Japanese Shoes: Bespoke & RTW Super Thread

[epsilon22]

Wouldn’t use clev for this reason

The stories in this forums about Cleverley scares me haha. I'm thinking of trying bespoke tailoring in the future and seems like they have their own horror stories.

 

[JohnMRobie]

If you're hot and famous they will.

Second look at Clev?

 

[beargonefishing]

Second look at Clev?

Only if you're as hot as I am. If you look like @Texasmade or @edinatlanta you will get something resembling a 74BCE sandal in Tommy Bahama comfort sizing.

 

[Texasmade]

Only if you're as hot as I am. If you look like @Texasmade or @edinatlanta you will get something resembling a 74BCE sandal in Tommy Bahama comfort sizing.

Don’t be jealous of my perfect muscular physique.

 

[beepbop]

Ordered these on a trip to Japan last April, and excited that they’re finally done!

 

[dawei94]

Now that Japan has opened up, I am surprised by the few posts of bespoke posted here - maybe there needs a lead time...?

Here is one from the past, but one of my best

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Taking advantage of Japan's reopening per your request, I was in Tokyo this past weekend to meet Yuki Shirahama at Strasburgo, where he happened to be holding a trunk show. This is a follow-up to my previous visit to his workshop in Kyoto in April, where I placed the initial order for a pair of suede bluchers. Since his English-speaking assistant didn’t travel with him to the trunk show, we relied on Google translate to communicate with each other. We went through the fitting process at Strasburgo despite me not being a Strasburgo trunk show customer, which was nice of Strasburgo, as I don’t think every shop allows private customers to conduct fittings during a trunk show. The fitting took approximately one hour and started with the leather fitting shoes, followed by the plastic fitting shoes. Interestingly, the left and right fitting shoes were made of different leathers, the brown one was goat leather while the black one was standard cow leather, something that Mr. Shirahama proactively pointed out. I haven’t seen that before with any other pair of fitting shoes from any other maker that I’ve worked with. Since our ability to communicate details were limited, I couldn’t figure out if there was a specific reason for the different leathers or if they just happened to be different.

Mr. Shirahama had me put on the leather fitting shoes, walk around a bit, and then provide feedback. The key changes to be made based on the fitting shoes were: more room around the pinky toes on both feet (but more on the left), a bit of reduction to the last around the top of where the big toe meets the foot on the right foot, tightening the heel on both feet slightly, closing up the lacing area on the left shoe by 3mm (the opening is 13mm on the left vs 10mm on the right and Mr. Shirahama was targeting 10mm), and adding 2mm more to the tongue on both shoes. We also agreed to make the last slightly shorter and more rounded, which would be more similar to the Alden suede bluchers that inspired the order. Then, I tried on the transparent shoes, and based on the fact that both pinky toes went white, the transparent shoes confirmed that more space at the pinky toes was appropriate. The transparent shoes also confirmed that there was excess room above the big toe joint on the right side.

Also, when I was in Japan in April, I tried on fitting shoes from YF and Koji Suzuki, the final pairs for which should be done hopefully early next year, so final shoe pics are hopefully coming soon

 

[beepbop]

Santari MTM monk straps are here, and I'm overall very pleased. Finishing is lovely, and most importantly, the fit is great based on a short try on around the house.

Spoiler: more pics

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Haven't had the time to post these here yet, but here's some images of my fourth pair from Main d'Or / Eiji Murata. Split toe derby, Haas Utah calf, square outside bevelled inside waist, 14 spi sole stitch, rubber topy and full rubber heel top piece. Read and see more here, but below some shots:

 

[clee1982]

Haven't had the time to post these here yet, but here's some images of my fourth pair from Main d'Or / Eiji Murata. Split toe derby, Haas Utah calf, square outside bevelled inside waist, 14 spi sole stitch, rubber topy and full rubber heel top piece. Read and see more here, but below some shots:

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10 to 15 a year with that price is like unbelievable low annual revenue, how does the guy even do it…

 

[Texasmade]

10 to 15 a year with that price is like unbelievable low annual revenue, how does the guy even do it…

I'm guessing Chiba must be way cheaper than Tokyo. If not then there's no way he can survive on that without rich family and friends to support.

