Quote:
Originally Posted by dieworkwear 
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j ingevaldsson
Isn't the fact that they're actually made in China but "finished" in Spain? What "finished" means is a bit unclear though, but I think that it's more correct to call them China made shoes than anything else.
I'm unsure which parts of the production process are done where.
Frankly, I find the obsession with country-of-origin production fairly ridiculous. Most things in the world, clothing or otherwise, are produced through complex, fragmented, global production chains. To say anything is "made" somewhere is an oversimplification and mostly relies on a set of rules made up by the WTO and, at times, refined through national regulations. How many things do we say are "made in Italy" are actually just "finished" in Italy? And who knows what exactly does that mean? Finishing the buttonholes? Slapping on the tag? Doing at least 51% of the production process? Who knows?
In any case, while it's fine to use country of origin to infer the quality of an item, it should never supplant our unbiased judgment of an item once we're able to handle and wear it. I can say with certainty that my MTO LM Meermins don't come close to my Saint Crispin's, John Lobbs, and Edward Greens. I can also say for certain that I find them to be much better than Loake, Allen Edmonds, and Alfred Sargent Premiers (which I don't think are being made anymore, so one shouldn't use this as a comment on the current AS line). Between those two ends of the spectrum is a toss up in terms of comparison, but I will say this - none of them are selling shoes for the prices that Meermin is offering theirs for
First, I did not state that Meermin made bad shoes because of the fact that they're mostly made in China, or for that sake state that all China made goods are crap. Meermin are good quality shoes which use great material, and I'm happy with my pair, but I do know that there's been a lot of confusion about where they actually are made, and know that some think that it's the Classic line that's produced in China and the LM:s and MTO in Spain, hence my last reply to clarify. I think that the best actually would be, as someone mentioned above, for the Meermin people to just clarify how the production is set up and proudly explain why they have chosen this form and why they think that it’s the best way to accomplish the quality/price ratio.
To continue the discussion, we all know that Meermin do have some problems with some of their shoes, soles releasing from the welt and stuff like that, which some might associate with the China origin of their shoes. I for one don’t think that that have to be the problem, I think that more likely it's caused by the extremely high demand on their shoes which most certainly have them pushing the production a bit too hard. I know that Cheaney actually have sort of the same problem. I just had to return a pair of Cheaney’s from their top line imperial which had a manufacturing issue, and I’ve got to know from an inside source that Cheaney do have some problems with bad shoes leaving the factory because of the high demand on both the imperial line and other (like all of their production for Herring) which cause the factory to keep a pace that they actually can’t keep. Cheaney now try to solve this with limiting their online sales (a bit like Crockett & Jones have been doing, also caused by the high demand on they’re shoes, although they seem to have been having less problems with seconds leaving they’re factory).
And of course Meermin and Cheaney ain’t the only ones having shoes that should’ve been marked as subs but that goes out on the main market. The last couple of years I’ve had to return shoes from Loake 1880 as well as C&J BG because of faulty production. It happens. You just don’t want it to happen too often.
Edited by j ingevaldsson - 7/30/12 at 6:29am
