emidyl
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2014
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I was actually going to post about my visit last Friday to the shop. My first time there after reading about them on Parisian and Hogtown Rake.Has anyone been to the Loding shop at Avenue and Davenport?
Small shop, bit of pain to access with the constant traffic up Avenue Rd., but park on Davenport and you'll be good.
Dealt with a really nice young gentleman by the name of Miguel, who at least on the surface to me was very enthusiastic about the product, and it's direction. He's the manager of the store and quite helpful.
Was informed that the shoes were manufactured in both Spain and Portugal, and that there is a downtown location going up, but no date as of yet. Toronto is the only North American city with a corporate Loding store, and soon to be home of a second and 3rd undisclosed location as of now.
The styles I personally found to be quite stylish, with some being almost too trendy and "fad" like in that I found them too narrow and long. No worries as there are few of those and more of the classic styles and shapes. Being a boot fan, I was disappointed by the slim choices offered by Loding. However, there are countless shoe styles and colours to suit most tastes and occasions, and even an option to custom colour your shoes. I found the leathers to being very acceptable, but I've not reached upper shoe snob status as of yet, but hope to be soon. Staining for the various pairs I tried on were very consistent, and burnishing very nice, gradual, and clean. I have read some feel the leathers are a bit stiff and concur, but don't feel "cheap" in any way. I didn't find them to be thin either, as also reported by others. Again, I'm relatively new to the shoe game but not totally in the dark when it comes to quality and workmanship one can see with the naked eye. I've looked at various famous branded shoes costing double what Loding charges and cannot for the life of me fathom why someone would buy them, and we're talking big players here, aside from the fact it is made by so and so company, and fail to see any style in some of these manufacturers.
I asked about the site and was informed that it will be updated shortly. I don't know but it needs something to make it pop and make more enticing to the general surfer/shopper. Despite the info on the site, Miguel assures me that the bulk of the shoes on hand were indeed goodyear welts.
I could have walked out of there with 3 pair of shoes (chelseas and single monks) but opted for a split toe I've been eyeing to add to my collection for casual work. I've got an average sized/shape foot and found the lasts in the monks and chelseas fit me fine, and the split toe I purchased were on a wider last, of which I sized down a half size UK7.5 However after trying them on at home over the weekend at different times of the day have decided to swap back up to the UK8, which Miguel has been kind enough to put aside for me.
For those uniformed with Loding, all their shoes, and shirts are priced the same. Regardless of style and or colours/design, 1 price. Shirts, socks, sweaters, belts, scarves, all priced the same within their respective items.
So if you're in the market for something a little different and "affordable", give them a try. Might be one of the better values to be had, time will tell, but here's to hoping they can fill that market for up and coming shoe snobbies like myself.