 

[jonathanS]

Beautiful shoes though. Too bad there’s a 5 year waitlist.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

10 to 15 a year with that price is like unbelievable low annual revenue, how does the guy even do it…

I'm guessing Chiba must be way cheaper than Tokyo. If not then there's no way he can survive on that without rich family and friends to support.

It's a very remote location in Chiba, a house where he has showroom and workshop on the bottom floor, and lives on the top floor. His wife also work full time, so they have double income. And they basically spend no money on anything, just their young daughter. He certainly doesn't have rich family or anything supporting him, the other way around, he comes from a background where 320 000 yen for a pair of shoes is a huge amount of money (and note, that's base price, he charges for all extras, shoe trees, toe taps, more tricky patterns etc. So these here would correspond to 380 000 in total, I paid 20 000 less since they were ordered under the old price list).

Nonetheless, I'm nagging on him to continue to raise prices (he do seem to listen, last raise was after we talked, and he also simplified his fitting shoes especially first ones a bit after input from me), if nothing else to make it more reasonable for other shoemakers in Japan who have to charge more to survive but who can't make as fine shoes as Eiji san.

Beautiful shoes though. Too bad there’s a 5 year waitlist.

Cheers! Yeah, many people think the same

 

[Texasmade]

It's a very remote location in Chiba, a house where he has showroom and workshop on the bottom floor, and lives on the top floor. His wife also work full time, so they have double income. And they basically spend no money on anything, just their young daughter. He certainly doesn't have rich family or anything supporting him, the other way around, he comes from a background where 320 000 yen for a pair of shoes is a huge amount of money (and note, that's base price, he charges for all extras, shoe trees, toe taps, more tricky patterns etc. So these here would correspond to 380 000 in total, I paid 20 000 less since they were ordered under the old price list).

Nonetheless, I'm nagging on him to continue to raise prices (he do seem to listen, last raise was after we talked, and he also simplified his fitting shoes especially first ones a bit after input from me), if nothing else to make it more reasonable for other shoemakers in Japan who have to charge more to survive but who can't make as fine shoes as Eiji san.

Well that explains how he can survive on such low prices and low production.

I definitely agree that he needs to raise prices along with a lot of other Japanese makers. Even 380k Yen is still pretty cheap. That's like $2600 USD. Anything under $4000, I would consider "affordable" (of course this is relative). The French and British makers raise prices on an annual/semiannual basis without a problem.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Well that explains how he can survive on such low prices and low production.

I definitely agree that he needs to raise prices along with a lot of other Japanese makers. Even 380k Yen is still pretty cheap. That's like $2600 USD. Anything under $4000, I would consider "affordable" (of course this is relative). The French and British makers raise prices on an annual/semiannual basis without a problem.

Cost of living is (for most) lower in Japan than in the UK or France, so prices have always been lower there, and the country has seen very little to no inflation for many, many years now (highly problematic on many regards, of course). That's why the Japanese makers are so competitive. It's the same for RTW, Japanese such are better value than European counterparts, in general, if one look at price on respective domestic market. But for sure, Eiji's prices should be higher, no doubt. Most successful makers in Japan have increased their pricing in recent years, he's one of them and surely should continue to do it too.

 

[epsilon22]

Cost of living is (for most) lower in Japan than in the UK or France, so prices have always been lower there, and the country has seen very little to no inflation for many, many years now (highly problematic on many regards, of course). That's why the Japanese makers are so competitive. It's the same for RTW, Japanese such are better value than European counterparts, in general, if one look at price on respective domestic market. But for sure, Eiji's prices should be higher, no doubt. Most successful makers in Japan have increased their pricing in recent years, he's one of them and surely should continue to do it too.

Incredible prices for what you're getting for sure. I spent pretty much the same amount with Hiro Yanagimachi for MTM. Waiting time is certainly more manageable, it was 1 year back when I visited him, though I think it recently increased to 1.5 years at his Leffot trunk show. My conveniently timed vacation to Japan saved me half a year of waiting, plus whatever trunk show upcharges he has.