The All-Inclusive Shoe & Boot Thread

I don't wear any dressy boots. I tend to stick to beef and broccolis or wheat 6' inch Timb if I'm wearing boots.
 

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Ask The Shooman The Shooman But the first question is - do you have any cream polish in that "green" :omg: colour? Thats the thing you'll eventually need. To bring it back up.

Basically its probably either grease/oil or water based. Decide which. One way is to put a pile of talcum powder on it over night and see if it soaks it up a bit.

Get some Saddle Soap or something more refined - stuff for cleaning leather furniture is a better bet than going to a cobbler. Safer. Then wash it out. You'll probably need a big retouch with GREEN cream polish.
 
No green polish cream, but might be able to if I contact Tricker's.

Might try the saddle soap process
 
Lost soles: Founders sad as Brunswick shoe store shuts up shop
By Carolyn Webb 18 January 2019 — 12:05am

One of the last of the old shoe shops in Brunswick is closing on Saturday, and the couple who founded it will be away at the beach.
Daughter Giulia Angerosa says her parents Donato, 86, and Lina, 84, who opened Anna Fiori Shoes here in 1966, felt "too emotional" to witness its demise.
"It means the end of an era to them and I think they would have liked it to end on a more successful note," Giulia says.
But she is also proud of their achievements.

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Giulia Angerosa at her family's soon to be closed store in Sydney Road, Brunswick. CREDIT:LUIS ASCUI


There were once Anna Fiori shops in Block Arcade and South Yarra, now closed, and customers included pop superstar Taylor Swift. Princess Mary of Denmark commissioned them to make red high-heeled D’Orsay court shoes for her five bridesmaids.

Giulia, who now runs the business, says the Brunswick shop is no longer viable. "There’s no one walking on Sydney Road."

She says the owners of the swish new apartments in the area are buying shoes online, or driving to big shopping centres.

The milk bars, butchers and grocers of 50 years ago are now a laser skin care centre, massage outlets and cafes.
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The shoe shop hasn't made money for two years, but there have been good times. In the early 1990s, Anna Fiori had 70 employees, produced more than 20,000 pairs a year and supplied 2000 retailers including Country Road, Myer and David Jones. Today, Anna Fiori produces about 5000 shoes per year, supplies about 12 Melbourne retailers and has just six employees, including Lina, Donato, Giulia and her brother Rick.

In the short term, the family will keep their factory at Thornbury, and showroom, and also sell online. Giulia says rejecting the lure of manufacturing overseas in the late 1990s was "not a very smart business decision".

But it would have ceded too much control to others. Shoemaking is part of her parents’ identities. "If someone’s going to take over, they’d prefer to close it."

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Lina, Donato and a young Guilia Angerosa with a customer in the store's heydey.

Growing up poor in San Donato village in southern Italy, her mother Lina wore lace-up work boots, but dreamt of owning a pair of red patent leather shoes. In 1966, 13 years after immigrating to Australia, and having worked in shoe factories, Lina had saved up to open her own shop. Lina had been bullied at work. "She used to say, 'I don’t care if I work night and day, as long as I’m my own boss'," Giulia says. Lina's husband Donato quit his construction job, after an injury, to join her.

They chose the business name Anna Fiori because it sounded good, and fiori means flowers in Italian. The couple cut, sewed, soled and heeled shoes in the back rooms, with the shop at the front. Lina was good at "finishing" and quality control, while Donato was a sales whiz.

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The shoes were popular because they were smart casual and could be worn either to work or going out – whether Oxford lace-ups, mid-heels or boots. Giulia says her parents worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with two weeks off for Christmas. Lina no longer goes without nice footwear, and today likes "frivolous shoes"; her favourite is a high-heeled sandal you could show off at a party. The company nearly folded 35 years ago when a retailer took stock worth $20,000 without paying for it. A loan from Lina’s brother funded a new range, which Lina and Donato were able to sell to Myer.

"She paid my uncle back and everything was fine."

