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Spectator Shoes

LuvMyMan

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
4,558
Location
Michigan
Remix Vintage shoes are the style of shoe you are looking for. $168.00 price tag.

If you look at their website, you will see the spectators there. However, a warning.....you are only getting what you paid for on those shoes. They are not high quality at all. Maybe a bit more quality than what you have been showing with the AA or other shoes....but on a scale from 1 to 10, I would have to safely place them at about a 4. The AA Dance shoes, for daily wear, about a 2. Most of the modern shoes made anywhere other than the USA, England, Ireland,Italy,Spain, Brazil, Portugal, (I am sure there are a few more countries)...but to really say it the way it is, other than the places listed, if it is modern.....it more than likely will be junky. Even then some places will make a junk shoe....for some label or another.

The thing about the remix shoes are the leather. Cheap skate leather...it is more than likely leather that is what is called, "pressed leather"...or...the lowest grade thin cowhide you could find. If it gets dry...it can rip. It may rip no matter what....just looking at them may make them rip...you just never know...lol But they are cheap all the way around....cheap price.....cheap shoe....each shoe perhaps has the same weight of a thin peanut butter sandwich....nothing to the shoe is why.
 
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resortes805

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,019
Location
SoCal
A dance shoe has a very flexible thin, light weight construction. No matter what the sole material is made of, it will be flex thin in nature. They are meant to be worn inside on a wood or flat hard tile floor. The surface of anything such as a parking lot, if you walked around a Walmarts parking lot a few dozen times, you'd have some nice holes in the soles....you would be the luckiest person alive, if you wore them for a month or two as normal shoes, and not have holes in the soles....or the entire sole just fall off or your foot split out the side. They are made for dancing...seriously only for dancing. Footware (even sport footware) is made for a specific design purpose...roller skates for streets or rinks...ice skates for ice....but neither worn in a home.

I am positive some lounger's from the past have found out the hard way with much dismay about buying a dance shoe and wearing them until well ground to death on asphalt.
/QUOTE]

Umm no. I own Aris Allens and you can walk anywhere in them and they will be fine. You will wear down the leather heel, but I have AA's that have taken plenty of street tread and they are fine.
 

resortes805

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,019
Location
SoCal
Remix Vintage shoes are the style of shoe you are looking for. $168.00 price tag.

If you look at their website, you will see the spectators there. However, a warning.....you are only getting what you paid for on those shoes. They are not high quality at all. Maybe a bit more quality than what you have been showing with the AA or other shoes....but on a scale from 1 to 10, I would have to safely place them at about a 4. The AA Dance shoes, for daily wear, about a 2. Most of the modern shoes made anywhere other than the USA, England, Ireland,Italy,Spain, Brazil, Portugal, (I am sure there are a few more countries)...but to really say it the way it is, other than the places listed, if it is modern.....it more than likely will be junky. Even then some places will make a junk shoe....for some label or another.

The thing about the remix shoes are the leather. Cheap skate leather...it is more than likely leather that is what is called, "pressed leather"...or...the lowest grade thin cowhide you could find. If it gets dry...it can rip. It may rip no matter what....just looking at them may make them rip...you just never know...lol But they are cheap all the way around....cheap price.....cheap shoe....each shoe perhaps has the same weight of a thin peanut butter sandwich....nothing to the shoe is why.

Again, I have to disagree. My Remix shoes have hung in their for years. Of course their are better shoes out there, but for the price Remix's men's line are OK.
 

LuvMyMan

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
4,558
Location
Michigan
Again, I have to disagree. My Remix shoes have hung in their for years. Of course their are better shoes out there, but for the price Remix's men's line are OK.

Please post a picture of both pairs of shoes, and please include a decent shot of the soles. How often do you wear the remix shoes? What model of the remix brand do you own?

I can say, I have seen some dance shoes that had been worn like "daily drivers" and in short order you could put a silver dollar in the holes of the soles from them being worn on sidewalks and pavement.

The remix shoes....looking a imported belts that are claimed to be real leather, (when they are actually pressed leather) and then compare the leather to the remix shoes. They are so very similar poor quality and so similar to some of the upper end Frye dress shoes made in Mexico, and may even be made actually by the same factory? We have a pair of them here, and even at times we sell some shoes on the classifieds here, there is no way we would entertain selling the Frye shoes, too much respect for our fellow loungers to want to see them buy junk. So they are used for door stops.
 

