Shoe Damage Report & Shoe P0rn Central - Part II - Page 703

im diggin' the blog but your pics grossly under appreciate the subjects.

Aint nothing wrong wid dis pic- score

im not a critic of the Dover but im no fan either. might be the most polarizing shoe in all of SF. more so for some than others..

Am thinking you mean how thy tans and quality of pic. Absolutely agree but only things I have it's me when about London is my iPad or iPhone. Don't have luxury of taking my D60 as am working when in city.

Poses, well I'm still a novice here so am researching photos that look good here and on Internet but appreciate any suggestions you think will help.

Appreciate the post though, NAMOR.


http://gentlemansgent.blogspot.co.uk/

they are a staple in every man's wardrobe, imo

Just because you collect vintage shoes doesn't make you an expert, especially with shoes made yesterday. I am by no means a shoe expert, but all shoe guys know that a closed channel is more desireable than it's counterpart. In the case of, say, C&J bench vs handgrades the resole upcharge on a closed channel shoe is only 10 pounds. Does C&J use the more craft intensive method (whereas they cut the channel at a deeper angle*)? I don't know. But for a shoe guy, it is definitely a sign of attention to detail as you have confirmed in the quote below (bolded portion).

I like how Uncle Mac comes in every now and again to break up these arguments, don't you?



*

DW, in your professional opinion, do shoemakers that employ Goodyear welting use open channeled (or stitched aloft) methods to cut costs in lieu of closed channeled welting, no matter the angle of the cut? I have had shoes form several makers with closed channel welting that either wore thru to the stitch quickly or not, and have had shoes stitched aloft and could not figure why anyone would leave the stitched exposed given a choice, even if the stitching method meant that if one stitch broke or wore thru, it wouldn't cause a massive unraveling event. Why do they do that (stitch aloft)?

Unfortunately, each of the the Shoes that I had interest in (Ashby, Halifax and Plymouth) were non-stocked items and Phuked if I'm waiting for 5 months.
In addition, none of the Suede offerings were to my liking ...Oyster, Mushroom and the appropriate for yesterday, St Patricks Day Green.

Anyways - each to their own - One mans meat is another mans poison - which is why I cannot get hard for Shell, Darltons, Marlows etc...

I collect ALL kinds of quality shoes, from those made 80+ years ago to those made last week.


Not necessarily. With places like SF applauding the use of the closed channel (and 'lickable') sole, and equating it's use with proof a shoe is higher quality, a savvy marketing research department would inform the manufacturing dept that it should be included in the final product.. regardless of quality. The $200 shoe with closed channel stitch is proof of this. Some see the sole and assume, "this MUST be a high quality shoe, with attention to detail". One who is knowledgeable of the formula: price - (costs of materials + manufacturing + packaging + marketing) = final net profit, would have to question whether this is truly the case.

What is the best shoe model to get the burnish look on, only on the front.

To get the full impact of wearing Dovers, you got to get dressed up and walk in them.

It all comes down to profit margins, and that in turn governs what the priorities of the operation are. By itself Goodyear construction is so commonplace as to almost be the new standard of quality , especially among those who don't know any better. But unfortunately the switch from handwelted (or some reasonable facsimile) is indicative/symptomatic of a more profound flaw in both vision and the acceptance of responsibility to the customer.

All by way of saying that once Goodyear construction is embraced, other expediencies are inevitable.

I don't know of a single exception in which Goodyear construction has not led to a concomitant decrease in the quality of the insole. Sometimes...at least for a time...the insole remains leather, although not of the same substance or quality needed for hand welted work. But eventually fiberboard or leatherboard insoles are substituted. It's too tempting inb terms of profit especially since the customer doesn't know any better and seemingly doesn't care to know.

And so it goes...all in the name of minimizing the cost of production and maximizing profit.

Eventually, even if a company starts out hand channeling the outsole, somewhere along the line pressure will mount to get rid of the labour costs and the time associated with hand channeling and a faster cheaper solution will be sought.Sometimes those solutions are satisfactory in terms of objective quality...sometimes not so much.

When a shoe is stitched aloft or groove channeled, grit gets to the stitches almost immediately and begins to destroy the integrity of the stitch. Everyone who knows anything about shoes or even simple mechanics understand this is going on. But it's cheaper, it allows the shoes to compete at a more profitable margin and as Isshin mentioned, marketing will take up the slack.

I don't see anything functionally wrong with a tightly closed, machine sewn, vertical channel. I like and admire an angled channel, hand cut or machine cut.

But a horizontal channel, hand cut, or more likely machine cut, is almost as bad as stitching aloft. And IMO, a grooved channel is not much better than stitching aloft.

+1 chestnut is fantastic

I like chestnut/english tan in the spring/summer. Even with lightweight navy blue suits. It's a bit 'out there' for some. But I find if I wear a tie or a square that relates well to the color of the shoe it all comes together just fine for my non conservative environment.

Great collection in Chestnut. I appreciate how each shoe is totally unique in its' style. One would never know that the same man owned all those pairs.