YORK is a city that thrives on tradition, and in the heart of its shopping centre can now be found a retail experience for which the phrase ‘old-style’ might almost have been invented.

Louis Smith, proprietor of Old Sole in Swinegate, has spent three-and-a-half years in Florence, working as an apprentice to well-known and respected artisan shoemaker Roberto Ugolini, in order to learn the skills necessary to create handcrafted footwear.

His time in Italy has had another important influence on his new business, for while it will probably be about three months before he is fully ready to start on producing handmade, made-to measure shoes, already on sale in Old Sole are high-end menswear, shoes and accessories.

Mr Smith said: “When I was living in Florence I was spoilt for choice for places to go for menswear that I’m interested in. When I came back to York I couldn’t find anything to a similar standard to what I found in Florence.”

He said every selection in the shop was of high quality, with a focus on craftsmanship, such as handmade Francesco Maglia umbrellas from Milan, Smyth & Gibson shirts from Derry, Northern Ireland, and shoes from Majorca-based Carmina. In the case of some items he thought he was probably their only stockist outside London.

However, the first thing someone stepping through the door of Old Sole might notice is that the interior is perhaps just a little different to most shops.

Indeed, Mr Smith said he wanted it to have an ambience similar to that of a gentleman’s club, which explains the decanter, the well-upholstered chairs, and perhaps even the background music - playing on vinyl, naturally.

“If I could walk into a shop and it be my personality, I think I have tried to do that as much as possible,” he said.

The journey towards opening the shop started when Mr Smith, 24, was considering his career path.

“I was in a position where I didn’t really know what I was going to do.I had to find something I could do as a job but didn’t feel like a job, something I was passionate about,” he said.

He had “grown up in retail” as his mother, Karen Walker, runs Giselle Ladieswear, right next to where Old Sole has now opened, and which is currently celebrating 30 years of selling high-end fashion items from its present location in Swinegate and formerly in Petergate.

She said it was “fantastic” to have her son’s shop next door, adding that her niece, Ellie Wilkinson, 21, was working at Giselle and would be taking that shop forward in the future.

Mr Smith said he had been working with a designer in London when he started finding out about the world of bespoke, handcrafted shoes. “I thought that was what I wanted to do, and I had never felt that way about anything I had done before.”

The challenge was how to take this further, because opportunities to gain the skills involved were distinctly limited. “The only way now to progress to learn the craft was to go out and find an apprenticeship,” he said. Having made a list of 15 to 20 bespoke shoemakers in Europe from the internet he saw that four of them were based in Florence, so he travelled there and made a number of appointments to meet people, the first of whom was Mr Ugolini.

After about ten minutes Mr Ugolini offered him a place as his first English apprentice, so long as he was prepared to move his life to Italy.

Thus began the three-and-half-year process of working with Mr Ugolini and his right-hand man, also called Roberto. “They are my masters and my lifelong friends,” he said.

Over this time he steadily learned his craft under their watchful eyes, being given more responsibility as his experience grew and his expertise developed until he was ready to make a complete pair of shoes.

Mr Smith said having learned the necessary steps the apprentice shoemaker built up their precision and speed, always aiming for perfection, though he said in reality this was impossible to attain.

The process involved first sitting down with the customer and discussing what they wanted, taking their measurements and producing a fitting shoe.

He said the customer would then try this out carefully to ensure it fitted properly, because there was an important balance to be struck between comfort and style. “The most important thing is how it feels,” he said. Once the shoemaker was happy with the fit they could move on to creating the final shoe.

Mr Smith said the cost might be about £1,000 to £1,200 for the first pair of shoes, with a discount for subsequent pairs, though the initial cost could rise significantly depending on the material chosen by the customer. When he first started the shoemaking side of the business he would aim to finish them within about three months.

He said the handmade items were “a shoe for life” so long as one cared for the uppers properly, as other parts of the shoe could be restored.

Mr Smith said he was aware this was a niche market, but felt York and its surrounding would be able to support a business such as his, focusing on high-quality items.

His mother agreed, saying: “It’s not for everybody, but there are enough people who are interested in beautiful, quality products.”