Show us your SHOES !!!

[The Shooman]

My new shoos - Church's 6 eyelette half brogue oxfords on the 136 last. Love these babies, and the last fits very very well. Had to size down by .5.

Will be placing an order for these Vass half brogue oxfords soon.

Without doubt, Vass are my favourite rtw shoe.

 

[cookie]

These are perhaps not made by topy, but are on the eBay, they are normally used for women's shoes to cover the bottom of expensive heels. However, they are now making them in sheets for a man size shoe. They almost look like a semi transparent gummy look, but more clear than not. They have a very slight "grain" to the surface for anti skid, they claim to be "self adhesive" but we all know that is not going to hold like actually using a real thin coat of barge first. I have saved a ice cream stick just for such application. The nice thing about using the barge, later if this sole protector decides to come off, the barge cement is easy to clean off with a bit of "finish stripper".

The Cobbler had some real thin topy in a few different colors, but as due to how that normally has to be applied on the shoe, to get any real "grip" he would have to rough sand down the soles a bit and cross into the area where I really would like to avoid making the sole any thinner.

The sole protectors I am going to use are a bit more flexible that a topy. Just cleaning the sole with a slight amount of stripper to get the leather really clean, will be enough to have it grip for while. Hey, they are not cheap in price, cost me about $40.00 for the pair of sheets that will have to be cut and sized out to fit on the soles.

Thanks what is the product and eBay seller called?

 

[LoveMyHats2]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Soleutions-...7953464?pt=US_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item2a23b90138

Cookie, here is the listing for the clear sole protectors.

I will more than likely take some pictures of what I do when I use these on the shoes. And then see what happens as walking takes place to see what sort of performance the sole protectors do give. We all should already know about how the use of Topy works. Topy is a good product, but just seems a shame to ruin the sole of a new pair of shoes doing the Topy when I think these protectors will work fairly decently if the shoes are not worn in bad weather, etc. I have had some of these sole protectors put on a pair of my Daughter's shoes and it lasted more than a year. She wore the shoes a lot, too!

 

[LoveMyHats2]

[URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/frenchshrinerplaintoebleuchers_zpsa04c77d0.jpg.html] [/URL][URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/3885797578_photobucket_247978__zps50f74591.jpg.html] [/URL]

The spray can is fiebings reptile cleaner. It is made to clean, polish and protect all reptile shoe finishes, and to keep reptile preserved. Good stuff.

The shoes are plaintoe bluchers from French Shriners. More than likely from 1960's given the original box, and the construction of these shoes.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

[URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/frenchshrinerplaintoebluchersinbox_zpsbab61844.jpg.html] [/URL][URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/frenchshrinershoeboxbluchers_zps3d72ef50.jpg.html] [/URL][URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/frenchshrinerplaintoebluchersoleshot_zps6f989d6c.jpg.html] [/URL][URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/frenchshrinerplaintoeblucherbackheelshot_zps384c46fd.jpg.html] [/URL]

 

[Tommy]

these look sharp.

 

[The Shooman]

[URL=http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/LoveMyHats2/media/frenchshrinerplaintoebleuchers_zpsa04c77d0.jpg.html] [/URL]

Nice.


Some of my older handmade Vass shoos.

My nicest pair of Vass are the dark brown shell cordovan Alt Wien derby model (half brogue). That pair is one of the most perfect looking shoos ever made. This is them:

Another great pair:

A family meeting of the pretty faces

A family meeting of the boys

 

[Isshinryu101]

Nice.


Some of my older handmade Vass shoos.

My nicest pair of Vass are the dark brown shell cordovan Alt Wien derby model (half brogue). That pair is one of the most perfect looking shoos ever made. This is them:

Another great pair:

A family meeting of the pretty faces

A family meeting of the boys

Nice, my friend.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Nice, my friend.

Yes it is very hard to beat Vass for the money and quality. They do some very nice work on the welt area, aside from having a real shoe construction.

I have been looking at some other custom shoe makers, but I nor Daniel have not much information about them, Materna. It seems they make a shoe in the same league as Vass, but just have not heard anything about the company or shoe maker? I think they are priced about the same as Vass from a few shoes I have seen for sale "pre owned" that say what they cost new.

We would love to go to what some call a "trunk show" when custom makers have some promotional samples out for the public to view and to take orders and measurements. It would seem that a trunk show would allow anyone to pick up and handle shoes and of course, ask a million questions about material used and availability, how long it takes to actually make a pair (not counting back order/wait period) but how long they actually spend to make one pair of shoes.

