The All-Inclusive Shoe & Boot Thread

Panama said:
I have been wearing my Court Lites tennis sneakers quite often. I have clean them today just with a magic eraser sponge. I have also bought Woly creme essentielle but haven't used it. I need to polish some black Oxfords. I will probably get some Saphir creams.
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I’d forgotten about magic erasers- fabulous for cleaning rubber soles! I use them a lot on my kids’ sneakers.

For leather conditioning, I’m a big fan of Obernauf’s LP, but I’m sure The Shooman The Shooman can suggest some other conditioners and polishes suitable for dress shoes. I’m still looking for a good polish that doesn’t smell of kerosene and isn’t full of cheap waxes and stabilisers.
 
Panama said:
I have been wearing my Court Lites tennis sneakers quite often. I have cleaned them today just with a magic eraser sponge. I have also bought Woly creme essentielle but haven't used it. I need to polish some black Oxfords. I will probably get some Saphir creams.
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For years I used Kiwi or Cherry Blossom. In more recent years I used their liquid polish. Now that I have over 20 GYW shoes I have not needed to polish, just given them a wipe with a damp cloth but two pairs now need a polish and I sure Kiwi shine and protect is not the correct product...
 
Jake from StateFarm or whatever just uploaded a video review of his Benzein boots. His criticisms and praise are right on the mark, imo.



I’m very happy with mine and would not pay three times the price to ‘upgrade’ to the next tier of maker. Indo hand-welted boots are good for me.

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^^^

yes, paying more can be about many things. A better shoe, the experience, rarity, prestige and other such things come into it. Not everyone wants that. Most blokes just want to be common bootmen, ie, they don't want to be BIG boot daddies.
 
Another nice thing about the Benzeins, is that each pair is hand made for the customer. I supplied all my measurements and they then fit me to a 44W on this last - adding a little extra room across the ball of the foot and a few other tweaks. Not bespoke or full mtm - but a very good custom fit.

With Clinch (Jake’s gold standard), you pay $2k and they won’t even offer anything other than a standard or narrow size. So not even an option for my duck feet. Granted, they do have a slightly nicer profile.

Clinch Boots Engineer Boots - Black Overdyed Horsebutt - CN Wide Last

Clinch is made by BRASS, one of the first high-end shoe repair shops to open in Japan, owned and operated by Minoru Matsuura. They quickly evolved from shoe repair; to re-lasting to their custom lasts; to building incredible footwear around their custom lasts. These lasts are where the magic...
standardandstrange.com standardandstrange.com
 
I have enjoyed wearing my Clarks Court Lites. And although I have been inundated with Sneaker ads on Instagram, I have opted for 2 pairs of K-Swiss Court sneakers in their sale.

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Dropbear said:
I’d forgotten about magic erasers- fabulous for cleaning rubber soles! I use them a lot on my kids’ sneakers.

For leather conditioning, I’m a big fan of Obernauf’s LP, but I’m sure The Shooman The Shooman can suggest some other conditioners and polishes suitable for dress shoes. I’m still looking for a good polish that doesn’t smell of kerosene and isn’t full of cheap waxes and stabilisers.
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well, obenauf is not really available around here and I'm not going the extra mile unless a customer of mine is willing to cover the charges, postage, tax, import duty, you name it.

at least shoe care is not a one way street. while, I have a standard regime, curating various collections, you need to be flexible. btw, never had a problem with saddle soap, quite the opposite. care to elaborate, many thanks.
 
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Shoos from the great French maker

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He uses a special method which has covered the outsole stitching. Looks like he spliced the outsole on top and then covered it over, and probably did the same with the bottom of the insole when he did the channeled sole. :o



Some serious boot action here
 
The one thing I am missing from my shoe rotation is a pair of boots. I am considering the following

Red Wing 875 £289.00
Alden 405 Indy £595.00

I was considering Trickers, but the price has shot up...
 
Panama said:
The one thing I am missing from my shoe rotation is a pair of boots. I am considering the following

Red Wing 875 £289.00
Alden 405 Indy £595.00

I was considering Trickers, but the price has shot up...
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Well third party websites have the Trickers at a more reasonable price point...
 
The Indys are a nice boot and Trickers have some good options. The Redwing Gentleman Traveller (or whatever they are calling it now) is good, but I’m sure you can find better options over there. What about a service boot, like Viberg or Dayton? I’d suggest steering clear of wedge soled Americana work boots.
 
