Quoc Pham Cycling Shoes

In the souless world of unforgiving Carbon-fibre, sweaty plastic and general factory-made uniformity, cyclists don’t have much to feed on when it comes to cycling shoes. The design of modern cycling shoes is fairly standardised and unless you’re willing to sell a kidney, you’re probably not going to get anything radically different.

But what of the moustached, wool-bearing traditionalist I hear you say. What of the discerning rider who fancies setting chain to cog for an altogether more stylish (and no doubt, more comfortable) ride? Well, a young Central Saint Martins fashion graduate by the name of Quoc Pham may be able to help out.

I noticed Quoc’s leather cycling shoes on his rather understated stand at a cycling Expo this weekend. They stood out above everything else to me – It was the only that thing that I saw at the whole event that quietly whispered the word ‘human’ to me and I couldn’t help but let out a relieved gasp at the refined beauty of his work. The style is fairly vintage – don’t expect flashey colours, obscene logos and faux promises like the word ‘ergo’. These shoes would be equally at home padding around the patio of a classy café as they would be on the velodrome. Ever single pair is hand lasted, sewn and cut with the attention and love of a true craftsmen. Eddy Merckz himself would have been proud.

Quoc’s shoes are reasonably priced considering the toil that goes into them and they’re available through his elegantly minimal website. Apparently, Quoc is currently working on a design to accomodate clipless pedal cleats. As a testment to his skill, most of the products are currently out of stock at the moment. But I’m sure you could put an order in… These aren’t made by machines after all.