George Cleverley was born on the 10th of August 1898 into a shoemaking family in London. George moved to Colchester in Essex with his parents when he was 2 and spent his childhood selling bootlaces and polish. After finishing his apprenticeship at 15, he was called up to the Royal British Army for World War I and was then stationed in London before joining a British army boot factory in Calais, France. After the war he joined Tuczec, a high society London shoemaker on Clifford Street, Mayfair where he remained for 38 years. George left Tuczec in 1958 to start his own business - G.J.Cleverley of Cork Street, Mayfair, London.
After establishing G.J. Cleverley in London’s Mayfair not far from where the office currently sits today, George served some of the world’s most illustrious names spanning world leaders, industry titans and social figures and quickly became known for making the Cleverley shape – a graceful, chisel-toed shoe which became signature to his extraordinary craft. George died in 1991 at nearly 93 years of age and was still working, virtually, until he died.