The All-Inclusive Shoe & Boot Thread

Lattanzi has been making some beauties lately.

Big daddy lazyman shoos
Silvano Lattanzi wine lazyman 1.webpSilvano Lattanzi wine lazyman 22.webp

Stunning BIG daddy derby shoos
Silvano Lattanzi tan half brogue derby 1.webp

and even something for Sartodi Napoli Sartodi Napoli , a BIG daddy tassel loafer in wine.
Silvano Lattanzi wine tassle loafer 2.webp

Lattanzi is now doing close cut waists. Not as good as the French and Japanese, but his styling is a winner. Shoos are full of character and far from boring.
 
I bought these recently, and let me tell you that they are one of the most stunning breath taking shoos l have ever seen. I was looking at them last night, and they are like masterpieces, especially as they looked darker inside and they looked like varnished wood. They look absolutely perfect and could be my favourite shoos ever.
Silvano Lattanzi - brown monk - mine 2.webp

The shoos above have a patina like this Berluti here when seen inside. They have to be seen to be believed. Just saying.
Berluti bespoke - STUNNING.webp
 
Cleverley's biggest BIG daddy client

Unfortunately he's an unworthy brute (just look at him), having destroyed a bunch of irreplacable cars. Certainly Cleverley will only provide him with apprentice rubbish, knowing well that he doesn't care at all and is never going to look at them anyway.
 
^^^

Yes, all the stories floating around about his shoo consumption. 1,000 pairs of Artioli (3 - 4 pair per day before burning them). Now Clevereley. What's going to happen if he orders 1,000 pair of Cleverley and wants to throw them away every 4 hours? I hear that he does things like that. Corthay visited his palace once for a brief visit then gets escorted out asap.
 

‘I want to be the biggest brand in the country’: The next gen of Aussie shoemakers

Australia’s footwear manufacturing industry is all but gone, as rising costs push factories offshore and access to fast fashion drives a waning appreciation for handmade goods. In the face of these challenges, a small group of passionate craftspeople are keeping the art of shoe making alive and preserving it for the next generation.
ByLauren Ironmonger
OCTOBER 19, 2024
Bespoke shoemaker Matea Gluscevic at her studio in Melbourne.
Bespoke shoemaker Matea Gluscevic at her studio in Melbourne.CREDIT:WAYNE TAYLOR

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Matea Gluscevic, 36, has been making bespoke and handmade shoes under her eponymous label since 2019. Known for her whimsical, daring designs that often push the limits of what we think of as shoes, her work stands out in a sea of mass-produced sneakers. But recently she’s hit a crossroad, as she says her current approach is “unsustainable”.
Due to poor sales, she has decided to close the made-to-order portion of her business to focus on bespoke shoes. Her clientele, which includes brides and people who need special considerations in their shoes, like those with mobility issues, are more willing to pay for the product.
A bespoke pair of shoes takes around a month to make – from the conceptualisation stage to the finished product – and starts at $1500. Still, the hours she works – which equate to a part-time job – are not reflected in what she’s paid.
“My issue is that [bespoke] is not necessarily enough to live off,” she says. “So I’m sort of in a position of assessing what I’m doing.”
There’s also the not-so-small matter of people’s purse strings getting tighter. “The reality is, lots of the younger demographic, who I can tell love my work, are not in a position to be paying $700 for a pair of shoes,” says Gluscevic.
“Which is completely understandable. I’m not in that position either, but I can’t make it for any less, it just doesn’t work.”
Shoes designed and made by Matea Gluscevic for the Nicol & Ford show at Australian Fashion Week 2024.

Shoes designed and made by Matea Gluscevic for the Nicol & Ford show at Australian Fashion Week 2024.CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
All this has not been for a lack of exposure. She’s worked with fashion designers Nicol & Ford, collaborated with Johnny Walker on a collection of sneakers for the AFLW and had her work shown in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.
However, she says all but the Johnny Walker collaboration were done for free – something many emerging creatives are expected to do to raise their profiles.

