The All-Inclusive Shoe & Boot Thread

I completely understand the problem. Recently my arch has sunken alittle and my foot has pushed out and caused some gaping at the mouth area on various pairs of factory shoes. It is not evident on the handmade ones, only the machine constructed pairs. The handmades can have more arch support built in and it holds the foot better in place so there is less rolling of the foot, but not everyone can wear them, especially flat footed humans.

Yes, my AE loafer and quarter brogues are the most severe, evident even when standing still (college bargain acquisitions that are still occasionally in use). The handmade shoes from Hungary suffer much less from this, although they still bow out a little when I walk. This is the first pair that is truly skin tight. The shoemaker suggested this last and I'm in love with it. Another pair is being made, black full brogue.
 
Vladimir Riché shows his shoe collection and dreads when his wife sees it.

I remember Mr Pollock saying that he had to sneak in the last 100 or so pairs because he didn't want his wife to know lol. Women are funny like that, they don't understand why a man would need so many shoes, they don't understand the male mindset when it comes to shoes, and they can carry on about it.

Collecting dress shoos is a real special thing with a unique mindset particular to blokes. It's a celebration of being a man. We are so lucky to have great shoes available to us. Women haven't got the great stuff we have in footwear. Makes me glad to be a man.

So many beautiful shoes for low prices too. In the old days the cheap shoes were all foul in looks.
 
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The Allen Edmonds executives have been well trained by their companies owners to promote silly ideas to the public in the name of advanced designs for a modern world. They now call replacing leather with synthetics in the shoes "light weight" and "comfort" shoes. You see, modern man are too weak to walk in leather shoes so he needs synthetics in his shoes, and he needs leather replaced with synthetic sponges so they are comfortable. I wrote in detail about this a year or two back.

Of course The Kavalier swallows the nonsense spewed out by the executive hook line and sinker, but l think the public won't be buying his rot for too long. The public knows `cheap' when they see it. You might be able to fool some of the public some of the time, but when they start getting hot and smelly feet in summer they will start to cotton on as to what's going on.

Of course the owner Caleres loves their synthetics, and they love owning shoe companies that produce off shore. Hmmm.

Pity l didn't do the interview with that executive, l could have asked him the tough questions. :problemo:

Here is Mr Softy, The Kavalier. Easy to pull over that boy's eyes....still wet behind the ears. :annoyed:
 
Vladimir Riché shows his shoe collection and dreads when his wife sees it.

Haha this guy is quite funny in his own way. Seems more sensible than most of the pontiffs floating around on the tube.
 
What do people think about kangaroo vs calf leather for shoes? Or in particular, boots? My shells seem to suffer from water spots fairly easily so I'm looking for a leather that is more resilient to wet weather.
 
What do people think about kangaroo vs calf leather for shoes?

Kangaroo is thin and light, but strong. The downside is that it wrinkles a lot, and I mean a lot. Very good for soft dance shoes and football boots, but perhaps not so good for dress captoes.
 
What do people think about kangaroo vs calf leather for shoes? Or in particular, boots? My shells seem to suffer from water spots fairly easily so I'm looking for a leather that is more resilient to wet weather.

Give your shell shoes a couple of coats of moisterizer followed by two coats of wax. It should seal them enough to protect against the water.
 
Kangaroo is thin and light, but strong. The downside is that it wrinkles a lot, and I mean a lot. Very good for soft dance shoes and football boots, but perhaps not so good for dress captoes.

Thinking about George boots - some of the vintage pairs look amazing. Have to admit the lightness does appeal to me - I'm lazy that way!

Give your shell shoes a couple of coats of moisterizer followed by two coats of wax. It should seal them enough to protect against the water.

Sounds good, I'll try that.
 
question for you guys - i took out a pair of my wolverine 1000 miles today after not having worn them in a long time. several years in fact. they'd been in the box with shoe trees in them. now, they're squeaking like an old hardwood floor every time i step. its audibly loud. any suggestions on fixing this?
 
The Shooman The Shooman
Some of my collection from 70s etc.
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question for you guys - i took out a pair of my wolverine 1000 miles today after not having worn them in a long time. several years in fact. they'd been in the box with shoe trees in them. now, they're squeaking like an old hardwood floor every time i step. its audibly loud. any suggestions on fixing this?

moisturize them. Then put some baby powder inside and shake them so it gets into the seams along the sock liner. Squeaking is usually one part of the shoe rubbing against another.
 
Is this roo leather? Were these all constructed in Australia?
Nope the red dancers shoes were purchased in '79 in NYC from a shop that catered for dancers. I had a white pair too the same. They also had slim flat front trousers with a bit of elastic in them. This was when there wasn't slim high waisted trousers around.
The woven leather were Made in Italy - they are still in great nick and if they were brown I'd be wearing them. I just cant get it in my head to make them work in a combo I can think of.

The Two Tone Blue Corespondents with high heel were made in Melbourne. As were the Sharpie Platform shoes.
I think the Suede Beatle Boots were Made in Oz.
 