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sirloin said:
Click on the image to see the video.
60 bespoke and 60 rtw

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He has great taste in shoes, a dream collection.

He has slowed down buying over the last several years. Has hardly purchased any new pairs. It reaches a stage where when doesn't need to keep buying anymore. This was his collection 7 years ago, has hardly increased at all. It is good when one reaches that stage, one is happy with what one has got.

Now that's what I call obsessive!

Jun Kuwana (King Croesus of the shoeworld) has used his instagram site to show a family portrait (or two) of all his shoes: https://instagram.com/not_fashion_but_style/ Those are his ready-to-wear-shoe (apparently he missed a few pairs) and those are his bespoke shoes (55 pairs and...
www.styleforum.net www.styleforum.net
 
Here shoegazing has a good article on taking shoes apart. You really get what you pay for. So many corners are cut, eg, using thin insoles and thermal-plastic heel counters etc, even up to John Lobb rtw level.

If one uses more handwork with better materials one can make a shoe that molds better to the foot, ie, cutting and molding a inner leather heel counter instead of using plastic, and a hand construction instead of machine construction etc. It all takes time and more skill, but it is better.

Shoegazing doesn't get all his facts right in the article, but it is still very good.

In depth – Disassembly of shoes​

In depth - Disassembly of shoes - Shoegazing.com

Continuing on the theme of what distinguishes shoes in different price ranges, this time in a proper in-depth manner. Together with the shoemakers and
shoegazing.com shoegazing.com
 
My current favorite all-purpose shoe/boot maintenance products (could easily sub Obernauf’s LP for the Pecards though):

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Ole Rosey Anvil makes an excellent video and tears Alden a new a-hole by exposing the Indy boot for the substandard boot that it is, exposing all the cheap materials used and corners cut in it's making. However the `net-gents' of S.F are trying to ignore the facts and pretend all is well. They say `rosey isn't a shoemaker, so what does he know'. - `rosey is bought off by Whites boots' etc. They say to ignore the facts and just enjoy the boots. I say to them, facts don't lie.

Leather board everywhere, and the thin insoles are made from the cheap grainy split leather. Synthetic heel counters and toe puffs of course. Bonwelts (rands) are also made from cheap split leather.

An excellent video worth watching.
 
The Indy is a still a nice looking boot. I wish White’s/Viberg/Wesco/Nick’s/etc made something a little sleeker and dressier that could compete. The ‘Semi-Dress’ is also a nice boot, but still far less formal than the Indy.
 
Looking at the Corthay derby. $3000, for gyw...far more than l anticipated. These people are off there heads. With the bad exchange rate these would be almost $5,000 ASD.
www.corthay.com

Arca

Arca
www.corthay.com www.corthay.com
 
A very interesting video. A bloke resoles a gyw shoe by stitching a new sole on by hand (the superior way of sole construction). I suspect he is too poor to afford an outsole stitcher.

 
The Shooman said:
A very interesting video. A bloke resoles a gyw shoe by stitching a new sole on by hand (the superior way of sole construction). I suspect he is too poor to afford an outsole stitcher.

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Great video . That guy is really sure about what he is doing. No fumbling or hesitation at all.
 
With the nice weather coming it is time for a few of the patina shoes in unusual colours to come out again. While l am at it l have also approached quality shoo stockists to try and do a deal by stocking these beauties:








It is about time Australia got a taste of this type of thing. It is hand welted. Fabulous patinas too.
 
Sammy Ambrose said:
Don't use IG or Fb. Can't view.
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I know, for many years l refused to sign up to instagram. Last year l signed up so l could view all the beautiful shoos. Glad l did.

Sammy Ambrose Sammy Ambrose here is a link to a video of a joonior shooman receiving his pairs. They are La Berta and have been making shoo trees for over 100 years. Looks like they might have links to the legendary Kalman Berta, one of the last remaining great bespoke tree/last makers in the world (he made me three pairs and is in the Vass book); pity Friztl wasn't here to confirm. They make quality shoe trees, better than most apparently. No internet site yet, but l understand they are working on it.
 
Sammy Ambrose said:
We never blame THE Shooman anything. Let those who dare...
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l understand your hesitation. I understand the communist and big brother tones of these social media. Best not to make any comments or post anything, just view what others are doing. Know what they are Sammy Ambrose Sammy Ambrose , but don't give them what they want. Use it to view shoos once in a bloo moon.
 
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One of the ridiculous videos on shoes ever posted, and ole Rosey Anvil talks nonsense from start to finish too.
 
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