Harrys london shoes

[spinlps]

Anyone have any experience with Harrys London Shoes? Is there US Distribution/Sales or UK only?

Thanks,
Tony

 

[Steve B.]

Just saw an article in the paper for them at Sak's in San Francisco yesterday. Might try there or at their web site.

 

[bengal-stripe]

I live in England, but have never come across "Harry's London shoes". I presume it is just a made-up name and the shoes are made by one of the large Northampton factories.

There is a shoe shop in the City (financial district) by the name of "Harry Hart". They probably were at one time bespoke shoemakers, but now stock factory-made RTW under their own private label. Whether the two Harries have anything to do with each other, I do not know.

 

[LA Guy]

I saw them in Saks SF before Christmas. Nice, a little conservative for my tastes, but definitely nice to look at. I'll defer to the shoe geeks re. quality.

 

[A Harris]

I'll have to check em out. Now I just have to remember...

 

[spinlps]

Thanks for the replies. I emailed them and got this response as far as US Sales: Thank you for your interest in Harry's London. We are currently in Fred Segal in Los Angelese and SAKS 5th AVENUE in New York, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Boca Raton and Beverly Hills. I'm afraid we're not yet in St Louis but try with Fred Segal in LA, they might be able to send you a pair of Harry's. Searched the net, but could only find this: http://www.fashionwindows.com/fashio...ys/default.asp Being in the Midwest, I guess I'll have to wait until someone in St. Louis or Chicago carry the line, or head to either coast. Thanks again, T

 

[A Harris]

I checked out the Harry's London shoes at Saks in SF yesterday.

Despite the name they are not a Goodyear-welted Northampton-made shoe. In fact I couldn't find any indication as to where they were made - it's probably inside the shoe and I didn't pry the shoe tree out (I didn't want to attract the attention of the ravenous salespeople.) They have a molded composite sole and the uppers appear to be glued to the sole. For a rubber sole it looks pretty good, almost like leather. Styling isn't bad - fairly classic with a slightly pointier than usual toe. Not the worst shoes out there, but you can do much better for the money.

Is the shoe selection at other Saks as bad as the SF store?? I swear they only stock UGLY shoes. Absolutely the least attractive selection of expensive shoes I have ever seen. Quite horrible really. They should fire their buyer. And does anyone else agree with me that A. Testoni's collection is getting uglier by the year? I wouldn't wear 95% of what I have seen from them recently.

 

[LA Guy]

Nope, the shoes are uniformly ugly at Saks across the country. My main gripes about fashion/style are the proliferation of ugly but expensive shoes, from Prada Sport ($300+ for ugly ass sneakers? No thank you.) to those awful rubber soled Ferragamos (boring to boot,) and ugly but expensive belts. Why is it that such a great store as Wilkes-Bashford in S.F. has such a boring, ugly, and nevertheless expensive selection of belts, including woven-leather belts.

 

[spinlps]

Ugly AND small here in St. Louis. If I had to guess, there were *maybe* 20 pairs on display from the usual suspects. Thanks for the info on Harry's London. I'm looking for a casual, more updated, rubber soled dark brown loafer and liked the W20 model on their web site. www.harryslondon.com Any one run into something similar?

 

[Thracozaag]

Is the shoe selection at other Saks as bad as the SF store?? I swear they only stock UGLY shoes. Absolutely the least attractive selection of expensive shoes I have ever seen. Quite horrible really. They should fire their buyer. And does anyone else agree with me that A. Testoni's collection is getting uglier by the year? I wouldn't wear 95% of what I have seen from them recently.

The one in New York actually carries Mantellassi and EG.

 

[Steve B.]

Thrac:

However, the Mantellassi and Green selections are pretty conservative in my recollection at Sak's NYC. I was last there in July, however...

Spinlips- I know Michael Toschi is putting its first store-in-store into Mr. Guy in St. Louis. Might be an interesting place to look.

 

[Thracozaag]

Yep, you're right Steve. There's a better selection of EG at the Ralph Lauren Store (and at Oxxford before they stopped using them).

 

[spinlps]

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with Toschi shoes. What can I expect in terms of price and quality?

Thanks Steve.

Spinlips- I know Michael Toschi is putting its first store-in-store into Mr. Guy in St. Louis. Might be an interesting place to look.

 

[jcusey]

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with Toschi shoes. What can I expect in terms of price and quality?

Toschi shoes have high-tech insoles and other construction features. Some, but not all, of the designs are very flamboyant. I've tried a couple of models on, and they're very comfortable. They're the kind of thing that I would buy to walk around Manhattan all day. I've never bought Toschi shoes, however, so I can't comment on their durability. If I recall correctly, Toschi shoes retail for $350 to $450 per pair, depending on model. Here's the Toschi Website.

 

[Steve B.]

Pretty edgy style- the CIS Technology is very comfortable. Priced between $350-450. No styles currently on their web site like what you describe- but I can check out samples at the WCE over the wknd and see if there might be anything that'd fit the bill if you're interested. www.toschi.com