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OUR STORY
Crafted One at a Time.
May Anthony has been making velvet loafers in Lagos since 2016. By hand, to order, one pair at a time. We began because shoes had stopped feeling personal: mass-produced, anonymous, pulled from a warehouse shelf. We wanted to make the opposite of that, and we have never made a pair any other way.
THE PERSONAL SHOE
The Return of the Personal Shoe.
Before they became seasonal inventory and endless sameness, shoes carried personality. A crest. A colour. A motif. A mark of taste. May Anthony brings that spirit back through velvet loafers made with individual character: elegant enough to wear properly, distinctive enough to be remembered.
VELVET & EMBROIDERY
Elegant, But Never Anonymous.
Velvet gives the loafer its softness, formality, and evening ease. Embroidery gives it wit. Together, they create something rare: a shoe that can be refined without being dull, playful without becoming costume, and personal without shouting.
ONE PAIR AT A TIME
Made After It Is Chosen.
Every May Anthony pair begins as a choice. The velvet. The colour. The embroidery. The detail. From there, it becomes a shoe made for one person, not for a stockroom. That is slower than ordinary shoemaking. It is also the point.
THE WORKSHOP
Where Every Pair Is Made.
Our shoes are handmade in Lagos by craftspeople who cut, stitch, embroider, shape, and finish each pair individually. Since 2016 we have made more than 20,000 pairs this way, including 438 one-off commissions in the past year alone. It is not factory anonymity dressed up as luxury. It is hands, judgment, patience, and the small decisions that still separate something made from something merely manufactured.
THE MAY ANTHONY LOAFER
Formal Enough for Evening. Personal Enough for Everywhere Else.
The velvet loafer has always lived between worlds. Part dress shoe, part slipper, part statement. We make it for modern wardrobes, with enough polish for dinner, enough ease for travel, and enough character to feel unmistakably your own.
Made to Be Worn. Made to Be Yours.
A May Anthony pair is not designed to disappear into a wardrobe. It is made to say something. Quietly, deliberately, and with enough character to be remembered.
One pair at a time. One choice at a time.