Show us your SHOES !!!

[LuvMyMan]

Hello, my friend! VERY happy you love those shoes. 2 Fantastic examples of incredible Classic US made summertime shoemaking.

Wear in the best of health.

Real nice, those spectators with the small vent holes have to be a fairly rare shoe, do not seem then floating around much.

 

[Isshinryu101]

Vintage is such a work of art most of the time. It is such a shame that there are not more shoe makers doing shoes the way they were being made even 60 years ago. When I am shopping for a find online, and see what the current trend is on shoes made by Cole Haan and Florsheim, they just have such a "glued cardboard" and plastic look to them...because...that is about what they are.

One shoe still made decent by Cole Haan is the Trafton shoe. Cole Haan has those shoes made in Italy. They have made it in both a smooth calf and a heavy pebble grain that would remind you of ranch oxhide. I think ranch oxhide had a great look to it, but it does not look right if it is polished too much.

The Trafton has a nice vintage-reminiscent design. Sadly, Cole Haan erred badly when deciding on the leather. It is corrected grain and a poor quality at that. Very plasticky and creases horribly. Even the pebble grain leather is poor, without the deep grooves that make for an interesting tecture. 10 years ago, the Trafton was the Werner... and the spade sole was much more extreme. Mr. Cookie has a nice pair.

 

[Isshinryu101]

Real nice, those spectators with the small vent holes have to be a fairly rare shoe, do not seem then floating around much.

called Perforated Spectators. Not many around because the holes thru the leather made for a surface that was more susceptible to cracking. Most are long ruined. Also, perforateds were the trend in the 30's... much as the mesh ventilated took over in the 40's.

 

[Isshinryu101]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-bespoke...9772779?pt=UK_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item2ed1e26ceb
http://www.ebay.com/itm/33100448873...49&var=540229572357&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heinrich-Di...d=100011&prg=9833&rk=1&rkt=10&sd=331201917340

Some interesting listings on eBay. I can imagine the Materna shoes and Dinkelacker are in the same league as Vass, not sure if they are exactly as nice or as well made, but seem to be really nice shoes. The Italian ones, are a lesser price then even Ferragamo, but look as if they are made perhaps by the same shoe factory? They say hand made, which may be true? Not bad looking shoe for the price.

Materna is generally a 100% hand-made shoe and they employee pegged construction... more difficult and probably a little nicer than simple hand-welted. Dinkelacker is a step down from Vass... using less expensive leather(and more prone to heavy creasing) than Vass and generally goodyear welted rather than hand-welted.. Nice gunboats, though. Ultra thick sole and very heavy. Their Triple side stitched models are very tough.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Materna is generally a 100% hand-made shoe and they employee pegged construction... more difficult and probably a little nicer than simple hand-welted. Dinkelacker is a step down from Vass... using less expensive leather(and more prone to heavy creasing) than Vass and generally goodyear welted rather than hand-welted.. Nice gunboats, though. Ultra thick sole and very heavy. Their Triple side stitched models are very tough.

In some ways, looking at the Dinkelacker, it has a combination of top end Alden, and real low end Vass, from a similar Last. But the price is also tid bit lower than Vass. Way higher than what most great condition Vintage that is up for sale, your own inventory would very much attest to what a great bargain real Vintage is all about.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Something very interesting I was just looking into. On the classifieds here, there is a leather jacket for sale, the seller links this jacket to the movie series, "Vegas". The Costumer on the series was Kathleen Detoro. Upon reading some of the article involving this jacket, was the factor that the Costumer had to spend some time and effort to find period correct shoes for the actors/actresses to wear......I cannot help but wonder, if she would have known about some of the Fedora Loungers that have some fairly large shoe collections, if she would have been able to make some purchases or arraignments from some of us here, to fit her order for the series? So, as I am certain some Loungers have shoes (and other period correct items) for what she may need on anything upcoming in her work, perhaps a informative email (I am sending her) may help out in several ways. I personally think it would be great if Lounge members selling or renting items for use in a major series or movie, would just be fantastic. It certainly would not hurt for someone that has eBay sales, (a few Loungers have some of the best looking shoes that are vintage for sale anywhere in the world), to be able to add to their "resume" factors of providing shoes for a particular movie....and if selling them to someone (no matter who they are) generates the income one is looking for, what better way then to know they were sold for use in the entertainment field?

Certainly to make Costumers aware of the Lounge and what some Loungers have for sale, talents of things some loungers make, hats, shoes, clothing, etc., should be a positive experience to say the least. It may even be that some of the items used in a movie, come up for sale as well?

Just letting everyone that is a shoe fan and collector and seller know, I am contacting this Costumer making her very aware of the potentials.....

 

[LuvMyMan]

The Trafton has a nice vintage-reminiscent design. Sadly, Cole Haan erred badly when deciding on the leather. It is corrected grain and a poor quality at that. Very plasticky and creases horribly. Even the pebble grain leather is poor, without the deep grooves that make for an interesting tecture. 10 years ago, the Trafton was the Werner... and the spade sole was much more extreme. Mr. Cookie has a nice pair.

Very true. I think we sold a pair to Cookie, they may have been the ones you made mention on the Trafton. I also may be correct to think, the ones now are called "Air Trafton" and the older versions had nothing to do with the "air" part of the shoes at all. I do notice the soles, they look thin on the new ones as compared to the older ones. Cole Haan also made a shoe on the same "last" as the Trafton line, but it is a plain toe oxford dress shoe. It actually looks very nice, some may like it even better. But very hard to find. I noticed one pair for sale on eBay perhaps several weeks ago. I should have grabbed them when I had a chance to do so.

