Working with Sebago | SS20 Collection.

At Universal Works we pride ourselves on making and selling products for a modern lifestyle for now. However, it is always good to understand where our styles and inspiration came from  and our collaboration with Sebago is a great case in point.

There are a lot of vulcanised shoe options in the world, so what made us chose the John and the Jack from Sebago?

Well, they updated a classic but looked back into there past to achieve it. 

When the new owners of the brand wanted to upscale the quality of the shoes, they went back to the family owners and found the original 1950’s lasts ( the shapes) to base the new shapes on. They were more ergonomic, had higher foxing, rubber around the sole, and a more “lux” feel. It was all those qualities that drew the best and brightest in America from the 50’s and early 60’s to wear Sebago vulcanised shoes. The most famous of all being JFK who wore them on his days off from governing the country and Sebago named the two current styles after that famous political family. John and Jack are constructed with premium quality fabric and natural rubber, baked together to give a super luxury feel.

For our collaboration we took the uppers from some seasonal UW summer patterns and classic Ikat woven fabrics with a distinctive yellow plumb line around the foxing, to give the finished shoe a modern take on an old tradition. We are very happy with the outcome and hope you will be as happy in them too, whether, like JFK, you have your own yacht or you are just wearing them to the pub garden this weekend!