There is a Russian gentleman on eBay that has a few totally hand made shoes and he shows the different stages of making them, they are VERY sharp and remind me of some of the Vass shoes. His prices are actually very reasonable, from $200.00 USD to I think $250.00. These are shoes ( a few pair) made like plain toe oxfords and some are wingtips. Heavy weight looking from his pictures. No machines used in any of the complete shoe process. I am so tempted to buy one pair. He makes many other nice items from leather, custom bags, and holsters for hand guns.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

My new shoos - Church's 6 eyelette half brogue oxfords on the 136 last. Love these babies, and the last fits very very well. Had to size down by .5.

Will be placing an order for these Vass half brogue oxfords soon.

Without doubt, Vass are my favourite rtw shoe.

We all know Vass is excellent, those Church's are perhaps one of the most "eye appealing" models made. I do recall a few years ago someone had the same model shoe but was made from oxhide and wow they were just great looking. If they would have been a larger size, we would have purchased them.

I have a habit of winning bids if the shoe is really nice and something wanted. I think just one time, "Cookie" was bidding on a pair of NOS mesh style, and after the price hit $300.00 (or some place around there) I just stopped bidding and normally go up like $500.00 to make sure I do win the bids. I am thankful I stopped as it was great to see Cookie win them. They were I think from the 1940's, white threaded welt, really sharp and the nice vintage brown that we don't see anywhere today. I tend to try to keep the price tag for shoes below $250.00 a pair if I can, but at times I will let go on placing an high bid so I can win them. The Vass shoes I purchased were an "eBay" special that you would have a choice of 3 shoes from the different lasts available and some various selection as to leather and color and finish to pick from. I felt I had a good deal, it was not much maybe $2,000.00 total and they were not too long to finally be made. Only one pair of those shoes have been worn outside.

 

[bl@ster]

My new shoes, custom (MTO) Allen Edmonds saddles:

 

[bl@ster]

Also picked up these Brooks Bros AE Gatsby's:

 

[LoveMyHats2]

The AE shoes in the colors you have are a favorite color combination. Some of the shoes AE makes, the brown and white are really more eye appealing then what anyone could think.

 

[Tomasso]

AE have really upped their game. I recall be skeptical a few years ago when their new CEO promised as much and darned if he didn't follow through.

 

[Isshinryu101]

"Upped their game"? How is this so? Same inconsistent leather quality. Same old styles and lasts. Same low-end goodyear construction. At a discount price ($200- $250), they are a good buy, but for full retail ($365 now), it is better to go UK or Italian.

 

[Tomasso]

Same old styles and lasts.

Uninformed as usual. If you had visited their Chicago store this fall, as I did, you would have seen a dozen different styles of dress boots. Different last as well. They even had some chisel toe models. That wasn't happening ten years ago. You obviously feel the need to constantly bash AE but at least look at their current lineup before doing so.

 

[Isshinryu101]

Uninformed as usual. If you had visited their Chicago store this fall, as I did, you would have seen a dozen different styles of dress boots. Different last as well. They even had some chisel toe models. That wasn't happening ten years ago. You obviously feel the need to constantly bash AE but at least look at their current lineup before doing so.

Tomasso, you and your AE hero worship are pathetic. Maybe if you had some decent true vintage shoes & some high quality modern ones for comparison, you would really have some idea of what you are talking about. Recycled styles, inconsistent and often corrected grain leather and the widest goodyear welt seen outside of China? For $365.00? HA! Good luck at the thrift store.

 

[Isshinryu101]

STILL waiting for Tomasso to actually post some sort of pictures of the shoes he owns. Considering his total expertise of all things "high quality footwear", he MUST have an impressive collection. How else to actually compare these AE he worships so much? No way is he an igent who simply claims expertise on a subject he really knows little about.

 

[Tomasso]

Tomasso, you and your AE hero worship are pathetic. Maybe if you had some decent true vintage shoes & some high quality modern ones for comparison, you would really have some idea of what you are talking .

You have no earthly idea, not even a clue, as to the quality of my shoe wardrobe. But that's just like you, speaking authoritatively about things of which you have no substantive knowledge. You discovered the world of quality footwear just a couple of years ago, amassed a formidable collection of vintage shoes at breakneck speed and now hold yourself out as an expert. That's rich!

I, on the other hand, have been wearing Northampton shoes, from various makers, all my adult life, nearly 40 years. My father wore English shoes his entire life as did his father. But you know what, this doesn't make me an expert. And I'm not a shoe snob like you. I don't own any AE and I know they're not the finest made shoes but I still like to see them make positive strides, even if only aesthetically.

I expect you'll have some bombastic response to this bit of reality but you should know that it will fall on deaf ears.

 

[Isshinryu101]

Blah, blah, blah. You are a typical "talker". Lotsa bluster, but no real knowledge at all.

You admit you do not even OWN a single pair of AE shoes, yet you are an authority? HA! What a waste of time to read your posts on a subject you know nothing about.

Everyone's an expert since the internet came to be. You especially. We will wait forever to actually see you post something with a picture.