A pair of 1960's rockers shoes made locally in some of the finest quality boxcalf you'll ever see. I doubt you'd see that type of leather quality anymore.
Peter Callea 10.jpg

I have also had shoes repaired with 70 year old Australian oak bark tanned sole leather that is far superior to any Bakers or Rendenbach used today. The old leathers were far superior because the animals were bread to grow at a normal rate in the old days and not fast like today. Hilary Freeman told me even in the 1950's makers were complaining that the leather wasn't as good. My mate Isshy tells me the 1930's shoes were much better quality while the modern Lobbs shoes crack after 20 years.
 
The woven leather were Made in Italy - they are still in great nick and if they were brown I'd be wearing them. I just cant get it in my head to make them work in a combo I can think of.

it is quite common, that people have a black shoe blockade for no real reasons, anyway. you could give them a brown or blue hue using shoe cream. particularly, because you mentioned, you always buy "stronger" colours when on sale or with a good discount. it is quite easy. afaik, you have enough casual clothes in earth tones, which can be paired with black casual shoes. if the romans can, you can, not?
 
I got to visit the RMW shop in Austin last week. Nice to see some of their leathers in person ... as well as a lot of their awful new models. The biggest surprise for me was how nice kangaroo skin looked and felt.
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^ I walked past a display of their new boot the other day. It looked hideous - much worse in the actual leather than in photos.
 
I got to visit the RMW shop in Austin last week. Nice to see some of their leathers in person ... as well as a lot of their awful new models. The biggest surprise for me was how nice kangaroo skin looked and felt.
View attachment 33157View attachment 33158

beware, a number of the R.M.Williams are now well below par in recent times. Why? They use soft toe puffs and extra soft leather not really suited to the boots. If you push on the toe puffs the whole thing pushes in. That does not make for a boot that holds it shape well. The R.M.W craftsman have largely looked like bags on the feet due to poor last design, but the recent changes will mean they will look like old decrepit bags on the feet before too long. Seems like cost cutting to me, not making the boots properly. Some of the culprits are photographed above. NO STRUCTURE to the boots!

Note: when a company makes big changes to making a boot for the first time in 100 years, you need to have red flags ringing, especially when the changes are all bad ones!
 
^ I walked past a display of their new boot the other day. It looked hideous - much worse in the actual leather than in photos.

Yes, they are not even a manly boot, but more like a sock with a sole. It is like they use soft handbag leather. Look at how the boot at the top pic has all caved in, it is extra soft and certainly not tough how a boot needs to be. It's just a sock with a heal.

A top cobbler and l were discussing the new R.M.W boots while member fxh fxh was in the background and we were shocked at how bad the boots really are. It's weird....it's like a cheap boot a women would wear (soft with little structure), but with goodyear welting. I suspect the owners have forced the changes where modern shoes are made to be worse. Same goes with Allen Edmonds....it's the new way of hoodwinking the public.
 
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Those look really strange boots - like they are collapsing. Are they all unlined?

No they are lined. All the rules of good bootmaking have been broken, and it tells me the owners are forcing things on them. I find it really embarrassing, how can l promote my local famous boots when they are doing these types of things. Reg Williams would be appalled. About 20 years ago some kids in management got an idea to stop using mutton fat on the boots and cost cut by designing the pants different by taking off the `silly' loops. The bushmen started complaining that their boots were squeaking and they had nowhere to hook their knives and other things onto. Reg came back to the company and sacked the lot of them and restored R.M.Williams to the true bushmans outfitter that it was. See....LVMH don't understand these types of things and the true heritage of R.M.Williams, so they employ kids in the office to design things, but these kids are wet behind the ears and undermine the company by making a silly fashion boot that has nothing to do with it's heritage. It looks similar, but it is world's apart. What a mess R.M.W is becoming.

Imagine how humiliating it must be for the workers to be told to make boots in a substandard way.
 
question for you guys - i took out a pair of my wolverine 1000 miles today after not having worn them in a long time. several years in fact. they'd been in the box with shoe trees in them. now, they're squeaking like an old hardwood floor every time i step. its audibly loud. any suggestions on fixing this?

btw, I like it, when shoes talk to me, ymmv. sometimes, it is a seasonal thing. change of climate conditions and/or simply dried out. it goes away most of the time, but can return after a long storage.
 
hey,

for the top-top researchers on this spot foxandhound doghouse doghouse ASSHAT formby001 formby001 Thruth Thruth , well this selection should suffice for such a simple task, but still. the more, the better, not?

actually, I stumbled across this post on styfo:

#1648
https://www.styleforum.net/threads/riccardo-bestetti-bespoke-projects.251332/post-9785589

tbh, I was astounded to see a top-top executive like fipsy aka lkp being involved into a fraud by a highly admired brand for bespoke shoes. well, he always claimed to be not as versed as others in this field. still, I didn't expect him to be so helpless and inconscious in what seems to be a standard situation and easy to resolve, nvm.

I always thought of fipsy as a godfather or lichtgestalt, like his fellow countryman franz. It obviously turns out, he is more like Moe Green, addictet to whores and drugs. I hope he is well with his top-top escort(retired) wife. I wish him all the best.

on a random note. the thread is crowded by people, who told all and everone: it is not a miracle to have bespoke shoes. sure, guys, see what you have now. you lost a chunk of money and got into lots of trouble, good lord. this is so funny, i'snt it?

