Beauty and practicality rarely come in the same package, but in this rubber-soled collection they do.

To the well-heeled aficionado, John Lobb is one of the world’s oldest and most traditional shoemaker. At the same time it is also among the youngest and most innovative brands plying its trade in Northampton, the cordwaining capital of England.

Mr John Lobb first established his company in London in 1866. But it was only in 1993 that the shoemaker, by then owned by French luxury house Hermès, set up its ready-to-wear production in Northampton. Why? Because there was a skilled workforce on the doorstep equipped with the requisite artisanal craftmanship passed down over the generations. Provenance is more important than ever; and the real luxury is knowing how much time, effort and skill have gone into making a quality product. Each pair of John Lobbs takes 190 steps and several weeks to make.

Traditionally Lobb shoes are at the smarter end of the spectrum, worn on formal occasions. And they’re not shoes you would risk in the rain for fear of ruining them. These are two key areas MR PORTER’s Senior Buyer Mr Sam Lobban sought to rectify when assembling this exclusive range…

Tell us the idea behind this collection.

The John Lobb shoes we’ve stocked on MR PORTER to date have all been city shoes. So the idea with this capsule collection was to introduce a more relaxed aesthetic through the colour palette. And the unifying motif is that each shoe has a rubber sole. It’s the first time we’ve done rubber soles with John Lobb. It’s a union of style and practicality: a rubber sole makes for tough and robust shoes well suited to wet ground while remaining very elegant and luxurious. Taken as a collection, the six styles – monk strap, boat shoe, penny loafer, brogue, Derby and Chelsea boot – make a pretty comprehensive smart-casual shoe wardrobe.

What kind of man did you have in mind when creating the range?

Our John Lobb customer tends to be quite a city slicker. So this range will give that guy a fresh twist on the classics. But it will also appeal to the man who is more casual, not quite so suited and booted. All six of these shoes are easier to wear and easier to dress down than leather-soled shoes, and they’re probably going to be even more comfortable. Just because you’re wearing a more casual shoe, doesn’t mean it can’t have the craftsmanship of a formal one.

Talk us through the design process.

It’s been a nine-month project from the first meeting to launching the shoes on the site. After originally brainstorming some ideas with our respective creative teams in our London offices, I went to its Northampton factory to look at all the various leathers, styles and constructions. We settled on the rubber sole theme early on and made samples from there. There’s been a lot of back and forth getting it right but the results are worth it.

Some people might sneer at rubber-soled shoes. What would you say to them?

These shoes are not inferior, cheaper products to John Lobb’s double leather soles. There’s no less construction here: they’re still cut by hand, still Goodyear-welted. No corners have been cut. The key thing is they are more practical than leather soles when it’s wet.

Explain the thinking behind the colour palette.

There are three different colours in the range. We wanted to do something customised to differentiate this collection from our usual John Lobb shoes. The brown is a calf leather in “bracken misty”. While this may sound like the stage name of a forgotten porn star, it’s actually the name of the particular rich, reddish brown with lighter undertones. The burgundy, called “museum plum”, is also a calf leather. It’s a very luxurious patina with a lot of depth to it. And finally the navy is in a buffalo leather, which has more texture to it – it’s something different.

This is a John Lobb collection curated by Mr Sam Lobban. Can we call it John Lobban?

No.

“The double-monk strap is one of John Lobb’s signature shoes and one of its bestsellers. It’s the dandiest shoe in this capsule collection because it is the slickest and most elegant but you rarely see a monk strap in blue and with such texture, so it would make an eye-catching choice.”

“There’s something about this deep red leather that is particularly special. I’m such a fan I’m personally going to end up buying both of the styles in this colour. The penny loafer is a style to buy into right now as, along with the Derby, it is going to be a key style in 2015. A loafer is usually a fair weather shoe but this construction extends its wearability.”

“Of all the shoes in the range, this is the one for the aficionado/ editor-in-chief. It’s a real shoemaker’s shoe. The front apron, for example, is stitched with a boar bristle by one of John Lobb’s two master stitchers. It takes nine months to learn how to do this stitch and each shoe takes 20 hours to stitch by hand. If you pushed me to pick a favourite here, this shoe in the museum plum would be it.”

“This is the first time we have done a Derby brogue with John Lobb, which is a brand more usually associated with city and evening shoes. The Darby II is a smart-casual style and in this reddish brown it has a countryside feel. You’re buying exceptional quality: each pair goes through 190 steps and takes several weeks to hand make in its Northampton factory.”

“The Chelsea boot is a staple John Lobb style but we’ve never done it in this shade of brown before. This is arguably the most “country” of the collection but it’s also a very practical shoe to wear around town in foul weather. Every man needs a Chelsea boot to complete his shoe wardrobe; it’s a hardy perennial.”

“A winter version of a summer model: it’s the first time John Lobb has ever put this kind of rubber sole on a boat shoe. It’s made from the same navy buffalo leather as the monk strap. With this robust, substantial construction you can wear it year-round so it represents good value. Compared to other boat shoes on the market, it’s a luxury upgrade.”