The Ultimate Toronto Thread

[MrGimpy]



Not cool all this talk about Leatherfoot. I'm glad they are around, as they uped the shoe game in the city significantly. Arne I liked talking to the few times I did, and I got a knowledge-able, non-douchey vibe from him. I appreciated that - it's the sort of dudes I like to work with. Hopefully they can still continue that. But at least I wasn't the only one confused as to how they actually made any money - their store never did seem to have much in stock, and it seemed like they were always turning over stock and brands so that they were (and pardon a terrible pun I just thought of) trying to find their footing.

Shameless re-ask of my previous question:

Any of you guys bought any Jack Irwins? Need some boots for the winter, and I'll probably beat the stuffing out of them, so would rather spend in the $200 range than the $500.

No experience with Jack Irwins. I have a couple pairs of beater boots for the winter--some old chelseas and a pair of steel-toed Wolverine work boots for site visits that are now worn to traipse through the slush most winter days.

I'm also trying to find something a little more presentable that is also durable in Toronto snow/slush/salt. Chromexcel may be the answer but I haven't settled on anything yet.

 

[Bill Dlwgosh]

Hey Levoosh,

Yeah, I remember you mentioned you're very familiar with Sultan's and I wish I'd remembered the PM you sent me a while back as I'd have mentioned you by name.

Velomane, As for browsing through the bolts, Sultan never actually told me that I couldn't so I may have misunderstood. He walked me through his warehouse and never really left me alone. I took that as a comment that I wasn't to be left unattended but in hindsight he may have been giving me personal attention either to be nice or to make a good impression for business sake. I walked in expecting a store that I could browse through inconspicuously so to instead have the owner escorting me through a warehouse caught me off guard and had me feeling a bit out of my element.

It's nice though that he can apparently order from books like Holland and Sherry among others I guess. I asked him about that and while he definitely seemed to want to steer me towards buying what he already he had in stock I did leave with the understanding that he would order out of a book for me, and the price he mentioned was a fair bit less than when I've had quoted from a place in the U.S. even before shipping, the exchange, etc... I've spent a lot of time recently camped out at harry Rosen's looking through their H&S jacketing books and taking pics of the swatches I like, although I'd rather buy the fabric myself and go to a local tailor than go through Rosen's MTM.

Velomane, Levoosh, have you guys ordered from Books through Sultan or have your purchases all been the stuff he has in stock?

And yeah, Sultan comes across like a good guy.

 

[TOstyle]

No experience with Jack Irwins. I have a couple pairs of beater boots for the winter--some old chelseas and a pair of steel-toed Wolverine work boots for site visits that are now worn to traipse through the slush most winter days.

I'm also trying to find something a little more presentable that is also durable in Toronto snow/slush/salt. Chromexcel may be the answer but I haven't settled on anything yet.

Yeah I'm looking for stylish beaters so to speak. I've got a couple of nice pairs, but they are closer to dress boots so when it's really snowy/icey its no good.

Chromexcel should be the way to go, but likewise I haven't found anything good.

 

[RogerP]

No experience with Jack Irwins. I have a couple pairs of beater boots for the winter--some old chelseas and a pair of steel-toed Wolverine work boots for site visits that are now worn to traipse through the slush most winter days.

I'm also trying to find something a little more presentable that is also durable in Toronto snow/slush/salt. Chromexcel may be the answer but I haven't settled on anything yet.

Grab the Chromexcel Carmina jumpers from Skoak like N-O-W.

I have a pair of Chromoexcel AE Bayfields that I have beat on hard for 3 years and they just shrug it off. The Carminas would be that much better yet. Sitting on my wallet only because I have something similar on order from GF.

 

[sirLF]

Leatherfoot report:

So I finally pulled the trigger on the sale price burgundy-brown Ron Rider boots.

I ended up going down to US10.5E for a snugger fit so there's still one last of this exact one in US11E. $460+HST..was once $760+HST!

I was almost the typical guy who walks out having spent twice what was planned, since these gorgeous Carminas in more of an orangey brown shell were $900+HST..FYI im told all new Carmina boots will be 1)no more shell and 2)$1400 and up. US11..one of you guys should snag.


Finally, the six brands they will have by the time it's snowing are

John Lobb
Carmina
St. Crispin's
Crockett & Jones
Alden
Edward Green

There were already some EG on the shelves. And yes, still a couple black brogued J. Fitzy's on sale in smaller sizes too.

Carmina calf/suede boots for $1400 hahahaha.

I know rent in Yorkville is pricey but that is a joke.

insane.

Whaaaat that's highway robbery! 1400 is near MTO shell boot money!

