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calzoleria harris shoes

chocoball

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Hi has anyone heard of this shoemaker? He is supposed to be based in Florence. Calzoleria Harris. Would appreciate comments and reviews.....I've seen a pair that look good to me, but I've never heard of this shoemaker before. Thanks.
 

jcusey

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Do a search. I recall a few mentions of Harris shoes. Here's the website, although it's not particularly illuminating. The Harris shoes that I've seen at Barney's are made well enough, although they're clunky and overpriced. However, it would not surprise me if Harris is capable of better than that, depending on the specifications they get from their merchants.
 

chocoball

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Thanks for that.....I just read an earlier post from A Harris about the shoes.....he reckons the construction is okay. well, this is the pair I'm looking at, what do you think? It does seem strange that there are 3 different ebay sellers with exactly the same shoe for sale though. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....me=WDVW
 

chocoball

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By the way, could you tell me the retail price range of those Harris models you saw? Thanks.
 

A Harris

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Those are nice shoes. There are several sellers offering them because Marshalls got ahold of them and sent them to various stores all over the country. I have some to sell too, but I'm holding onto mine until all those pairs on ebay sell - the sellers are offering them too cheap.

Retail is appx. $595.00 at Barney's. They are Blake-stitched, and very nicely finished. The leather color and finish on this model is superb. Much better than those pics. They are pretty pointy, fairly "current" looking, though not too severely so IMO. One caveat on the fit, the vamp is very high, so if you have a high instep like me you probably will not be able to get them on your foot.

Oh, and they run slightly on the small/narrow side.
 

norcaltransplant

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One addendum to A Harris' post:
I tried on the exact, or very similar pair, at the last NYC Barneys' warehouse sale and found that, although slim, the shoes were ridiculously long. The best fit I found was a 6.5 IT, which still wasn't very comfortable through the vamp even though I have a relatively LOW instep. I usually wear an 8D in AE or an EG 7.5D 202 fits like a glove.

Your mileage may vary
 

armscye

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I own three pair of Harris shoes. One is a double-soled pair of JM Weston style captoes, others are two pair of slender, chisel-toed loafers. All three are of what I would call Green/Grenson standards of quality. Uncorrected grain, handstitched (and handmarked as to size inside), Blake lasted. Yes, the marked sizes are a mile off. I normally wear an 11 1/2 D and find that in a Harris I'm wearing a 10 1/2.
 

armscye

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One question for A. Harris: if you bought the pairs of Harris shoes at retail at Marshalls with all of the warranty and merchantability protections that a person accrues from buying at a retailer, and now intend to hold them until the current glut passes and then resell them on Ebay without those protections, can you please explain to me the value you have added?

Or is it that Clinton thing-- you did it "because you could..."
 

Lomezz

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One question for A. Harris: if you bought the pairs of Harris shoes at retail at Marshalls with all of the warranty and merchantability protections that a person accrues from buying at a retailer, and now intend to hold them until the current glut passes and then resell them on Ebay without those protections, can you please explain to me the value you have added?

I'd venture a guess:

1) An Ebay seller in this case essentially bridges an information gap in the market whereby a feller who normally  wouldn't think of looking for a Harris shoe at Marshall's and thus may miss on the opportunity, gets a second chance to buy the shoe (at a certain premium which goes to the seller)

2) The same Ebay seller also provides accessibility to the buying opportunity for those not within reach of a Marshall's store, again, for a premium.

I definitely see value there.
 

Henry Boogers

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I thought about buying a few pairs at Marshalls myself for resale...they were $80 for most pairs and a few were marked at $40. Funny as it may sound, I had a hard time buying tassel loafers....even for resale.
smile.gif
Oh, and I would argue that if someone buys from you then you have brought value to the supply chain. Otherwise they would not have bought from you.
 

mano

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I bought a pair of those exact same shoes in size 9, but because my arches are so high they don't fit.  I'm in the same boat as A Harris, wanting to sell a brand new pair of $600 shoes here on this site for $140 shipping included.

As far as value added is concerned, if the current market will not support what I'm asking, but I believe that in the future it will, then I'll wait until then..  I bear the risk of holding onto a product that I hope will sell at a savings of over 75% to someone who wants the shoes.  Holding onto a product is a common business practice.  DeBeers diamonds does it as do most all land developers.  They bear the risk as there is no guarantee they will yield a profit.

armscye, sounds like you think getting a pair of $600 shoes on eBay for a small fraction of original cost requires something else that in your mind represents "value added." If you buy on eBay you're not buying from a retailer, hence the very low prices. If there is a manufacturing defect, and the manufacturer decides to correct it without a receipt from a retailer, then you're in luck. Otherwise, as anyone who buys on eBay knows, unless it is misrepresented in the auction description, you're out of luck.

For the most part, "value added" on eBay means getting something in its original box, fast, cheap shipping, buying from a reputable eBay seller who provides a lot of information and excellent pictures, etc.
 

von Rothbart

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Yes, the marked sizes are a mile off. I normally wear an 11 1/2 D and find that in a Harris I'm wearing a 10 1/2.
May be it's English size?
 

A Harris

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One question for A. Harris: if you bought the pairs of Harris shoes at retail at Marshalls with all of the warranty and merchantability protections that a person accrues from buying at a retailer, and now intend to hold them until the current glut passes and then resell them on Ebay without those protections, can you please explain to me the value you have added?
I drove all around California looking for goods to sell, happened upon these shoes, and will then take the considerable effort and expense required to photograph them and list them on ebay, risking of course that they may never sell. Now, they are available to customers all over the world, that certainly would never have gotten the chance to buy them, being that they were on double clearance at a obscure little Marshalls - the locals obviously had no idea what they were, nor the taste to buy them. It's essentially a finders fee, and not a very good one considering the effort expended. And I'm sure my customers will still consider them a good value, even if I offer them for 70% off retail instead of 80% off. Just a day in the life of another one of those 'evil' ebay sellers
confused.gif
As for the size, I have indeed encountered Harris shoes that ran large. But these aren't among them. I wear a size 12-13 depending on brand and I was not even able to get my foot into a pair of these in size 13. If you happen to have a narrow foot and very low instep, you may want to buy a 1/2 size smaller, but that would be the minority.
 

STYLESTUDENT

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Just a day in the life of another one of those 'evil' ebay sellers Â
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Even if you were to gave away your namesake shoes, you'd still get requests for free shipping and criticism of your return policy. On the other hand, your actual customers give you uniformly positive feedback. Some of them may even be forum members. Without national shopping networks, predominantly EBay, for shared experience, this forum network would have much less to talk about.
 

chocoball

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I've decided not to get those shoes, because I was told by someone with the exact same pair that they are very narrow in the arch.......probably close to a b/c, whereas I wear d/e.
 

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