“The reality is, lots of the younger demographic, who I can tell love my work, are not in a position to be paying $700 for a pair of shoes.”
Matea Gluscevic
Gluscevic also has scoliosis, which is compounded by the stress the craft puts on the body.
“For anybody, it’s lots of time sitting, sewing, drawing, cutting, hammering, standing at a grinder for hours. It’s a very physical job.”
Working on big projects in the past, she says she’s been unable to sleep due to muscle cramps, which haven’t been alleviated by any amount of physiotherapy or massage.
All this – the financial and physical toll of shoe making – not to mention the time involved, begs the question: why do it in the first place?
For Gluscevic, it’s a necessity.
“I have an unbearable amount of ideas,” she says. “I start feeling stressed if I don’t get them out of my head into the world.”

But the challenges she’s faced – and continues to face – are similar to those many of her peers grapple with. Some 720 Australians have listed their occupation as shoemakers, according to the latest census data. Australia’s footwear manufacturing industry is all but gone, barring a few small businesses and RM Williams’ operation in Adelaide.
Below are the Australian shoemakers, designers and educators for whom footwear is also a labour of love.

The teachers

Shoemaker and founder of School of Footwear in Sydney, Darren Bischoff.
Shoemaker and founder of School of Footwear in Sydney, Darren Bischoff.CREDIT:LOUISE KENNERLEY
The day Darren Bischoff, founder of the School of Footwear in Sydney, decided to pursue a career in shoemaking is the day the industry closed down. The year was 1988 and the introduction of tariff reductions led to many of the country’s major footwear manufacturers moving offshore.
In the decades since, Bischoff has witnessed the slow decline of the industry. The opening of his footwear school in 2011 was partly borne out of a desire to teach the craft to the next generation (TAFE’s shoemaking courses in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide all closed in 2009). It also functions as a workshop space for other professional shoemakers.
One of the biggest challenges, Bischoff says, is sourcing specialist materials and tools – including heels and shoe lasts (moulds) – needed for their craft. He now has to travel overseas a few times a year to source them.
“This has been the story since ’88, slowly but surely all the bits and pieces have gone,” he says.

“The mass manufacturing industry is gone and will never come back. But I’m very interested in some of these young people coming through.”
Darren Bischoff
Even the technicians who maintained his machinery have aged out of the industry, and Bischoff has had to train himself in the specialist skills required to keep them running.
Still, his comprehensive courses have been incredibly successful, including a sneaker course that’s popular among teenage boys. Some who come through his doors simply want to do something hands-on outside their professional lives, but others have gone on to pursue a career in shoemaking.
“People are just so surprised and amazed that you can still make shoes by hand in this country,” he says.
But as a whole, Bischoff says he doesn’t have much hope for the craft as an industry. “But I’m very interested in some of these young people coming through,” he says.
Bischoff with his collection of shoe lasts, which he says have become harder to source.

Bischoff with his collection of shoe lasts, which he says have become harder to source.CREDIT:LOUISE KENNERLEY
Andrew Robinson has taught at RMIT’s school of footwear for the past two decades. It is now the only nationally accredited program for shoemaking in the Southern Hemisphere.
The biggest thing Robinson would like to see, to support the next generation, is more government funding.
“I would love to have a course that’s three years or four years long. Even the one-year course we offer, it’s intense but really it’s the tip of the iceberg with all the skills, refinement and different areas of footwear there are to learn.
“For students who leave the program, we give them as much support [as possible] and I’ll make myself available 24/7 for them, but setting up a small business in Australia at the moment is so hard.”
Robinson says there also needs to be more support from the Australian fashion industry.
“There needs to be a greater push and exposure for these custom-made shoemakers.”
Lou Clifton, owner of Melbourne Shoe School.
Lou Clifton, owner of Melbourne Shoe School.CREDIT:SIMON SCHLUTER
Lou Clifton launched her footwear school in New Zealand in 2015, which she relocated to Melbourne earlier this year. Her short courses – ranging from one to five days – give students a crash course in the fundamentals of shoemaking. Her students are mainly hobbyists, who she says have been spurred by burgeoning craft movement.
“When I started, Etsy was becoming big, and it was just a reaction to people wanting an alternative to mass-produced goods or to understand how mass-produced goods were made.”
She says her students get a feeling of satisfaction from their work.
“You start out with some nerves and then have to solve a design problem, and it’s quite meditative. You get a real and important rush at the end when you realise that you’ve crafted something wearable.”