Giulia said the business had survived 52 years out of "sheer perseverence and stubbornness". "When things are bad, my father always says 'tomorrow the sun will shine'. Mum says, 'this is the house where whoever works, eats'. You equate working with being able to feed yourself."
 
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Sent my pair of Alden beefroll penny loafers back for re-furbishing. Got the package back 3 weeks later with a letter stating "we no longer make this shoe, therefore this service is not available anymore." WTFF!
 
Sent my pair of Alden beefroll penny loafers back for re-furbishing. Got the package back 3 weeks later with a letter stating "we no longer make this shoe, therefore this service is not available anymore." WTFF!
Wow thats pretty shitty. Did you try calling?
 
Wow thats pretty shitty. Did you try calling?

No too lazy. I will just have a local guy do it since he is an authorized dealer and is a good cobbler.

I find it odd that even if they don't manufacture the shoe, they are unable to refurbish it. That is pretty bad service.
 
No too lazy. I will just have a local guy do it since he is an authorized dealer and is a good cobbler.

I find it odd that even if they don't manufacture the shoe, they are unable to refurbish it. That is pretty bad service.
No argument there
 
"There’s no one walking on Sydney Road."

She says the owners of the swish new apartments in the area are buying shoes online, or driving to big shopping centres.

The milk bars, butchers and grocers of 50 years ago are now a laser skin care centre, massage outlets and cafes.

That's a sad tale repeated around the western world. The old high street business model is dead. It cannot compete against the convenience and cost effectiveness of online retailers. Then you have the outlet village phenomenon. The rise of street wear as the de facto to go model of dressing for males and females hasn't helped either.

Sent my pair of Alden beefroll penny loafers back for re-furbishing. Got the package back 3 weeks later with a letter stating "we no longer make this shoe, therefore this service is not available anymore." WTFF!

Surprised at that, what rotters!
 
That's a sad tale repeated around the western world. The old high street business model is dead. It cannot compete against the convenience and cost effectiveness of online retailers. Then you have the outlet village phenomenon. The rise of street wear as the de facto to go model of dressing for males and females hasn't helped either.
!
I can’t vouch for their explanation of the downfall. I don’t know of the shop personally. And I suspect it may be more complex than their explanation.

I’m thinking of a local “high street” that a year or so ago had a long serving shoe shop close down and in the local paper blamed online sales and people taking photos then buying online and saying that B&M shoes were dead/impossible. Now a year or so later I count 3 new substantial shoes only shops on the same block. So............
 
That's a sad tale repeated around the western world. The old high street business model is dead. It cannot compete against the convenience and cost effectiveness of online retailers. Then you have the outlet village phenomenon. The rise of street wear as the de facto to go model of dressing for males and females hasn't helped either.



Surprised at that, what rotters!

Me too. Really shocked me. This does not make want to purchase Alden ever again.
 
I can’t vouch for their explanation of the downfall. I don’t know of the shop personally. And I suspect it may be more complex than their explanation.

I’m thinking of a local “high street” that a year or so ago had a long serving shoe shop close down and in the local paper blamed online sales and people taking photos then buying online and saying that B&M shoes were dead/impossible. Now a year or so later I count 3 new substantial shoes only shops on the same block. So............

Interesting there.
On a completely different forum which I read, that has nothing to do with style, menswear etc, the topic of ‘trainers’ came up and while it’s hardly a representative sample I was amazed at how many people (overwhelming majority) eplied that they only own one pair of shoes for wedding and job interviews and spend the rest of their lives in trainers. They even had a sneering disdain for people (like me!) who wear ‘proper’ shoes. I asked what kind of work these people did and many were in what we once considered ‘white collar’ jobs - office admin, banks, etc but as long as they aren’t ‘client facing’ the standard was polo shirt, jeans and trainers.
What a sad set of slobs we’ve become in the western world eh? A race to the bottom. What’s the next step? Jeans are too stifling so the dress code is sweat pants and the t shirt you slept in last night?
 
unfortunately, the construction is crap. basically alden is assembling spare parts "made in china" literally wasting the good stuff coming from horween and then they go for the artificial laquered finishing, which puts the quality level down. alden is an obscure and highly overpaid "baukastensystem"(modular system), not a shoe company anymore. ymmv.

if you really like this style, better go vintage, imo.

