Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

meister said:

Gave the Crosby Spades a run today despite no brown in town edicts

Click to expand...

No such edict here. I found the walnut hues go very well with blue and a matching walnut belt. Those look killer and in great shape.



smfdoc said:

David at V-cleat.com, dropped me an email to point out some new old stock Hanover long wings in my size on Ebay. They lasted for another 12 seconds and are now on the way. This made in the USA shoe was comparable to other well made shoes of its day and I will give a fuller report when they arrive.

Click to expand...

Very nice colour and medallion

Auburns by Allen Edmonds. Nice short wing. Love to find a pair in my size.

smfdoc said:

David at V-cleat.com, dropped me an email to point out some new old stock Hanover long wings in my size on Ebay. They lasted for another 12 seconds and are now on the way. This made in the USA shoe was comparable to other well made shoes of its day and I will give a fuller report when they arrive.

Click to expand...

Very nice! There's no denying how solid these vintage shoes are. When found in NOS condition, there's no reason not to pull the trigger immediately.

Hopefully the other shoe enthusiasts don't catch on to the value of NOS vintage Made in USA shoes!

MattRiv said:

Picked up a pair of moderately worn vintage Alden x BB shell cordovan tassel loafers for just $40! They have been resoled with a half sole, but still have the original heels which have about half of their life left. I have no clue how to date Alden shoes, but I would imagine these are at the very least 20 years old.

Click to expand...

Nice score! There's something about this model (either the pattern or the owner's that wore them) but they can be found in great condition. The uppers tend to look pretty much brand new, even when the soles could be mangled (not to say that yours are). Bonus that this last fits you so well. My pair doesn't fit great, but I still wear them because they are the quintessential tassel, IMO.

My NOS Hanover long wings arrived and they were just what I had hoped for. Searching the internet provided some short accounts of the companies history. Mr. Harper Sheppard and C.N. Myers established the Hanover Shoe on December 26, 1899, with a common vision: sell the best shoes possible for one price, $2.50 a pair, and eliminate the middle-man by selling directly to the public. They opened their first store in York in June 1900; within fifteen years the Hanover Shoe Company had 61 stores from Indianapolis to New York City.

The Sheppards had two sons: Lawrence Baker Sheppard (of LB Sheppard Signature fame) and Richard Harper Sheppard. L.B. Sheppard ran the Hanover Shoe Company after his father’s retirement and death in 1950, took the company public in March 1956, ran it until his own death in 1968.

The original Hanover Shoe Factory closed its doors in 1974 and the name and right to manufacture were sold to Clark shoes in 1978. Clark purchased the rights to the Bostonian shoe line in 1979. During this period, from the late 1970s until the 1990s, Hanover and Bostonian shoes were manufactured at the same factory in West Virginia. Production appears to have ended around 1990s, but I have not found an exact date.

My examination of Hanover shoes on Ebay gives the impression that Hanover, like other companies, had several levels of materials and quality. The LB Sheppard Signature series of shoes appear to represent the higher end, which is understandable since they bear the name of the CEO.

The LB Sheppard Signature long wings are essentially identical to the Florsheim Imperial long wings I have from the late 1960. Their materials, stitching and styling are remarkably similar. The Hanovers fit my feet slightly better than the Florsheim. I compared the two shoes for weight, length and width, as they are both 11 EEE. The Florsheim was slightly heavier at 1 pound and 12.3 ounces, 13 1/8 inch in length and 4 ¾ inches in width. The Hanover was 1 pound and 9.9 ounces. Length was 13 ¼ inches and 4 5/8 inches in width. The major difference between the two is the Hanover uses a rubber heel as opposed to the nailed leather and V cleat of the Florsheim. From a comfort and safety perspective, the rubber heel is better than the suicide heel on the Florsheim. My conclusion is that the Hanover is a great value and represents a high level of quality that I expect from US made shoes of this era. It is certainly the equal to the limited number of other US made shoes I have seen.

A final word should be said about preparing the shoe for wear even though it is NOS. Leather does dry over time and, on advice from David at vcleat.com, I used a condition and let them sit for a day, and then repeated this again on the second day. I concluded with VSC and buffed them to a nice shine. Its good to get some moisture back into the leather before making them work. The first photo is under office lights, no flash and a closer representation of their actual color.





The Florsheims for comparison.

1940s Bostonian 1/2 spades and so comfortable to wear

Took a pair of Florsheim 93602 longwings to the cobbler on Monday. Asked him to put on a red vibram sole.



And then I got a smoothie.

AHS

AHS said:

Took a pair of Florsheim 93602 longwings to the cobbler on Monday. Asked him to put on a red vibram sole.



And then I got a smoothie.

AHS

Click to expand...

Those uppers look great! Was the vibram sole applied over the existing sole? If so, does that make them thicker than the normal double oak?



smfdoc said:

Those uppers look great! Was the vibram sole applied over the existing sole? If so, does that make them thicker than the normal double oak?

Click to expand...

Indestructible

I would appreciate some help here. I am trying to identify whether or not these are shell cordovan. I don't have the code, so I'm trying to judge these pictures. They have a rubber heel instead of the suicide cleat, and that black leather over the insole, which makes me think "probably not".
But the leather looks kind of "puffy" on the vamp near the wingtip, which makes me think "maybe".
What do you think?

mreams99 said:

I would appreciate some help here. I am trying to identify whether or not these are shell cordovan. I don't have the code, so I'm trying to judge these pictures. They have a rubber heel instead of the suicide cleat, and that black leather over the insole, which makes me think "probably not".
But the leather looks kind of "puffy" on the vamp near the wingtip, which makes me think "maybe".
What do you think?

Click to expand...

Florsheim did make shell cordovan shoes up until a few years ago, even when they moved to India. These used rubber heels, but the sole said Genuine Horween Cordovan. The logo on the sole and inside the shoe are not saying Imperial, which indicates they are not an Imperial or Royal imperial and this also decreases the chances that they are shell. For the final nail in the coffin I would ask for a picture of the size and style label. For now, I would consider them to be corrected grain. The logo makes me think that these are from the 1980s.



smfdoc said:

Those uppers look great! Was the vibram sole applied over the existing sole? If so, does that make them thicker than the normal double oak?

Click to expand...

I'm not certain, but I believe he removed the bottom half of the original double sole and then applied the vibram sole. The thickness of the sole is now about the same as it was previous

And thanks, smfdoc, for creating this thread! I somehow missed it earlier this summer. Looking forward to more great photos and information. (And to contributing regularly.)

AHS

Florsheim 93605 this morning.



AHS

PS - I'm always on the lookout for vintage Florsheims, Hanovers, Nettletons, etc... in 11 C. Don't be shy about PM'ing me if you see a pair for sale.