The Brogue

Quarter-brogue: a shoe that only has a single row of punching on the toe-cap, is called a quarter-brogue.

The brogue style is the most flexible design because it is made from multiple pieces of leather. This allows different leather and fabric combinations, known as two-tone or spectator shoes, to be created. The most famous wearer, and populariser of the brogue, was Edward the Prince of Wales in the 1930’s. It is now seen as an acceptable business shoe in black, or a relaxed but smart country shoe in brown.

At Herring we have made our own bespoke ranges for many years and the two-tone is the core of our in-house designs. Our Fencote is one of our most popular shoes, showing that two-tone can be very tasteful, rather than brash. Similarly our own Herring tweed brogues are easy to wear with many colours, incorporating greens, browns, reds and blue.

The unusual fact about the brogue is that far from starting as a formal shoe, their origins began in the muddy fields of Ireland. It is thought that the perforations were originally added to allow water to drain out of the shoes - maybe they were the forerunner of the modern Crocs?