Archibald London Hand Welted Shoes - preorder issues, discussion,and resolution.

[clee1982]

This is old news right, any update? Since they don’t have a sample of the proper one, not to sure what to say...

 

[Verrihappy]

Show compassion for human error, so they say. We need to forgive this substantial misstep. Decent people make mistakes too.

 

[JohnMRobie]

No update on my end since dissecting the old sample about what else they’ve figured out, how they plan to resolve the situation or any plans moving forward.

 

[yshin10]

No update on my end since dissecting the old sample about what else they’ve figured out, how they plan to resolve the situation or any plans moving forward.

Yeah I think they’re trying to see if Cappi will remake the shoes or not. Apparently Italy is shut down again. I think Rohan wants to bring that as an option before he lets the customers who’ve been affect couple options in moving forward

 

[Cheshire symposium]

Yeah I think they’re trying to see if Cappi will remake the shoes or not. Apparently Italy is shut down again. I think Rohan wants to bring that as an option before he lets the customers who’ve been affect couple options in moving forward

I think he needs to get on with it. It's been a week or so with no communication, he mentioned using other makers as an alternative, which would work for me, especially the names he noted. I am not going to use Adriano again, so if that is the only option, I will be requesting a full refund. But this wall of silence is slightly unusually for this company to say the least.

 

[clee1982]

What others did they mention, I remember they mentioned Japanese maker randomly in their own thread once (as discussion point)

 

[Cheshire symposium]

What others did they mention, I remember they mentioned Japanese maker randomly in their own thread once (as discussion point)

Enzo Bonafe, Antonio Meccariello, Yohei Fukuda.

He noted (this was on 13th March) that they had already reached out to YF.

I know that he wants to do the right thing and bring this saga to a happy conclusion. But all this faffing around involving legal issues in Italy and using someone else to remake the shoes - even if that was possible with the names noted (personally have my doubts). IMHO it would be easier to just give everyone affected their money back, draw a line under it, and we can all move on and have a bit of closure.

 

[clee1982]

if EB can improve finishing (probably can with a different price point?) then I think it would be a good place to start, or they go for a more casual make up on EB.

No complain with AM, YF would be awesome, though given AM and YF both does direct, kind not sure how they going to work with their pricing strategy, like assume AM and YF won't undercut themselves, of course they can deliver a "not as good" product I suppose.

 

[Proleet]

if EB can improve finishing (probably can with a different price point?) then I think it would be a good place to start, or they go for a more casual make up on EB.

No complain with AM, YF would be awesome, though given AM and YF both does direct, kind not sure how they going to work with their pricing strategy, like assume AM and YF won't undercut themselves, of course they can deliver a "not as good" product I suppose.

AM provided that for the Sabot a long time ago. Was GY welted and retailed for 550-575 euro if I recall it correctly. Right now they also seem to struggle with capacity (ie. They can make more money with their own shoes if they had more capacity). Can’t imagine they’d offer a handwelted shoe in the price range of AOL...same applies to YF. Bonafe seems like the only realistic option but if handwelted would be helping AOL compete with their own products.

 

[clee1982]

yup agree EB was the more realistic option (and my EB MTO actually did arrive in time, like maybe another extra 2~3 weeks?), though maybe AM can just discontinue Aeries for direct (the GYW line) all together and just send GYW line to retailer (except Medallion at China I guess as I think AM has done all possible combination for Medlalion, GYW, Argentum welt, handwelt with machine sewn bottom, and even Aurum RTW, but of course all priced accordingly). That way it won't touch his own direct stuff.

 

[Cheshire symposium]

I can't see them working long term with any of those noted makers. Yes, they maybe could do an occasional collaboration to produce a few one off shoes, but AOL want to have a range of shoes in all sizes, which is a much more significant commitment for the maker. They have also developed their own lasts, which I am in the minority of liking very much (mainly due to fit issues). I can't see AF for example making a shoe on the AOL 001 last; it would certainly be somewhat of a departure for them.

They would almost have to start again from the ground level. New last, styles, artwork, copy for the website, etc etc. It going to take them months to get it up and running, in a pandemic.

I think that they will just stick with Adriano for the long term. But I am kind of hoping that they offer a remake by AM/YF for those affected; that would be pretty cool.

 

[ajd578]

It transpired that during the pandemic, in the middle of 2020, this shoemaker decided to apply the shoemaking technique he has been using for years for some other Italian brands, one he feels makes the shoe more comfortable, onto our line of hand-welted shoes.

This doesn't track well with the fact that nobody in this thread recognized it. I buy that it's more comfortable though. No welt and outer running underneath the insole could make for a more uniform footbed.

 

[Proleet]

yup agree EB was the more realistic option (and my EB MTO actually did arrive in time, like maybe another extra 2~3 weeks?), though maybe AM can just discontinue Aeries for direct (the GYW line) all together and just send GYW line to retailer (except Medallion at China I guess as I think AM has done all possible combination for Medlalion, GYW, Argentum welt, handwelt with machine sewn bottom, and even Aurum RTW, but of course all priced accordingly). That way it won't touch his own direct stuff.

Why would AM drop their entry line for something that will make them less money? Unless they have a desire to expand their capacity dramatically...

 

[clee1982]

haha, no idea, has Aeris (goodyear welt line) really been selling though? I knew very few guys who got Aeris on the AM thread, but I have never bought Aeris and doesn't look like AM has a lot model in Aeris (and looks like he has continuious to upgrade leather quality in Aeris), I would imagine if AM went with AOL and does GYW (i.e. Aeris) then he would just keep same price point as he does now with Aeris.

edit: though given how much talk they put on their website with regard to handwelt I guess they kind boxed themselves in, i.e. it has to be handwelt or bust

 

[JohnMRobie]

I can't see them working long term with any of those noted makers. Yes, they maybe could do an occasional collaboration to produce a few one off shoes, but AOL want to have a range of shoes in all sizes, which is a much more significant commitment for the maker. They have also developed their own lasts, which I am in the minority of liking very much (mainly due to fit issues). I can't see AF for example making a shoe on the AOL 001 last; it would certainly be somewhat of a departure for them.

They would almost have to start again from the ground level. New last, styles, artwork, copy for the website, etc etc. It going to take them months to get it up and running, in a pandemic.

I think that they will just stick with Adriano for the long term. But I am kind of hoping that they offer a remake by AM/YF for those affected; that would be pretty cool.

This sounds more like a pipe dream than a realistic hope. They developed the lasts in partnership with their existing maker and probably don’t own them so the ability to move the lasts to another maker is very unlikely. The likelihood that another maker would use their lasts without putting their own spin on it, particularly any of the ones you mention, is even less likely. Also see no reason for AM or YF to do a collaboration with them - I’d be willing to bet both of them are better known, more trusted, higher quality and make better looking shoes than AoL - AM or YF would be doing them a favor, not the other way around. As for a one off remake for one of the other makers? AM would probably run them likely somewhere in the 700-800 range on HW and YF is over 2K. That’s a massive loss to AoL. I can’t see AoL taking that hit. The best case any of us should hope for is going to be a remake from the same guy or a refund. Personally? I’d take the refund. The worst case is probably some sort of site credit.