Another note on some shoes now being offered by shoe companies. The level of quality of shoe leather. It seems some shoe companies have a growing trend of making shoes with leather that is not what one looking at the shoe, would tend to think the leather is quality wise. A trend that perhaps has already been known to most shoe experts/buffs. However, I do think from what I can tell at least in buying shoes, that the shoes made in England have a tendency of using a better quality leather (for modern shoe models) on the uppers of their shoes. Some Italian shoe makers are still sticking to using a top notch quality of leather also. But in some cases it seems the cost is way up there for what shoes have nicer leather, and some prices are in my opinion, too much for what you are getting shoe wise.

Perhaps this is again, one more reason for seeking vintage shoes! I am not sure how many levels of leather categories exists, but I do know for many well known brands of shoes, the leather just flat out stinks! A recent pair of Kenmore and also a pair of shoes made for Frye brand shoes....the leather is almost without any weight. The shoes when placed on a digital scale are light weight. The soles are light weight leather, and possibly not real leather "blanks" yet rather may be what some call, "pressed leather". Our cobbler made a statement last year regarding the poor quality of shoe soles on newer leather shoes. He stated that some leather goods for shoes and items such as belts and wallets, are strictly junk due to being pressed leather. Pressed leather tends to become weak and prone to being ripped easy.

So now, I view some of the higher priced modern shoes, say from Edmond Allen. What actually are they doing for a source for soles and uppers, as far as the leather is concerned? Johnson and Murphy? I cannot thin anything Florsheim makes today comes into play on the quality note. They have about tossed quality out the window. Putting the newer Kenmoors on a scale and seeing how thick they look (gunboat appearance) and then placing the large sized gunboats from Frye shoes, there is little difference in the weight. Then using a pait of older vintage Allen Edmond wingtips that are NOT a gunboat, much more streamlined appearing wingtip, made in the early 1960's, it weighs almost one and a half times more than the Kenmoors or the Frye brand shoes. The soles are cheapo. The uppers are also cheapo on the modern shoes. I have no newer Allen Edmond shoes to use as a comparison, but I am thinking the same "weight test" would produce a similar conclusion. You cannot beat vintage! But buying from Churches, Loak, Cheaney, some Barker, Trickers, for an off the rack shoe, has to be miles ahead of what there is out there when dealing with modern shoes being made and sold today. Of course also, it could also be some of the Italian shoes are also still not too bad when it comes to Quality

 

[LuvMyMan]

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The "before" picture....toe has some slight scuff/marks.......


Then the after pictures....
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[LuvMyMan]

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The shoes had some slight scuffing on one toe. Three days of some caddy to soak them up, the some paste cream polish on the bad spot rubbed in and left to dry for about an hour. I had to run to the Cobbler store today, so I picked up some apple red color polish for these. The real name of the color is Red Rouge.

These are some very nice FootJoys. The entire inside of the shoe is padded, and the padding on the sides and top is all covered with that smooth glove leather. The shoe is made on the nice "Rex" last, and these are NOS so they got some extra time to soak in a container with the Cadlillac conditioner to get rid of all the dryness to the leather. They have the typical soft spade sole shape. More pictures later on these.

 

[bl@ster]

Just took delivery of these perf cap-toe Grain Aldens:

 

[LuvMyMan]

Just took delivery of these perf cap-toe Grain Aldens:

Nice looking cap toes. The leather and color is very attractive.

 

[LuvMyMan]

[URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/3885797578_photobucket_252134__zps5ed6fccb.jpg.html] [/URL][URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/3885797578_photobucket_252135__zps8f81606c.jpg.html] [/URL]

Some vintage Church's ranch oxide plain toe bluchers. Not easy to find in this size, and most vintage ranch oxide shoes floating around are wingtips. Hardly any noticeable wear on these, in just great shape, clean inside and out.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Just took delivery of these perf cap-toe Grain Aldens:

One other thing I note on these shoes, the flat laces instead of the normal round ones. The flat brown laces sure do have a greater appeal, hope Alden installed those for you factory as I would hope they know it sure looks better.

 

[bl@ster]

One other thing I note on these shoes, the flat laces instead of the normal round ones. The flat brown laces sure do have a greater appeal, hope Alden installed those for you factory as I would hope they know it sure looks better.

I provided the flat laces. They shoes came with the usual spindly round ones.

 

[LuvMyMan]

I provided the flat laces. They shoes came with the usual spindly round ones.

Wow, you would think that a company that is offering some nice (but on the pricey side) of shoes like Alden, they would graduate the use of something more "original" yet as stylish as the flat laces for their upper level shoe models. A few months ago, I found a small "stash" of real vintage laces, brown and black and a light tan, but only one pair of white...these were all flat dress laces, and some were silk. The seller had all sorts of vintage goodies for sale related to shoes or shoe maintenance or repair. Picked up over a dozen vintage heels, some really old shoe repair/leather chemical color crayons, and then the laces.

I really think your Aldens are very sharp looking.

 

[bl@ster]

Just took delivery from Unionmade: Alden Natoma Dover in Dark Brown Eclipse.

 

[esteban68]

got these American made brogues a couple of days ago, any ideas as to maker/era, they fit perfectly and are in great condition;

 

[Isshinryu101]

got these American made brogues a couple of days ago, any ideas as to maker/era, they fit perfectly and are in great condition;

1970's or 80's. need interior pics and sole pics to guess maker.

 

[casechopper]

Just received these Red Wing 8051 Oxfords yesterday.
They're still very stiff with some heel slip but I'm sure they'll break in nicely after a few wears.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Just took delivery from Unionmade: Alden Natoma Dover in Dark Brown Eclipse.

Nice. Reminds me of shoes that Military would have issued. I like these a lot also.