Their Saddle Oxford is still a design classic and pre-WWII collegiate favourite. Not to mention one robust American shoe.
 
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unfortunately, the construction is crap. basically alden is assembling spare parts "made in china" literally wasting the good stuff coming from horween and then they go for the artificial laquered finishing, which puts the quality level down. alden is highly overpaid "baukastensystem", not a shoe company anymore. ymmv.

if you really like this style, better go vintage, imo.
I didnt know they had outsourced all their materials to china now. Are they still doing construction in the US?
 
I didnt know they had outsourced all their materials to china now. Are they still doing construction in the US?

I assume they assemble at their premises, why not?

the oldest pair I handled are around thirty years old and the heel was already a premade part made in china. that's the way it is ...
 
unfortunately, the construction is crap. basically alden is assembling spare parts "made in china" literally wasting the good stuff coming from horween and then they go for the artificial laquered finishing, which puts the quality level down. alden is highly overpaid "baukastensystem", not a shoe company anymore. ymmv.

if you really like this style, better go vintage, imo.

Perhaps, I should have qualified that: my Alden saddles are from nearly a decade ago now.

Their gun-boats have lasted approximately 18-24 months which relegates them to the not very good. But I have some of their oiled sole ankle boots and crepe sole oxfords and they're pretty good and long lasting, but I only sport them in the summer.
 
Perhaps, I should have qualified that: my Alden saddles are from nearly a decade ago now.

what difference would this make?

Their gun-boats have lasted approximately 18-24 months which relegates them to the not very good. But I have some of their oiled sole ankle boots and crepe sole oxfords and they're pretty good and long lasting, but I only sport them in the summer.

each to his own. as I mentioned and you agreed yourself. it is not about the looks, it is about the overall quality of the construction and the materials used. understood, despite the wonky stitching eg. their interpretation of good year welted, you can hardly spot the drawbacks from the outside.

I had the "pleasure" to work on approximately a dozen pairs, which were all shell cordovan numbers on leather soles, which should in an ideal world represent their top range, and they had all the issues described. consider one of the two cobblers I use refused to repair a pair, due to the low quality. he approved them as unrepairable and particularly not worth the hassle. alden per se is not too common around these places, so it is not just simple ignorance, anyway.
 
what difference would this make?



each to his own. as I mentioned and you agreed yourself. it is not about the looks, it is about the overall quality of the construction and the materials used. understood, despite the wonky stitching eg. their interpretation of good year welted, you can hardly spot the drawbacks from the outside.

I had the "pleasure" to work on approximately a dozen pairs, which were all shell cordovan numbers on leather soles, which should in an ideal world represent their top range, and they had all the issues described. consider one of the two cobblers I use refused to repair a pair, due to the low quality. he approved them as unrepairable and particularly not worth the hassle. alden per se is not too common around these places, so it is not just simple ignorance, anyway.


I know Alden uses cheaper materials such as cheap fiberboard for their insoles and the workmanship is not great, but how do you know the heel was a premade part made in China?


Alden - cheap fiberboard insoles to cost cut


This pic was sent to me privately in 2009.
 
Clunes boot maker Duncan McHarg tells the story of his thousand dollar shoes
Rochelle Kirkham

Duncan McHarg walks out from his white weatherboard house wearing a worn brown leather apron.

