Leather-sole shoes and their care?

[dkzzzz]

Leather-sole shoes and their care?

My first question is : Should I take my new leather soles to shoe-shop to put rubber soles? My shoes have stitching through leather soles and although heal has a rubber pad the rest of the shoe sole is open to the elements.
What is the rule of thumb on this? Should leather soles be always protected by rubber or can I slip and slide on leathers till a wear them out?

Second question is unrelated to the first.
I noticed a pretty big sale at Joseph A. Bank and I wonder what is this forum's overall opinion of this company?
How is the quality of their: Suits, Shirts, Wool overcoats?

Thank you folks.

 

[mrchapel]

I am not nearly knowledgable on such a specific question on shoes, so I regret that I am unable to answer your first question.

In response to your second question, the general forum consensus (based on past discussions of Jos. A Bank), is that it is not worth retail but some of their items when on sale are a decent deal. I cannot comment on the quality, as it seems to be mixed. But my impression after visiting one of their stores did not excite me. The suits are fused and look pretty cheap IMO, but I suppose if you could get one for under $100, it would be ok. Other than that, I wouldn't shop there. Everything seems way overpriced for what you're getting.

But I may be wrong and that could just be a bad experience at one of their stores that I encountered. I'll leave it open to the rest of the community to share their 2 cents.

 

[zjpj83]

No, you do not need to put rubber over the leather soles. They should hold up to the elements just fine. The expsoed stitching will be fine and should stand a great deal of wear. In my non-channeled soles (which means soles that do not have an extra piece of leather covering over the exposed stitching), the stitching has started to fray in the toe only after a lot of wear and the soles have been significantly worn down.

Of course, you may get a thin layer of rubber glued over, but it is not necessary at all. Be happy that you have a nice pair of leather-soled shoes!

Jos. A. Bank is cheap and you get what you pay for. They will be classic patterns, and there's nothing wrong with that. If there is a hole in your wardrobe that must be filled, and you don't have much money to spend, then of course, J.A.B. will fill the need. But if you have the dough, it's probably worth looking elsewhere.

 

[Charley]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

Leather-sole shoes and their care?

My first question is : Should I take my new leather soles to shoe-shop to put rubber soles? My shoes have stitching through leather soles and although heal has a rubber pad the rest of the shoe sole is open to the elements.
What is the rule of thumb on this? Should leather soles be always protected by rubber or can I slip and slide on leathers till a wear them out?

Second question is unrelated to the first.
I noticed a pretty big sale at Joseph A. Bank and I wonder what is this forum's overall opinion of this company?
How is the quality of their: Suits, Shirts, Wool overcoats?

Thank you folks.

The wear you experience on the shoe sole will be determined by how hard you wear the shoes. I'm referring to frequency of wear. If you have enough so that you only wear them once a week, they can last a very long time. If you try to wear them every day, particularly following a day when the shoes, and particularly the soles, got very wet, the rate of wear will increase very fast as the wear is taking place on softened leather. I don't care much for the apperance of the rubber add on covering the sole.

As to the JAB suits - look at the Signature Gold and the Joseph models. Much better quality, but still with some fusing. These are generally in the $900 to $1,100 range at full retail. Once a month, at least, there is a 25% off sale which is not really a sale. They recently had some of these marked down to less than $200. That is a sale and represents pretty good value, IMHO. Since ou can see it, feel it, and try it on for fit, I would consider it much better than most eBay deals that can be surprises.

 

[dkzzzz]

Thank you for your answers guys.
I use to think that I must have that rubber sole over leather. Now I will be more care free in that respect.

As for JosepA. Bank I expected it to be not very high quality and your answeres reaffirmed my impression.
On a side note. I shopped at Needless Markup store (Neiman Markus)and found Armani suites to be machine made and in a category of 1700.00-2000.00+ which is very unsettling. When I enquire about their (suites) quality I was reassured by shop assistant that they are indeed machine-made.
I think general rule when it comes to designer brands is: If designer does not own his brand/name anymore it is in a hands of luxury conglomerate which in most cases lowers production quality and makes a lot of bad-taste items.
Armani
Gucci
Dior

And of course Pierre Cardin

))

My feeling regarding designers who cash in their chips. I’d rather wear RL(purple) or Valentino then overpriced results of Chinese labor.

 

[macuser3of5]

Wait, so Dior and Gucci are conglomerate sellouts while Ralph Lauren, a publicially traded company (look at RL on NASDAQ), isn't?

And sorry, grouping Pierre Cardin with Dior and Gucci is just ridiculous. I don't even know where to begin.

 

[sho'nuff]

although alot of luxury labels do have some tawdry and gaudy stuff, i tend to think Gucci actually has some good merchandise that is more than decent.
(not talking about the price)

 

[zjpj83]

Originally Posted by diorshoe

although alot of luxury labels do have some tawdry and gaudy stuff, i tend to think Gucci actually has some good merchandise that is more than decent.
(not talking about the price)
I just don't understand why Gucci make the sleeves so long. Who is buying these suits? Orangutans?

 

[dkzzzz]

Originally Posted by macuser3of5

Wait, so Dior and Gucci are conglomerate sellouts while Ralph Lauren, a publicially traded company (look at RL on NASDAQ), isn't?

And sorry, grouping Pierre Cardin with Dior and Gucci is just ridiculous. I don't even know where to begin.

I am afraid you missed the point of my remark. I do not care about corporate structure of the clothing brand. I do care however about designer vision and style being preserved by designer himself and not by a bunch of NY Fashion institute graduates in their twenties.

As far as grouping PC with Dior and Gucci I don't understand why it is ridiculous? Are you too young to know what PC name use to be in his days?

 

[RagnorakPA]

I wouldn't replace the soles--if for no other reason than the sound of leather soles in an empty cathedral sounds great. I would recommend getting "taps" for the toe and heel to help protect it a bit. These come in either metal or rubber/plastic and are usually nailed in by a cobbler. They're inexpensive ($5-20) and will extend the life of the sole considerably. I'd worry less about the weather and more about walking across the street and accidentally dragging your toe--that's what these will help protect against. If you can't find them--check around a military post to see if they've got them.

Andrew

 

[JLibourel]

Moisture is the biggest enemy of leather soles. Have a few dressy pairs of rubber soled shoes for wet weather, and try to build a decent rotation of good shoes as quickly as possible, and your new shoes should give you excellent service for years to come.

 

[Luc-Emmanuel]

Originally Posted by zjpj83

I just don't understand why Gucci make the sleeves so long. Who is buying these suits? Orangutans?
I don't know. Costume National has the same problem. I wear a 46EU and sometime the suit sleeves will cover half my knuckles

Other italian brands oly require me to remove half an inch.

!luc