The Official Artisanal "streetwear" footwear (boots, shoes, sandals) thread (Guidi, CCP, Augusta, M.

[sinnedk]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

After trying a couple baller brands (Guidi, Augusta) and not having any success, I finally gave up and started searching for more pedestrian fare. For some reason the baller stuff doesn't seem to suit my style, which I guess is trying to be edgy/casual since I work in a very casual environment (jeans/t-shirts/sneakers). I truly appreciate the style of CCP, Layer 0, MA+, etc., but if I'm dropping tons of money on something I want to be able to wear it fairly frequently.

Anyhow, to get to the point, I've been searching for a dark grey / black boot for a while now that is similar to the Augusta's I would love to own (at least I *think* I would.. last pair I ordered didn't work for me and I returned 'em). Basically something fairly slim profile (sorry I can't into the bulbous toeboxes everyone seems to love these days) with some light distressing and a thick sole. Something you can wear with jeans, cords, whatever, and be a bit edgy but not too conspicuously "hey I'm into fashion" so it still works in a casual environment.

A couple weeks ago I found these HTC (Hollywood Trading Company) back-zips at Yoox, marked down from the ~$800 I'd seen 'em for at some euro store online. I gave 'em a try and I gotta say think I've finally found my non-baller baller replacement boot:

They have a matte finish and basic cut/pattern so they're not too flashy, a pretty decent thick sole and some light distressing. The sole shape is also quite nice IMO - slim but not too pointy. Leather is very soft and they come with a vibram rubber sole and heel by default, which is kind of nice. On the downside, because the leather is not the super thick stuff on true baller footwear, these will never have the beautiful creasing of an aged CCP / Guidi / Augusta. But at 1/4 the cost and with the styling I'm after I think I can take the tradeoff.

Here are a couple fit pics. One downside is that the distressing on these was a bit irregular - the left one is more distressed than the right. Not too visible except close up.. but yeah.. not true baller quality for $400. Other downside was that the leather flap over the back zip was initially too wide and caused some rubbing, but I trimmed it down and now they're quite comfortable. I should also mention that the comfort is pretty great on these because they are quite soft and they're only ankle boots, so your foots maintains a lot of freedom of movement.

I completely see where you are coming from. The issue i ran into when I received my CCP is that i couldn't wear them with regular jeans which are slim but the leg opening wasnt as slim as i'd like to be at the time. Hence, i got myself a pair of ZB/RO and Levi's 511 which all worked really well. My A1923 are a bit of the bulbous toe you speak of and with slim jeans the toe box becomes more pronounced. CCP never gave that effect.

From the look you are describing, it sounds more like an Ann D, YSL, Dior look, a bit clean but with some edge. In which case, some brands like a1923/L0 wont always work. But, i think guidi/MA+ would be just fine because they are a bit more clean. Anyways, the HTC boots look great and you did whats right for you. Those a1923 you linked have a very similar last to the HTC.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

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I think you never need more than 2 distressed boots at a time in your collection and most often times you can pass of a MC boot into sw&d.
See this guy from SZ wearing aldens

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Its all about mixing the right styles which is what you did...

 

[RXS09]

Those HTC look really nice. I'm going to give them a try, should be good for fall/spring

 

[wormwood]

took my beauties back home from the cobbler. looks better than new)

Spoiler

 

[kloss]

deleted

 

[nicelynice]

Those have aged beautifully. What kind of leather is that? Horse?

 

[wormwood]

yes. av_field w3 in horse. not hand-dyed calf guidi's (sorry Kloss))

 

[eckblk]

looks good Wormwood- I had 2 pairs of those at one point (Horse and Deerskin). The shape just wasn't for me. Some on the most unique packaging I've every handled & leather that buried for 10 years was truly superb.

I hope to see another collaboration with Master Altieri and Mr. Zero someday.

 

[kloss]

yes. av_field w3 in horse. not hand-dyed calf guidi's (sorry Kloss))

yeah, i thought those were carpes were guidis

(they are carpes right?)

i've been looking for pics of hand dyed guidi to see if i would want to incorporate that into a custom order.

 

[eckblk]

Layer-0

 

[wormwood]

looks good Wormwood- I had 2 pairs of those at one point (Horse and Deerskin). The shape just wasn't for me. Some on the most unique packaging I've every handled & leather that buried for 10 years was truly superb.

I hope to see another collaboration with Master Altieri and Mr. Zero someday.

yeah, shape was a bit difficult for me too. but as you can see, I ask the cobbler to add few mm's to the heel and now it feels and fits much better. but they still feels too fragile for my taste. How your horse one feels, btw? this pair is like some half-rotten vinyl coat, you could almost feel some uhm.. resinated soreness by touching them))

 

[eckblk]

I ended up selling both- they felt a little too snug. Leather/treatment was excellent. Construction was not what I would expect for a 1000usd+ boot.

 

[wormwood]

agreed. and this is strange. Cause if even Altieri wasn't involved too much, Alessio been able to do it better by himself. I mean, he could made it more like Avantindietro in terms of construction

 

[fistinyoface]

Odd. I think the construction is among the best. Alessio doesn't mess around.

 

[wormwood]

Yes, among the best, it's true.

Ok, maybe it's just me. But they was in my grail list for a few years and I always had a feeling that they must be unspeakable cool, I mean, above any other, like memoria. But they just pretty nice and well done. Leather itself is fantastic, thanks to Altieri, but boots doesn't speak to me like carpe or even augusta.

 

[sinnedk]



Odd. I think the construction is among the best. Alessio doesn't mess around.

L0 footwear is legit, handled a lot and contemplated buying