Raff McGuinness, Above the Ground

Young footwear designer Raffi McGuinness.
Young footwear designer Raffi McGuinness.CREDIT:SIMON SCHLUTER
Raff McGuinness, a 20-year-old communications student from Melbourne, has lofty ambitions for his footwear brand Above the Ground.
“The plan is to be the biggest footwear brand in the country. And then the biggest footwear brand in streetwear.”
Later this year, he will launch the brand with just two silos – a loafer and a boot – which he’s been working on for the past two years, making them the best they can be.
“My priorities are, how can I make an extremely good product as opposed to how can I just make it good?”
McGuinness’ loafer, which he’s described as a “loafer for a sneakerhead”, was conceived from his frustrations with uncomfortable loafers. He’s not reinventing the wheel, but striving for greatness. Little details – like mohair laces on his boots – are what he believes will set his product apart.
But McGuinness’ entrepreneurial spirit started long before he started Above the Ground. In high school, he sourced hard-to-find football boots online and resold them to an Australian audience, building up a strong social media following overtime. He’s also worked in the performance footwear space – he and his business partner did some footwear customisation for the Australian Olympic team earlier this year.

“No one’s really gone and tried to disrupt the streetwear space for footwear.”
Raff McGuinness
He says part of his desire to start the brand stems from seeing a lack of innovation in the Australian footwear industry, particularly in the streetwear space.
“It’s a much more difficult process to start in footwear than it is to start in clothing,” says McGuinness.
“You can make a T-shirt, and if the T-shirts are a seven out of 10 people will still wear it. [But] if you make a shoe and the shoes are a seven out of 10, people will be reminded of that every time they step in your shoes. It hurts.”
McGuinness is working with overseas manufacturers, who require high order quantities, which carry high cost, and the system can be difficult to navigate for someone with little experience.
“You sort of get sucked into believing what other people tell you. You’ll basically be like, ‘Oh, that must be the right way of doing things’, so I think that was the most difficult part for me.”
McGuinness with a prototype of his loafer.

McGuinness with a prototype of his loafer.CREDIT:SIMON SCHLUTER


Effi and Emily Mavratzas, Didyma Shoes

Emily, left, and Effi Mavratzas in their home studio in Sydney.

Emily, left, and Effi Mavratzas in their home studio in Sydney.CREDIT:DION GEORGOPOULOS
Effi and Emily Mavratzas became students at the School of Footwear in Sydney during the pandemic where they fell in love with the craft. Twins, the 33-year-olds both work full-time in fashion but have launched their own brand, Didyma shoes, where they make bespoke pieces for friends and family. Each pair goes for around $450 and can take anywhere from a day to weeks to make.
Their feminine styles, often adorned with flowers or bows, take inspiration from vintage footwear.
“Effi and I have both always been very much into fabrics and textures and colours and the craftsmanship behind it...but there isn’t a single source, there are so many things that really inspire us,” says Emily.
One of the biggest hurdles – besides finding time outside their full-time jobs – has been finding space to accommodate the bulky machinery required to make shoes. The pair have recently had to move their workshop back home after their studio space became water damaged.

“It’s more similar to a trade than it is to dressmaking. It can be quite messy, the machinery can be quite heavy and it’s quite dirty, in a way.”
Emily Mavratzas
Sourcing materials, tools and equipment has been another challenge.
“Shoemaking is a dying art, and it’s not really something that is happening any more here,” says Effi. “That also makes it really difficult to find the tools and the machines that you need. Because no one’s using them, no one’s selling them.”
She says they’ve had some success on Facebook Marketplace sourcing equipment from old shoemakers, but that it’s still difficult to find.
And despite coming from a fashion background, they’ve both been surprised by how labour-intensive and time-consuming the craft is.
“It’s more similar to a trade than it is to dressmaking,” says Emily. “It can be quite messy, the machinery can be quite heavy, and it’s quite dirty, in a way.”
A selection of handmade shoes from Effi and Emily Mavratzas’ brand Didyma shoes.