There are holes in its bottom, a sign of long hours in his workshop at the front room of the old house on Clunes’ Fraser Street.
r0_0_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

OLD WAYS: Clunes bootmaker Duncan McHarg examines a current order. He has been working on the pair with a four figure price tag for two and a half years. Pictures: Lachlan Bence


It is hard not to immediately notice his shoes.
They are leather, a maroon colour, with off white strips down the side, and made entirely with Duncan’s own hands.
He leads the way into his home workshop, a room filled with hand tools, books, old papers and as one can expect, shoes.
A current order is sitting on top of a wooden table. They are attention grabbing on entrance to the room – a shiny leather shoe with a red upper that does not yet have a sole.
Duncan has been working on this pair of shoes for two and a half years. They are the product of more than 200 hours work. It is no wonder the price figure is into the four digits.
There is no sewing machine in sight. The entire shoe is made by hand.
r0_0_4911_3689_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


Duncan admits it is fine, meticulous, time-consuming work, but that is what is appealing.
He is one of only two people in the world (that he knows of) who are creating shoes entirely by hand, using ‘old-world’ methods and techniques.
“All my life I have enjoyed doing very fine meticulous work where time wasn’t the issue,” he says, holding his most recent order.
“Before I was working for myself I worked at several small factories. That never really worked out too well,” he says with a laugh. “I would be too busy on the details and they just needed to get it going through.
“It is fine work and the old skills that have had me interested.”
People are getting really interested in where something has come from and knowing there is one person who has spent an enormous amount of time working on an item for them.
Duncan McHarg, boot maker
A pile of old boot-making books with scruffy ends and worn covers sits under the main work table.
They hold the secrets of a trade and techniques that are long lost to commercial makers but kept alive by this man with a full grey-tinged beard and small gold-rimmed spectacles, in the packed front room of a humble Clunes home.
Duncan explains a pair of boots can take from 100 hours to more than 400 hours to create, hence the price tag that can be up to five figures.
But the shoes last indefinitely.
And people want them.
r0_187_3933_2400_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


Duncan is currently working on two orders.
For one he is designing boots for a lady who has bunions. Every element of the shoe is designed specifically for her feet.
“I spend about one and a half to two hours measuring the person’s feet,” he says.
“There are a whole bunch of measurements. I use a tool to take spot heights over bones and toe joints, heights of ankles.
“From all those measurements I carve up a pair of lasts and once I have got the lasts where I think I need them to be I then make a mock up of the shoes out of canvas (that I use a sewing machine for because it is basically a disposable shoe). I give these to the customer and they wear them around and take notes as to anything that needs adjusting.
r0_0_5515_3211_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


“The first pair I made for this lady were below the ankles. After she had worn them for a while she reaslied she would like them above the ankles for a bit more support so I redesigned the upper. She had these for a couple of months and I kept modifying it until she said ‘yep, most of the time it doesn’t feel like I am wearing shoes’.
“That is exactly what I am after.”
It is then the process of making the real leather shoe begins.
r0_0_3148_4923_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


Duncan’s drawings and boot designs hang framed on the wall. A shelf on the right holds a pair of magnificent tall black boots with incredible red and gold artwork and detailed buckles. These, he says, cost into the five figures, and he hasn’t managed to sell a pair yet.
The boots epitomise how the craft draws together Duncan’s varied interests. He designed and created the artwork, the buckles and the straps, using his experience in drawing and jewelry making.
The white stitching against the black leather highlights the incredible intricacy of the work.
It is that intricacy, he says, what is impossible to achieve with a sewing machine.
“By hand sewing you can sew finer than a sewing machine without compromising the strength of the leather. A sewing machine can get down to about 30 stitches to the inch before the holes are too big and it compromises the leather,” he says.
r0_12_5370_3043_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


