Oliver's Twist

An innovative Brit shoemaker makes his U.S. debut

April 2, 2007—After years spent building up a following back home—Paul Weller, the Kaiser Chiefs, and David Beckham are all fans—Brit shoemaker Oliver Sweeney is finally bringing his footwear stateside. The line has just arrived at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, and is slated to hit shelves in Saks locations in Chicago and New York later this spring. Sweeney himself has a quasi-Dickensian backstory. Born in less-than-swinging Leicester, he bolted for London as a teenager, where a shoe boutique's window display inspired him to become a cobbler's apprentice. After working his way up to become creative director of venerable bespoke shoemaker Alan McAfee, Sweeney launched his own label in 1990. His goal was to translate custom shoemaking techniques to a commercial scale. "Oliver took certain elements from bespoke shoemaking—such as the arch of the foot, the grip on the heel, the twist that goes down the front of the foot—and carried them into an off-the-shelf product," explains the company's managing director, Andrew Marshall. The results are a glovelike fit at, relatively speaking, very reasonable prices—from $395 to $525. Oh, and they look pretty good, too. "You can wear it with jeans but you can also wear it with a suit," says Saks's menswear VP, Michael Macko. "It's a shoe you can wear with anything." Style and versatility—sounds almost American.

Oliver Sweeney shoes, $395–$525, available at Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills, 9600 Wilshire Blvd., (310) 275-4211.