A selection of handmade shoes from Effi and Emily Mavratzas’ brand Didyma shoes.CREDIT:DION GEORGOPOULOS


Breeze, Post Sole Studios

Breeze Powell, cordwainer and founder of Post Sole Studio in Melbourne.
Breeze Powell, cordwainer and founder of Post Sole Studio in Melbourne.CREDIT:SIMON SCHLUTER
For Breeze Powell, 42, the co-founder of Melbourne footwear brand Post Sole Studio, shoemaking started as a necessity. Born with one leg slightly longer than the other, she had special requirements for footwear.
After completing a Certificate IV in Custom-Made Footwear at RMIT in 2007, Powell started working in a factory making comfort shoes for people with orthotics and problematic feet. After seven years, the owner of the business retired and offered to sell her the factory’s machinery. With her former business partner Myra Spencer, Powell founded Post Sole Studio and moved to Fitzroy where their current factory resides. The brand specialises in well-crafted, made-to-order leather classics at their studio in Abbotsford.

The label outsources their stitching, but the rest is done in-house by Powell, who runs the business alongside general manager Yoshi Maruyama.
She would love to expand Post Sole Studio but says it’s just not viable in this current climate.
“I wish there was a little bit of government support. I would love to purchase new machinery or have the ability to upscale the business, so that I could employ more people. But just making that leap into the next stage of business is really hard,” says Powell.
“Being able to source good materials without having to pay so much in shipping to bring in everything from Europe, that’s really hard.”
The “Dune” shoe from Post Sole Studio.

The “Dune” shoe from Post Sole Studio.CREDIT:SIMON SCHLUTER
 
^^^

exactly. Unlike the aussie shoemakers above who are just mucking about making nonsense imo. Everyone in Australia calls themselves a bespoke shoemaker, but they aren't a shooman's a**hole.
 
Madrid 1952, these are shoes!
View attachment 49070
Ah those were the days - if we could only have Franco back.

Still we have Opus Dei and their money

Abuse, enslavement, and financial schemes are the stock in trade of the shadowy Catholic sect Opus Dei, according to this chilling debut exposé. Journalist Gore stumbled onto the institution’s web of influence during the 2017 collapse of Banco Popular, when he discovered that the Spanish bank’s biggest shareholder, mysteriously named the Syndicate, could be traced to Opus Dei.

Combing through the Syndicate’s sprawling network of foundations and nonprofits led Gore to uncover Opus Dei’s connections to offshore money-laundering schemes and a global web of vocational schools implicated in human trafficking of children. Delving into archives and conducting interviews with former members, Gore alleges that a mission to “serve God by striving for perfection even in the most everyday tasks” has masked abuse since Opus Dei’s 1928 founding by Josemaría Escrivá, whose recruitment methods rapidly turned cultlike, incorporating “listening devices” and “prescription drugs.”

While Gore reports that today abuse permeates the entire hierarchy of the organization, he most harrowingly recounts the plight of its lowest rung: underage girls assigned to household work in Opus Dei residencies, where many later reported being held captive; others minors connected to Opus Dei have reported instances of sexual abuse. Gore’s most alarming line of inquiry is into Opus Dei’s political influence in Washington, D.C., via the Catholic Information Center and the Federalist Society.
 
Banco Popular scammed us 60.000 euros, we celebrated their fall.

I readed an anti Opus Dei called "Opus Judei" and made me love the Opus way more than before.

Did you know who was the man who more jews saved from the Holocaust?

Bingo: Invictus General Franco

Abuses in church, sure, it´s plenty of degenerates and masons there who must be cleaned on the Holy Fire.

You all need an exorcism my friends lol so you can return to the Path of Christ

1729416572990.webp


1729416678099.webp
 
Received these BIG daddies today. Was a big gamble getting a loafer, but l threw caution to the wind and it paid off. These are Lattanzi seconds, but they are stunning and the fit is amazing. No heel slippage, and the instep is just right. Have wanted tassle loafers for the warmer months for many years.
Lattanzi loafer good 7.webp

On my feet
Lattanzi loafer 8-good.webp
 
Received these BIG daddies today. Was a big gamble getting a loafer, but l threw caution to the wind and it paid off. These are Lattanzi seconds, but they are stunning and the fit is amazing. No heel slippage, and the instep is just right. Have wanted tassle loafers for the warmer months for many years.
View attachment 49101

On my feet
View attachment 49102
not my thing but the chisel toe makes'em sexy.
 
not my thing but the chisel toe makes'em sexy.

many years ago l loathed tassle loafers, but for the last 8 years l have wanted one, but none have fit me. I will wear these during the warmer months for 5 months of the year.

