Loafers With Car Tyres Underneath

Two brothers and a pricing problem

By 2012 the brothers Benjie and Hugo Davis had noticed that good suede loafers had become extremely expensive while quietly getting worse, and that everything cheaper was made of something pretending to be leather. Between them they had backgrounds in fine art, architecture and business, which is an odd combination for footwear and turned out to be the right one. They started Hugs & Co. from Richmond.

The sole is a former car tyre

The driving loafer that made their name is soled with upcycled tyre. Factory seconds and scrap tyres are collected, the tread stripped off by a low-energy machine, and the resulting plates cut into soles using the same method a leather cutter would use. The offcuts get recycled. The sole is then stitched to the upper, and since a tyre is engineered specifically not to wear out, the shoe lasts a good deal longer than it otherwise would. Millions of tyres are burned or buried every year. A small number now go for walks instead.

Designed in London, made in Portugal

Every pair is drawn up in London and built in Portugal, in factories that combine modern production with the hand-finishing machines cannot manage. The leathers come from European suppliers holding ICEC environmental certification, Der Blaue Engel and LWG Gold ratings, which is considerably more specific than the word responsible.

Classic shapes, worn without ceremony

Driving loafers, penny loafers, Chelsea boots, brogues, deck shoes and boat loafers, for men and women, in colours that suggest somewhere warmer than here. Have a browse through Men's Footwear, Women's Footwear, our upcycled edit, or the rest of our British brands.