We’ve all crammed our feet into desirable but painful shoes. Women have done it for ever – witness Cinderella’s two Ugly Sisters – but men, too, have endured blisters and mercilessly tough leather. Being elegantly shod has never been synonymous with comfort – until Arthur Sleep opened its doors on Savile Row, to launch London’s first shoe factory for over a century and the first ever on the historic street.

Founders Chris Boadle and Jahangir Azamare university friends who set out to create the world’s most exquisite handmade shoes, built not only to last but to fit in a way that shoes have never fitted before.

Arthur Sleep began making classic gentlemen’s evening shoes in 2013 and soon had a presence in Harrods, attracting early devotees such as Robert De Niro. When Selfridges opened its new shoe floor, an entire wall was dedicated to the brand’s footwear. Soon, buyers in America, Japan and Korea were paying attention.

‘By 2018, we decided to take control of every aspect of production,’ explains Boadle. ‘We needed hyper-proximity manufacturing, so took everything in-house, which allowed us to handcraft a pair of shoes in just three hours. We only ever create on demand, so we reduce transport emissions, energy consumption and eradicate waste.’

Today, the Arthur Sleep “microfactory” comprises a room furnished with state-of-the-art machines beneath the airy showroom that the brand shares with a tailor. There, I spot a pair of meltingly soft, cashmere Belgian loafers. If a cardigan can show wear and tear after about a month, how will cashmere shoes survive a London winter of dirty wet pavements? ‘Watch,’ says Azam, grinning. He picks up a pale camouflage Castro shoe and dunks it under a running tap for half a minute or so. After a quick shake, it’s ‘battle- and party-ready,’ as good as new, thanks to the Californian “nano-tech spray” they sourced and invested in. ‘You could pour a bottle of red wine over these and they’d survive,’ he laughs.

Even the softest pink suede, antique tapestry or white linen can be used to make footwear. I’m shown a pair of shoes fashioned from Royal Mint money bags for a fund manager and another made from a World War II parachute. They’re turning sails into deck shoes for two superyacht owners, and downstairs is a decommissioned Household Cavalry saddle, ready to be given new life as an army officer’s Chelsea boots. Otherwise, there are racks of materials to choose from – organically dyed Scottish deerskin, tweed, flannel, bouclé wool, pleated silk, kelim, lush velvet…

Three full-time artisans from the Royal School of Needlework are employed to hand-stitch to order, creating phenomenally detailed personalised designs, from monograms, initials and glow-in-the-dark cartoon outlines, to teddy bears on tiny children’s slippers.

There’s also a woman’s collection comprising classics such as Belgian loafers and opera pumps. I covet the sleek, timeless Mary Janes inspired by a 1994 Celine mould, on which even the leather soles have been derma-dyed so the black will never rub off. My feet are quickly scanned with a machine unique to Arthur Sleep and their image is displayed on a computer in 3D to ensure the shoe will fit with precision unprecedented in shoe-making. No foot is too big, small or misshapen – one fan is US basketball star James Harden, who boasts size-17 feet.

Yet, what Arthur Sleep is doing in the realm of classic styles is just the start. Boadle shows me the swimming trunks that the Paralympic athlete and British record-holder Will Perry wore at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. They’re being transformed into pool sliders for him. I spot a sample of a trainer with retractable running spikes and a shoe with barbed sides for the Cresta Run Army Team. ‘We’re ahead of Nike,’ smiles Boadle, and I don’t doubt him.

The final flourish comes as I’m leaving. Arthur Sleep’s shoe boxes are carefully imagined keepsakes, decorated with an illustration of the shop by New York artist Tug Rice. There’s even a handsome, sturdy shoulder strap to make carrying easy, because no detail is overlooked by these young entrepreneurs setting out to make the finest shoes in the world. They are, of course, expensive but, as Boadle says, ‘our pricing is commensurate with product quality and the proprietary technology that sits beneath it’.

arthursleep.com