Retro Spectator

Practically Family
Messages
824
Location
Connecticut
I was looking at these Stacy Adams shoes. However, they are patent leather. Can you wear patent leather without a suit/tuxedo? They don't currently have my size, but Amazon does. Strangely, Amazon's ones seem to look slightly different. See the lace color and the lining color. The Colors are different. Are the Amazon ones are counterfeit? I could get the burgundy one from Stacy Adams, but I don't know if it is light or dark, as the pictures contradict.

I have these shoes already, but I was wondering if they are vintage styled. I find the toe shape kind of odd, and the perforations are also quite odd. I might be wrong, but in the 20's, weren't there shoes with toes like this? The perforations don't look very retro, but again, I might be wrong.
 
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Retro Spectator

Practically Family
Messages
824
Location
Connecticut
Why must all spectator shoes for under $100 with classic styling be synthetic? There are thousands of normal wingtips for under $100 with classic styling, that are leather, yet no spectator shoes in the same range with the same stats. And the spectator shoes with completely white tops are not for under $500. And that isn't classic styled either. Either that, or Amazon isn't a very good place to get shoes, and there is a special name for spectator shoes with a white top.
 
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Isshinryu101

One Too Many
Messages
1,328
Location
New Jersey
Why must all spectator shoes for under $100 with classic styling be synthetic? There are thousands of normal wingtips for under $100 with classic styling, that are leather, yet no spectator shoes in the same range with the same stats. And the spectator shoes with completely white tops are not for under $500. And that isn't classic styled either. Either that, or Amazon isn't a very good place to get shoes, and there is a special name for spectator shoes with a white top.

No special name. In 2014 you will not get much in terms of brand new shoes for under $100. Even for more $$, most spectators aren't correctly period-styled anyway.
 

Mormonopoly

Familiar Face
Messages
98
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Retro Spectator, what size do you wear? I seem to recall you saying somewhere that it was an 10 1/2 but I'm not certain. If that's true, I have a vintage pair that you may be interested. They're an 11A which is just a bit too small for me, but may fit if you're 10 1/2. Send me a message if you're interested.
 

LuvMyMan

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
4,558
Location
Michigan
11c generally will fit a 10 1/2D. 11A is much more problematic.

11A can be "stretched" slowly if the shoe is well made and conditioned like crazy, to fit a 10 1/2M....but only by someone that will do it the right way and slowly........suede shoes are far easier to stretch than regular leather.
 

earl

A-List Customer
Messages
316
Location
Kansas, USA
About 4 months ago found a pair of brown and cream spectators at a Goodwill. Having wanted a pair for a long time, snapped them up-can't beat $4.:D They were my first pair of patent leather shoes and so didn't realize how much they can squeak. Tried treating it with various things but some squeak is always present. Oh well, guess I can live with a little noise. Earl
 

Isshinryu101

One Too Many
Messages
1,328
Location
New Jersey
11A can be "stretched" slowly if the shoe is well made and conditioned like crazy, to fit a 10 1/2M....but only by someone that will do it the right way and slowly........suede shoes are far easier to stretch than regular leather.

This works in only certain cases.

As you said, the leather MUST be very moist.

Also, the shoe must have been built on a wider-than-necessary insole. Many makers will use the same insole for a C & D shoe, but use a more narrow one for the B & A. If the issue is needing a bit more room to eliminate "instep rub", then a stretch may help. If the issue is the foot hitting the edge of the insole (which can be quite painful over time), then stretching will not do anything.

As an 8-8.5 c/d, 9b will SOMETIMES work for me, but 9A very rarely. Even the 9.5A is a stretch (also at this point, they are very long and there is extra heel room and the vamp is flexing in the wrong place.
 

Retro Spectator

Practically Family
Messages
824
Location
Connecticut
In the Golden Era, were there any suede spectator shoes? I see lots of those today. In fact, most round toed modern spectator shoes seem to be suede. Lots of the new leather ones are either lizard print, hideously colored, or both.
 

Isshinryu101

One Too Many
Messages
1,328
Location
New Jersey
In the Golden Era, were there any suede spectator shoes? I see lots of those today. In fact, most round toed modern spectator shoes seem to be suede. Lots of the new leather ones are either lizard print, hideously colored, or both.

Please clarify this question. a vast majority of the true vintage specs were made with calf/ suede or calf/ buck. Less common was the reptile/ suede or reptile/ buck. what other options are there?
 

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