“I have done 48 stitches to the inch, but there are examples from the Victorian era of prize work to win a contract to make shoes for the Queen and things like that that are 64 stitches to the inch. It is incredibly strong, it just takes time.”
Duncan’s workshop tells a story of a battle against consumerism and the desire to buy more and buy cheap that is creating an ever increasing pile of rubbish.
But he says during the past decade more people have shown interest in his craft and the idea of owning one pair of shoes that lasts so long.
“The Lost Trades Fair in Kyneton has gone absolutely ballistic. They had 23,000 people go through there back in March. Some people hang around with me for a couple of hours wanting to hear how the shoes are made,” he says.
“People are getting really interested in where something has come from and knowing there is one person who has spent an enormous amount of time working on something for them and they have worked with them on the design until it is exactly something they are interested in.
Some people hang around with me for a couple of hours wanting to hear how the shoes are made.
Duncan McHarg
“It is very different to what it was like at the turn of the century. It sort of went a bit quiet towards the first 10 years of the 2000s but in the last decade I have noticed it definitely increasing in interest.
“It is still difficult finding people with the money to be able to afford something like this, but there are certainly plenty of people interested in hearing about it and finding out more. A lot of what I do at any event is talk and explain the processes and people then understand why there is a four figure price tag. They might not be able to afford it but at the end of it they do understand.”
Duncan will again be at the Lost Trades Fair in Kyneton on the weekend of March 9 and 10.
More than 100 makers are expected to showcase their craftsmanship, forgotten arts and rare trades at the popular fair.
 
Interesting - Shooey should commission a pair from him!

The main problem he may face would be getting good quality leather, particularly if someone wants a pair of calf leather shoes.
 
Clunes boot maker Duncan McHarg tells the story of his thousand dollar shoes
Rochelle Kirkham

Duncan McHarg walks out from his white weatherboard house wearing a worn brown leather apron.

There are holes in its bottom, a sign of long hours in his workshop at the front room of the old house on Clunes’ Fraser Street.
r0_0_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

OLD WAYS: Clunes bootmaker Duncan McHarg examines a current order. He has been working on the pair with a four figure price tag for two and a half years. Pictures: Lachlan Bence


It is hard not to immediately notice his shoes.
They are leather, a maroon colour, with off white strips down the side, and made entirely with Duncan’s own hands.
He leads the way into his home workshop, a room filled with hand tools, books, old papers and as one can expect, shoes.
A current order is sitting on top of a wooden table. They are attention grabbing on entrance to the room – a shiny leather shoe with a red upper that does not yet have a sole.
Duncan has been working on this pair of shoes for two and a half years. They are the product of more than 200 hours work. It is no wonder the price figure is into the four digits.
There is no sewing machine in sight. The entire shoe is made by hand.
r0_0_4911_3689_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


Duncan admits it is fine, meticulous, time-consuming work, but that is what is appealing.
He is one of only two people in the world (that he knows of) who are creating shoes entirely by hand, using ‘old-world’ methods and techniques.
“All my life I have enjoyed doing very fine meticulous work where time wasn’t the issue,” he says, holding his most recent order.
“Before I was working for myself I worked at several small factories. That never really worked out too well,” he says with a laugh. “I would be too busy on the details and they just needed to get it going through.
“It is fine work and the old skills that have had me interested.”
People are getting really interested in where something has come from and knowing there is one person who has spent an enormous amount of time working on an item for them.​
Duncan McHarg, boot maker
A pile of old boot-making books with scruffy ends and worn covers sits under the main work table.
They hold the secrets of a trade and techniques that are long lost to commercial makers but kept alive by this man with a full grey-tinged beard and small gold-rimmed spectacles, in the packed front room of a humble Clunes home.
Duncan explains a pair of boots can take from 100 hours to more than 400 hours to create, hence the price tag that can be up to five figures.
But the shoes last indefinitely.
And people want them.
r0_187_3933_2400_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


Duncan is currently working on two orders.
For one he is designing boots for a lady who has bunions. Every element of the shoe is designed specifically for her feet.
“I spend about one and a half to two hours measuring the person’s feet,” he says.
“There are a whole bunch of measurements. I use a tool to take spot heights over bones and toe joints, heights of ankles.
“From all those measurements I carve up a pair of lasts and once I have got the lasts where I think I need them to be I then make a mock up of the shoes out of canvas (that I use a sewing machine for because it is basically a disposable shoe). I give these to the customer and they wear them around and take notes as to anything that needs adjusting.
r0_0_5515_3211_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