At this point, I have to thank ASSHAT , that he reminds so often, how lucky I was, always getting straight to my goal, having shoes I can enjoy. hey ASSHAT, much appreciated. I only recommend: take the right choices in your life and it's easy like riding a bicycle. been there, done that. never looked back ...
 
hey,

for the top-top researchers on this spot foxandhound doghouse doghouse ASSHAT formby001 formby001 Thruth Thruth , well this selection should suffice for such a simple task, but still. the more, the better, not?

actually, I stumbled across this post on styfo:

#1648
https://www.styleforum.net/threads/riccardo-bestetti-bespoke-projects.251332/post-9785589

tbh, I was astounded to see a top-top executive like fipsy aka lkp being involved into a fraud by a highly admired brand for bespoke shoes. well, he always claimed to be not as versed as others in this field. still, I didn't expect him to be so helpless and inconscious in what seems to be a standard situation and easy to resolve, nvm.

I always thought of fipsy as a godfather or lichtgestalt, like his fellow countryman franz. It obviously turns out, he is more like Moe Green, addictet to whores and drugs. I hope he is well with his top-top escort(retired) wife. I wish him all the best.

on a random note. the thread is crowded by people, who told all and everone: it is not a miracle to have bespoke shoes. sure, guys, see what you have now. you lost a chunk of money and got into lots of trouble, good lord. this is so funny, i'snt it?

At this point, I have to thank ASSHAT , that he reminds so often, how lucky I was, always getting straight to my goal, having shoes I can enjoy. hey ASSHAT, much appreciated. I only recommend: take the right choices in your life and it's easy like riding a bicycle. been there, done that. never looked back ...

Huts 3 & 6 shut years ago son.
 
hey,

for the top-top researchers on this spot foxandhound doghouse doghouse ASSHAT formby001 formby001 Thruth Thruth , well this selection should suffice for such a simple task, but still. the more, the better, not?

actually, I stumbled across this post on styfo:

#1648
https://www.styleforum.net/threads/riccardo-bestetti-bespoke-projects.251332/post-9785589

tbh, I was astounded to see a top-top executive like fipsy aka lkp being involved into a fraud by a highly admired brand for bespoke shoes. well, he always claimed to be not as versed as others in this field. still, I didn't expect him to be so helpless and inconscious in what seems to be a standard situation and easy to resolve, nvm.

I always thought of fipsy as a godfather or lichtgestalt, like his fellow countryman franz. It obviously turns out, he is more like Moe Green, addictet to whores and drugs. I hope he is well with his top-top escort(retired) wife. I wish him all the best.

on a random note. the thread is crowded by people, who told all and everone: it is not a miracle to have bespoke shoes. sure, guys, see what you have now. you lost a chunk of money and got into lots of trouble, good lord. this is so funny, i'snt it?

At this point, I have to thank ASSHAT , that he reminds so often, how lucky I was, always getting straight to my goal, having shoes I can enjoy. hey ASSHAT, much appreciated. I only recommend: take the right choices in your life and it's easy like riding a bicycle. been there, done that. never looked back ...

Hey G, how are things? Not sure what I am supposed to be top, top researching based on that link to SF.
 
Hey G, how are things? Not sure what I am supposed to be top, top researching based on that link to SF.

oh easy, I listed you among the dickheads of the forum and it worked. it was a backhanded return on your smiley in the disagreeable thread, all is good.

things are going well so far, thanks for asking.
 
oh easy, I listed you among the dickheads of the forum and it worked. it was a backhanded return on your smiley in the disagreeable thread, all is good.

things are going well so far, thanks for asking.

oh ok. Good to hear you are well. Nice to know you are so detailed in your follow ups to the emoji flow on DW too.

Sadly I am only a one-forum dickhead. A domestic DW dickhead if you will. Small fish with an emoji. I don’t have the acumen and experience to broaden my scope.
 
Nice to know you are so detailed in your follow ups to the emoji flow on DW too.

well, I don't, but ASSHAT is always good for an offensive post. nvm. normally, only the unnbearable doghosue is responding, ololo

afaik, our friend ASSHAT never showed his kicks, right? same goes for foxandhound and formby001 formby001

as long as those guys stick their noses/dicks only into private affairs, I can't take them serious at all, sorry.

ps: the sf-link doesn't shine a bright light on fipsy, agreed? it is the fate of the parvenu, period.
 
well, I don't, but ASSHAT is always good for an offensive post. nvm. normally, only the unnbearable doghosue is responding, ololo

afaik, our friend ASSHAT never showed his kicks, right? same goes for foxandhound and formby001 formby001

as long as those guys stick their noses/dicks only into private affairs, I can't take them serious at all, sorry.

ps: the sf-link doesn't shine a bright light on fipsy, agreed? it is the fate of the parvenu, period.

Look, you obnoxious prick. You said in our previous 'bust up' that you have had enough of 'this nonsense' yet here you are, again, involving me in your obsessive bullshit.

I don't like you, I don't like your attitude and I think you've got a personality problem. So here's some advice:

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Gabish?
 

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