Thruth Thruth are you still wearing your good quality dress shoes regularly, in particular St Crispins?

Do those casual shoes belong to your household? If so, where are all the good leather ones that have the soles stitched on?

Dropbear Dropbear wouldn't you prefer to be in nice comfortable dress shoes instead of barefoot?
 
many years ago l loathed tassle loafers, but for the last 8 years l have wanted one, but none have fit me. I will wear these during the warmer months for 5 months of the year.

Thruth Thruth are you still wearing your good quality dress shoes regularly, in particular St Crispins?

Do those casual shoes belong to your household? If so, where are all the good leather ones that have the soles stitched on?

Dropbear Dropbear wouldn't you prefer to be in nice comfortable dress shoes instead of barefoot?
hahahaha. that is just a random internet pic of shoes at the door. But I soon will be selling off most of my fine shoos.
 
^^^

that really makes me sad to read that. Will you be keeping the big boy bespoke Johnny Lobbs and some St Crispins and Vass?

To me there is nothing more satisfying than pottering around in great dress shoos. Even during the pandemic l wore nothing but the finest dress shoos, and when l go for walks l wear nothing but the finest dress shoos. I like the way they look, the message they send (solid citizen of the community), and the comfort. Everyone else l see on a walk wears sneakers, but l wear Lattanzi with dress trousers. I've never been any different, been like it since l was a little kid. All the other kids would be in runners and jeans etc, and i'd always be in dress shoes and trousers/pants, it was my uniform and l didn't give a stuff what anyone thought.
 
^^^

Thruth Thruth Please post your shoos before you sell them. It would be nice to see your wonderful collection once again. It makes me sad that most of your sportscoats have been given away too. It would have made me so happy to know you would have been getting about your frontier town in sportscoats and leather soled dress shoes as a man getting near 60, but l supposed those types of men are a rare breed these days. The main thing is you be yourself.
 
You know what amazes me? All these guys on instagram that are fully into shoos. I've never seen anything like it, blokes post photos of there shoos, and that's all they do, and they have many pairs because they are hooked. All they seem to do is look at men's dress shoos

My favourite guy is the bespoke addict. Thruth Thruth may bag him because he wears other people's bespokle, but believe me, he comes from one of the very nicest areas of London. He buys vintage bespoke because he loves it,nothing looks more stunning than his stuff. He makes my love of shoos look likes child's play. He loves shoos more than any other man in the world, and he'll spend 4 years fixing a pair, or 20 hours cleaning them, and another 60 hours moisturising them and restitching them because he loves shoos, and he has hundreds of old Cleverley's from Cork Street haha.

Then there is another bloke on the forums who must be looking at dress shoos day and night. I've never seen a bunch of blokes so hooked on dress shoos in all my life. I was shocked to see how addicted these blokes are.....wayyyy more addicted than l ever were.
 


I assume the relationship with Cleverley must have been quite interesting.

Shoesnob was saying that some Northampton factories are only working 3 days a week because business is so slow. He'd know. E.G? Trickers? Sargent?
 
Much up to management, I'd say. C&J looks like they are working time improve all the time, and find a market for their products. The SF thread is quite active.
 
I just got an email telling me Pediwear is relaunching. I dont know the story behind it - but good luck to them, I always found them good to deal with from afar.

 
But, Shooey. 'Not worth a tit', is an idiom that means something.

^^^

Good one.