“The first pair I made for this lady were below the ankles. After she had worn them for a while she reaslied she would like them above the ankles for a bit more support so I redesigned the upper. She had these for a couple of months and I kept modifying it until she said ‘yep, most of the time it doesn’t feel like I am wearing shoes’.
“That is exactly what I am after.”
It is then the process of making the real leather shoe begins.
r0_0_3148_4923_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


Duncan’s drawings and boot designs hang framed on the wall. A shelf on the right holds a pair of magnificent tall black boots with incredible red and gold artwork and detailed buckles. These, he says, cost into the five figures, and he hasn’t managed to sell a pair yet.
The boots epitomise how the craft draws together Duncan’s varied interests. He designed and created the artwork, the buckles and the straps, using his experience in drawing and jewelry making.
The white stitching against the black leather highlights the incredible intricacy of the work.
It is that intricacy, he says, what is impossible to achieve with a sewing machine.
“By hand sewing you can sew finer than a sewing machine without compromising the strength of the leather. A sewing machine can get down to about 30 stitches to the inch before the holes are too big and it compromises the leather,” he says.
r0_12_5370_3043_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg


“I have done 48 stitches to the inch, but there are examples from the Victorian era of prize work to win a contract to make shoes for the Queen and things like that that are 64 stitches to the inch. It is incredibly strong, it just takes time.”
Duncan’s workshop tells a story of a battle against consumerism and the desire to buy more and buy cheap that is creating an ever increasing pile of rubbish.
But he says during the past decade more people have shown interest in his craft and the idea of owning one pair of shoes that lasts so long.
“The Lost Trades Fair in Kyneton has gone absolutely ballistic. They had 23,000 people go through there back in March. Some people hang around with me for a couple of hours wanting to hear how the shoes are made,” he says.
“People are getting really interested in where something has come from and knowing there is one person who has spent an enormous amount of time working on something for them and they have worked with them on the design until it is exactly something they are interested in.
Some people hang around with me for a couple of hours wanting to hear how the shoes are made.​
Duncan McHarg
“It is very different to what it was like at the turn of the century. It sort of went a bit quiet towards the first 10 years of the 2000s but in the last decade I have noticed it definitely increasing in interest.
“It is still difficult finding people with the money to be able to afford something like this, but there are certainly plenty of people interested in hearing about it and finding out more. A lot of what I do at any event is talk and explain the processes and people then understand why there is a four figure price tag. They might not be able to afford it but at the end of it they do understand.”
Duncan will again be at the Lost Trades Fair in Kyneton on the weekend of March 9 and 10.
More than 100 makers are expected to showcase their craftsmanship, forgotten arts and rare trades at the popular fair.

typical ugly aussie lasts more like orthopedic lasts and ugly lasts in general, and rough looking making and lasting, but would be interesting to check him out in person one day. Thanks for the link fxh fxh it was an interesting read.

Interesting - Shooey should commission a pair from him!

The main problem he may face would be getting good quality leather, particularly if someone wants a pair of calf leather shoes.

If he can show me he can do a good job l will get him to make a pair.

Yes, aussie makers are not known for using good leather. We generally get the seconds leather that no-one else wants. All the shoemakers use it these days. No-one gets the JR leather soles and nice upper leather, it's all mediocre at best. Even getting good alligator is difficult. The skills of the aussie makers are lacking and they can't charge the prices to have a market, so not worth ordering large supplies of high quality of leather to make it worth while,so they settle on junky leather.
 
I’Ve got tickets to the Lost Trades show in Kyneton early March shooey. That’s how I came across the article. He seems like a lot of Oz craft people. Too much romanticising the rough as guts Bush stuff and not enough emphasis on style. Compared to R M Williams they are real amateurs. He was a real bushman yet managed to make a sophisticated boot that still looks great.
 
