Gaziano & Girling Appreciation & Shoe Appreciation Thread (including reviews, purchases, pictures)

Considering the contrasts in their last styles, it's no surprise that one might consider the other "disgusting" in general: G&G's slim, elongated lasts and their nose-picker Deco toes, versus Cleverley's unchanging wide forefoot, organic shape and chunky square toe. I'm sure Mr Glasgow things G&G's products are effete, trendy and frivolous, and Mr Gaziano probably find's GC's shoes old-fashioned, stumpy and ugly. Maybe Mr Glasgow doesn't think much of the stamped look of hatch grain either, compared to the extraordinary rarity of their antique ocean-cured Russian reindeer. Which someone else might point out is smelly, hard to care for and probably not as pretty as many other leathers half the price.

But me, I'm just glad there's such a wonderful array of shoe love to choose from. We all have our thing, don't we?

Meanwhile, Mr Glasgow Sr could be heard singing "Big Poppa"....



mimo said:

Considering the contrasts in their last styles, it's no surprise that one might consider the other "disgusting" in general: G&G's slim, elongated lasts and their nose-picker Deco toes, versus Cleverley's unchanging wide forefoot, organic shape and chunky square toe.  I'm sure Mr Glasgow things G&G's products are effete, trendy and frivolous, and Mr Gaziano probably find's GC's shoes old-fashioned, stumpy and ugly.  Maybe Mr Glasgow doesn't think much of the stamped look of hatch grain either, compared to the extraordinary rarity of their antique ocean-cured Russian reindeer.  Which someone else might point out is smelly, hard to care for and probably not as pretty as many other leathers half the price.

But me, I'm just glad there's such a wonderful array of shoe love to choose from.  We all have our thing, don't we?

Meanwhile, Mr Glasgow Sr could be heard singing "Big Poppa"....

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From the pictures I've seen, that's pretty accurate

I like the Cleverley style, personally.

I can't comment on something I've never seen and feel, but exclusively from the pictures I've seen, I don't



bboysdontcryy said:

Stunned by that emotional and baseless reply, I surmised that there must have been some bad blood between Cleverley and Girling and I was just checking out Girling's origins and then I discovered that Tony started off at Cleverley.

No wonder. But how petty.

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It's not the first time something like this has happened:

joshman said:

At least the "interesting things" about Lobb SJ Glasgow referred to were only about the blobby last and lack of trial fitting. His comments on Gaziano and Paul Davis were just unprintable.

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Jermyn said:

Another interesting piece of information emerged when the name of Tony Gaziano was mentioned, "he is a thief a cheat and a liar and the thing is he'd probably be happy that I said that to you" said the gentleman running the store. This was said with several other people listening (I wouldn't have repeated this had it been said in confidence).

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John Carnera seems like a good guy though:

Michael Ay329 said:

I do want to add back in February of 2009, I just walked into Cleverley unannounced. The front store man was not helpful, but then George Glasgow came down. He accomodated me and I felt comfortable then. When I had met him months earlier in L.A., I was not moved to buy his product. I was wearing my G&G Thorpe boots....Glasgow called down Carnera, who had me take them off, he examined them, and said kind words about Tony Gaziano and that he liked the quality of the boot's construction. Glasgow said he can construct a shoe to rival what I had on...I took him at his word, and the final product surpassed my expectations. I appreciated the fact that Carnera was willing to acknowledge the work of his competitor in a gentleman like manner.

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thanks for sharing that bit about John Carnera. i was getting a little annoyed that everyone in the shoe biz seems to be a whiny little *****. glad its not across the board.

Didn't Tony & Dean both work for EG? I wonder how they feel about them...



JubeiSpiegel said:

Didn't Tony & Dean both work for EG? I wonder how they feel about them...

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That's correct, and Cleverley too (or maybe that was Dean only). Tony is supposed to have designed the 888 and 82 lasts as well.

There seems to be a lot of bad blood and intrigue in Northampton. Put a few pints in any Northampton shoe maker and you will hear a lot of funny/interesting stories.

A couple of years ago, I ran into George Glasgow Jr. in Leather Soul Beverly Hills. He was a perfect gentleman and took quite a bit time just talking with me and a friend about shoes even though it was clear I was just killing time and wasn't buying anything--let alone commissioning bespoke shoes. I think I was wearing G&Gs at the time. I just ordered my first pair of Cleverly from the Anthony Cleverly line. Looking forward to receiving them, but I think the last shape bears quite a bit of similarity to my G&Gs.



Leaves said:

That's correct, and Cleverley too (or maybe that was Dean only). Tony is supposed to have designed the 888 and 82 lasts as well.

There seems to be a lot of bad blood and intrigue in Northampton. Put a few pints in any Northampton shoe maker and you will hear a lot of funny/interesting stories.

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I remember a while ago when Leathersoul dropped G&G and picked up Cleverley. Wondering if there was some interesting backstory to the whole thing....

The whole Northampton town must be full of very interesting dirty stories as so many shoemaking factories closed down shops and all the high profile mergers and stealing orders from each other.

G&G are very good and aggressive businessman and must have crossed a lot of people on their path to the success they have today. Imaging some maker losing a major order to G&G and how they must feel.

p.s., LS told me that G&G leather used is not as nice as EG or Cleverley. I don't think that's true but interesting nevertheless.

I am not surprised if G&G use worse leather than GC, good leathers are hard to come by these days.

Besides, I do find my AC RTW has very good leather, certainly more buttery than my G&G.

Hatchgrain is one of the stiffest leather I have ever encountered, be warned.

With G&G's volume, they should certainly be able to source the same if not better leather than GC RTW, IMO. But I don't know anyone who's in the trade and never talked to AACrack regarding the leather sourcing industry in UK.

If any, the never ending supply of mythical Russian Reindeer is certainly GC only. Or whichever tannery Hermes Group acquired is only accessible via JL...

p.s., hatch grain I've handled aren't that stiff and is thicker than some of the calf leathers. But all those could be misleading as makers do skive.



chogall said:

p.s., LS told me that G&G leather used is not as nice as EG or Cleverley.

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OUCH! I've heard a G&G exec say otherwise

chogall said:

With G&G's volume, they should certainly be able to source the same if not better leather than GC RTW, IMO. But I don't know anyone who's in the trade and never talked to AACrack regarding the leather sourcing industry in UK.

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Ok, as far as I know, G&G uses the following leather

RTW Black Calf: Freudenburg by Weinheimer
RTW Colored Calf: Zonta
Suede: Zonta

Deco (including Deco Black): Zonta
Bespoke: RTW stocks + Deadstock Freudenburgs, Baby calfskin (Zonta, Ilcea etc...), French skins from Annonay + DePuy, + exotics (Italian Mississippi Alligator etc..)

From what I know, Edward Green mainly uses Zonta, including their black calf.

Please correct me if my information is wrong.

chogall said:

p.s., LS told me that G&G leather used is not as nice as EG or Cleverley.

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yes,
it true.
E.G leather very very good.
John Lobb prestige leather better
Anthony Cleverley leather best of English shoe
C&J hand grade leather = good but it have flaw easy to see and look bad compare to AC