Leatherfoot has always struck me as bit of an odd store, tiny shop with very little stock, juuuuust managing the rent on their swanky location.

I can only imagine though, being a niche retailer is a tough, tough gig, and with shoes the import duty can't help either.

Perhaps the dude was mistaken...

I can order from Skoak and get them for $750 with duties and tax!

Double the price has got to be a misstatement on their part.

SirReveller,

First, thank you for stopping by the store and purchasing your beautiful boots. It was my absolute pleasure serving you.

I would just like to clarify a misunderstanding regarding the misquoted pricing. We do NOT have any Carmina Shell boots or shoes priced at $1400. I recall when you came in and I served you, I explained to you that that particular shell boot was (original price) $930 CAD marked down to $750 as it was our last pair. I was only clarifying that it was a good deal, considering that if we were to reorder that same shoe today at the current exchange it would have to be priced at $1200 CAD, I never said $1400. I also explained to you that we had not interest in restocking Carmina Shell Cordovan shoes, because, it would be too expensive, and Carmina no longer wishes to sell Shell Cordovan to retailer but their own actual stores.
If you recall, there was a customer and friend there at the same time picking 4 pairs of MTO Saint Crispin's that had just arrived for him. You also gave the customer your business card. I would like to think that I served you well and it was a very pleasant transaction and meeting.

Please, do not misunderstand my intentions, I just simply want to clarify this matter as I've observed all sorts of speculations and misunderstanding about Leatherfoot and our pricing.

Please if anyone has any concerns you can email me using the email on the website site and I will personally address any matter with all diligence and uttermost respect.

Thank you

I.C

 

[sirLF]

Shoe game in Toronto is still pretty weak. Was looking for something nice in the $500 range but there's absolutely nothing....probably just going to save up and hit up Jok for a MTM at some point. Leatherfoot stopped carrying Carmina (for all intents and purposes) and J.Fitzpatrick. RJ is carrying Gravati, but the captoes I was looking at were about $700...seems a bit steep for what you get.

Leatherfoot still carries Carmina Shoes, we just had some minor issues that had to be resolved which has since been taken care of. A new store is being built and will house a large selection of Carmina shoes and other brands. Please be patient with us to see what we are working on.

Thank you kindly!

 

[akoustas]

Looking forward to seeing the new stock when the store opens up!

 

[sirLF]

Those are some exorbitant prices. Who's the tailor? You can fly to one of the US trunk shows for Steed, NSM, etc. for less than that.

Mr. hrv123

Please be a little patient with us to announce full details and whom the Tailor is.

Many thanks

 

[RogerP]

Leatherfoot still carries Carmina Shoes, we just had some minor issues that had to be resolved which has since been taken care of. A new store is being built and will house a large selection of Carmina shoes and other brands. Please be patient with us to see what we are working on.

Thank you kindly!

New store? That's big news! Still downtown, I hope.

 

[sirLF]

I don't think so. The Nordstrom's in Ottawa carries Magnanni, AE, Tod's, Santoni, Ferragamo.
Unless Toronto will be carrying significantly different (as in better) brands, I'm not optimistic.



I recall Arne at Leatherfoot saying they would be bringing in Corthay, but that appears to not be happening. This was awhile ago.

Dear Chambertin,

We considered carrying several brands, but we must be sure that we can provide great service to clients with any brand before we commit. There're several other factors that we as a store have to consider. It's not exactly fair to discuss certain issues on public forum, if not I would've given more insight. However, I assure you that we are working very hard to restructuring LF to provide exceptional service and products we truly believe in.

Cheers!

I.C

 

[sirLF]

Indeed. @SirReveller posted a little while ago about his visit to Leatherfoot and their incoming brands, which includes Crockett and Jones but not Corthay, with Alden still in the cards. It must've changed in the last couple of months, as John told me back in August that they were getting Corthay and Cleverley.

I'm not looking forward to how they'll be priced, given our dollar. I'm content with my one pair of brown Alden captoe oxfords - made a pit-stop at Leffot last year en route to a metal concert - and don't feel a need to buy any more shoes from them, but even then I'd be more inclined to go to Lost & Found instead. C&J I'm more interested in.

@Viral : I hate to be the pessimist, but I'm thinking that Kansas will be taking this series.

C&J stock will be arriving in a few weeks (November). We still need to clarify a few things before we can fully commit to bringing Corthay, but we will not stock Cleverley. We love Cleverley shoes but we are not ready to stock them yet.

Cheers!