I remember a bloke was talking about the titlarks and then made a joke about it (referring to a woman's boobs), then this bloke got upset and said "you've got a dirty mind, please take your comments elsewhere". He was a miserable old bugger. :lol
 
^^^

Yes, it is amazing. I've been thinking of organising a trunk show for a fancy maker to come to Australia. Can't price the shoes too high because the average aussie shooman wouldn't stomach it, but if they were priced in the low $$$$ then l might be able to pull it off. I've been at the `Double Monk' owners for years to do try the Chinese makers, but they have never been keen, they like their heritage English gyw makers, and l love their loyalty to the brands like E.G, big Johnny Lobb and C&J. I need to be careful though, we don't know how these Chinese shoes fit, so we need to invite them to Australia. I also tried Harrolds to stock the Chinese makers and do Corthay, but no go.

Time to go out on my own and organise a few shows. Even want to organise a highend bespoke spectacle maker for something really special.

TYE shoemaker is on the list, as is ACME, and Graziat Taipei with their very affordable stunning masterpieces that are hand welted with machine stitched soles. A Yohie Fukuda trunk show would also be good for special orders, but l think aussies would still balk at the 5K plus price tags for those masterpieces. Aussies don't have the sophistication to support many of the finer things in life, so l need to be sensible.

Look at this beauty, Fukuda MTO.


There is the affordable maker Graziat Taipei for the Cindarella shoes we can wear with cream and white trousers in the warmer months in Oz.
for the Cindarella. He'd be a good option, but he doesn't hand stitch the soles sadly.

https://www.instagram.com/graziat_taipei/p/CyNwWMILs89/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/graziat_taipei/?hl=en#
His specialty is loafers, and that would be ideal for summer wear. For no more than 2K we could probably seal the deal.


Then there is ACME who i'd like to get for bespoke and MTO shows. Would mainly use this maker for flashy summer shoes like these:

would definitel;y get a 2 eyelet arca style derby

img_index=1

would get one of these


Would also get these colours. Have eyed them off for ages.
 
I use the Lattanzi for my main shoos
I use the flashy Chinese shoes for my fun summer shoos
I use Vass for my foul weather shoos

I photographed my Lattanzi shoo circle for a Japanese audience (they love shoo circles) the other day. Terrible quality photo, but l get a highend camera this week so l can make my Lattanzi photos look stunning like out of a catelogue.

My favourites =
- 1st prize = cognac derby at 9 o'clock
- 2nd prize = tan monk at roughly 12 o'clock
- 3rd prize = brown monk at 7 o'clock

But seriously, every single pair is complete WOW.
The antiquing on the tan derby at 10 o'clock is jaw dropping.
The antiquing on the norvegese at 2 o'clock is jaw dropping.
The antiquing on the hatchgrain brogue at 5 o'clock is WOW.
The leather and antiquing on the tan monk at near 12 o'clock is WOW.
The antiquing on the monk at near 6 o'clock STUNNING.
I could go on and on all day.
Soon the better camera will pick up all the extra details that will knock your sox off.

Lattanzi circle 6A - best.webp
 
Hey guys....i'll tell you a funny story. My tech guy cleaned out my computer and he found thousands upon thousand of photos of highend shoos. My computer is full of shoo photos,and he has never seen anything like it in his life.

Guess what l was going to do once? Save all my shoo photos to a c.d with a music background, and then have special nights where l sit down all night and view shoos all night (shoo nights). I've been saving shoo photos for 21.5 years. Imagine all the pairs l have saved guys. View attachment 49183

Hunter Biden has nothing on you! 😉
 
I got my new camera, but it is so complicated that it will take time to learn. In the meantime l will show you a crummy photo I managed to take. It is far advanced to my phone pictures. I never get antiquing details of my Lattanzi from my phone photos, but this camera gets it. I am still unable to focus in properly yet, but look!

When l told you my Lattanzi looks like old antiqued wood l were not telling fibs. Look! When my camera skills improve l am going to blow your mind. No-one does what Lattanzi does. I am basically wearing old antiqued furniture wood on my feet. When you see my Lattanzi's as they look to me in real life, your minds are going to be blown guys. I bought the good quality camera so the world could enjoy the furniture wood l wear on my feet everyday.
Lattanzi wood.webp
 
Here are some more Lattanzi antiquing. One day people will call me `the wood daddy'. One bloke told me that my shoos look like old furniture wood.

Lattanzi - old buried wood 1A.webp
Lattanzi - old buried wood 2A.webp
Lattanzi - old buried wood 3A.webp
 

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