I’Ve got tickets to the Lost Trades show in Kyneton early March shooey. That’s how I came across the article. He seems like a lot of Oz craft people. Too much romanticising the rough as guts Bush stuff and not enough emphasis on style. Compared to R M Williams they are real amateurs. He was a real bushman yet managed to make a sophisticated boot that still looks great.

fxh fxh Exactly. He talks about everything being handmade and being one of only two in the world 100% making boots by hand and talking about doing 48 spi on the soles blah blah blah. So what! Not many are going to pay big bucks for shoes that look like blobs that are lasted poorly with shoddy looking antiquing and sloppy work. As i'll tell him when l see him....people want shoes that look good and have good workmanship. It takes years of practice and training to get good enough, and making one boot over 2.5 years ain't gonna cut it. I'll tell him straight out...gotta clean out the delusion and bs going on inside the head. As some experts in Oz say....if you wanna charge the big bucks you make glued soled shoes for many years and master the shoe making skills and get some expert training and practice practice and practice some more, and when you get really good you start making them by hand and selling them for a fortune.

Talking about local makers, Theo is back to cordwaining again. He is getting better and l may give him a go soon. This guy is miles ahead. O.k, all of his lasts are still dreary, and many are blobby and ugly, but he has agreed if l give him a go he needs to find much better lasts than what he has got. He is a good bloke and he wants to do his best work, so he seems happy for me to push him hard to get his best results. Even that crocadile shoe last is simply not where it is at...it is too shapeless and unappealing. Theo needs to get his `last' game together and quit mucking around with that junky stuff he is using. That black chukka chisel toe shoo has the nice looking last.
https://roberts-hassett.com.au/blog/
 
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Duncan McHarg says people don't have the money to pay big bucks for shoos. Rubbish. People have plenty of money and will travel the world for great shoos, and you can charge $10,000 for a pair of calfskin, but they need to be perfect like this:
Berluti bespoke blue 1.jpg

If things aren't close to perfect your asking price will need to be less. If your skills aren't too good your asking price must be much less.
 
Last time I called into Captains the shoe bloke had sort of shut up shop. Interesting he’s back again. He was always pleasant to talk to. Funny first time I met him was late one night in light rain and we were both looking in the American Tailors window at some shoes and he noticed my GYW lace up boots.
 
I’Ve got tickets to the Lost Trades show in Kyneton early March shooey. That’s how I came across the article. He seems like a lot of Oz craft people. Too much romanticising the rough as guts Bush stuff and not enough emphasis on style. Compared to R M Williams they are real amateurs. He was a real bushman yet managed to make a sophisticated boot that still looks great.

well, this is an interesting observation, at least to me. in my book the two pull tabs put them far away from a sophisticated appearance. ymmv.

I'm pretty sure the McHarg guy has been called into one of the bespoke threads on styfo. needless to say, he received a warm welcome from D.W. Frommer ..., actually I thought he is quite quirky in his approach, but he knows his stuff. of course, I can't speak for the leather quality he has access to and where he sources his demand on leather from but I could understand his love for the trade, anyway.
 
Last time I called into Captains the shoe bloke had sort of shut up shop. Interesting he’s back again. He was always pleasant to talk to. Funny first time I met him was late one night in light rain and we were both looking in the American Tailors window at some shoes and he noticed my GYW lace up boots.

Theo has been back for ages, well over a year, maybe even two years now. He is very determined and talented. He went overseas and sadly spent his time doing basic repairs with an orthopedic shoemaker, he reports he didn't learn much.

I remember when Theo thread his first pig's bristle. He knew Mr X as well, but Mr X told him to stop deluding himself, but Theo knows the money is in the bags he makes, shoes is his hobby.
 
McHarg would definitely be reading and learning from the boot forum, and of course he would know D.W Frommer. He talks the Frommer talk about 64 spi on the soles and all that. He even looks like a young D.W.Frommer. Frommer has possibly taken the lad under his wing.

I like Mc Harg's jumpers too....fat ones, arygles and all the good designs.
 
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