Ideyi

 

[7_rocket]

Does Mark still work at Leather Foot? He's a great guy to deal with, I know he works Sundays. Never had any issues with him

 

[Chambertin]

Dear Chambertin,

We considered carrying several brands, but we must be sure that we can provide great service to clients with any brand before we commit. There're several other factors that we as a store have to consider. It's not exactly fair to discuss certain issues on public forum, if not I would've given more insight. However, I assure you that we are working very hard to restructuring LF to provide exceptional service and products we truly believe in.

Cheers!

I.C

I appreciate you taking the time to reply to all the discussion here about LF, and hope to see you continue posting. I've always had great experiences at LF (other than selection of sizes).

 

[sirLF]

Was at LF few weeks back and the don't have much stock on anything less than $2k. Alden rep was actually there doing an order but otherwise that place is quiet as hell.

They're asking for silly money for Carminas. I guess they have to pay for the Yorkville rent somehow.

I wonder who owns LF, their brand roster seems to always be in flux, hard to make steady sales like that!

Maybe it's a side project or diversification effort of some highly successful businessman

I have met the owners. It's 2 gentlemen that got together to bring quality footwear to Toronto after seeing the lack of, as they put it.
I feel they were much more engaged and successful at first in all regards. As pointed out multiple times here, the store is most often empty which can definitely attest to that.
They had plans to open shop downtown in the financial district to be close to the bankers. This was supposed to happen over half a year ago. Same with opening shop overseas.
IMHO they would be better off asking normal prices, carrying more mid range names and stock, and having quantity sold to a solid client base as opposed to raising prices to pay Yorkville rent off one pair of shoes.

Hello guys,

To clarify some of your points and speculations.

It's quite unfair to conclude our prices are much higher than in other stores. Please note that we pay more than double the import duties our competitors in the US or EU pay. I've been very transparent with our pricing and the business operation at LF, what you tend to forget is that besides the higher taxes, import duties and cost of transportation, we've always sold our shoes at a price on par with the US stores or even cheaper most of the time. You also have to consider that the CAD is so much weaker against the Euro, USD and Starling (which are the currencies we have to convert our weaker CAD to to pay for goods). All our competitor have a significantly higher margin on their shoes than we can ever dream to have.
I didn't know these things myself until I started LF, when I realized I vowed to still remain different than the other Canadian retail stores, and reduce our margin to keep prices at par. A lot of people do not pay attention to all that is stacked against us. LF concept is something I'm truly passionate about and have prided myself in being very fair. While doing business in Canada is not easy, especially as an independent, I'm committed to making it work and to provide something new and special locally.
If you take our prices and convert them to USD at the current exchange you can see we are in most cases cheaper, except for Skoak. I don't know the guys at Skoak and how they run their business and I have nothing against them, but it's impossible for us or any other retailer in the states to compete with their prices when the sell some of their shoes at my cost. I completely understand the customer will ultimately go where it's cheaper and I respect that, but one has to consider all that is stacked against being a Canadian retailer in this segment where everyone is better educated and has global access through internet. If Harry Rosen or Holts carried any of what we sell, I guarantee it would be priced 30 to 40% higher than we price our shoes.

I would also like to clarify to those that assume we have no stock or we have no business, That is not the case. A lot of our business are also MTOs, much more than all the other competitors, you can check our instagram to get an idea of how many MTOs we sell, and not all the pictures are posted all the time, as these things take a lot of time to shoot photos edit and post, yet we do more than the others. As for stock, doing business here in Toronto (CANADA) is a bit tricky, and until you are in the business you would not understand. While we do sell more stock than you may assume, we also have to study what works and make adjustments accordingly in other to remain in business. This is not to say we haven't had our little struggle as a new business.
That said, I'm quite confident you will soon see what we've been working on and I hope you would be proud.

My intentions are not to offend anyone here, and I hope I don't get misunderstood. I'm not in any way arrogant or intend to be, I just have been reading so many wrong information coming up here and I felt it was time to clarify so our SF family can properly understand and get information directly from me.

Our new store is being built, and our new website is now live but still being improved. Lots of stock and exciting brands will coming in a few weeks, and the reason we don't have 10,000 boxes of shoes sitting around and looking great is because we actually sell them

Hope I haven't rambled too much.

I wish everyone the absolute best and I will be organizing something soon for our SF friends in our new store.

Cheers!

 

[sirLF]

New store? That's big news! Still downtown, I hope.

Hello Roger,

First, I would sincerely like to thank you for all your wonderful support, Without customers and friends like you we would not be about to keep this passion alive here in CANADA.
I'm truly grateful for your continued support.

Yes our store is right around the corner where we are now, and I will reveal details soon.

It would be an absolute pleasure to see you again soon for coffee or small chat at the store.

All best.

I.C