 100% of the products ordered: as soon as we have enough data to understand the areas for improvement, we stop asking for the one-year reviews.