The Ultimate Vass (Footwear) Thread (Pictures, reviews, sizing, etc...)

[grc1]



Look forward to your pics. What size are you? Would love to see pictures from the top, from the vantage point that your own eyes see when wearing the shoes...thanks!

These are 43.5 - I normally wear 9.5UK in C&J, Lodger, etc. Double-to-single sole with metal toe plates. I'm impressed with how high the instep is for such a chiselled last - good because I have high insteps. Reasonably comfortable after a day's wearing, but my feet are on the wide side so hoping they'll give a bit more after a couple outings.

 

[fritzl]



out of curiosity. are you wearing yellow socks?

 

[pkiula]



out of curiosity. are you wearing yellow socks?

Looks like it. There's a certain metrosexual art to wearing green stripes or yellow polka dots in socks. I spent an entire year wearing two different socks on each foot. Great conversation starter for the 1% of the population that actually notices.

Socks are the most under-rated fashion statement of our time. I say all the power to Happy Socks!

Btw, thanks for the pics from the "wearer's POV". Vass looks not quite as glamorous from the top, does it.

 

[apropos]

out of curiosity. are you wearing yellow socks?

Looks like it. There's a certain metrosexual art to wearing green stripes or yellow polka dots in socks. I spent an entire year wearing two different socks on each foot. Great conversation starter for the 1% of the population that actually notices.

Socks are the most under-rated fashion statement of our time. I say all the power to Happy Socks!

Btw, thanks for the pics from the "wearer's POV". Vass looks not quite as glamorous from the top, does it.

This new information allows me to re-assess your opinions in a new light. No hate, just a statement of fact.

 

[fritzl]



Vass looks not quite as glamorous from the top, does it.

you think so? btw, i feel a bit like an industrial spy, after you confirmed the development of a new last for the japanese market.

 

[pkiula]



you think so?

Yes, and I promise to show what I mean with a picture soon. It's a pain to take a pic, put my camera USB to computer, download + crop + resize, then upload here. But will do. I think the "flow" of a shoe gives it the beauty in my eyes, and while the last is fantastic, the overall flow of these shoes unless "narrow" (E fit) is a bit stumpy. To me.

btw, i feel a bit like an industrial spy, after you confirmed the development of a new last for the japanese market.

I doubt Vass is terribly secretive about it, just that their limited resources are not spent on marketing to the tune that one might imagine. It's on eBay already from Ascot Shoes. Either way, I think my future Vass orders will likely be the K-last....and in the narrow fitting, which looks quite nice. (My feet are wide too, but I buy maybe 0.5 size higher and narrower, and it's comfortable enough)

 

[jet]

^I know exactly what you mean about the stumpiness at a certain angle I think it looks crap too. Looks like the front got smashed against a wall, hopefully the K fixes it.

 

[Pliny]



Are the middle and left shoe F-last or P2?

f then p2 then u

no idea wot u mean about stumpiness, heard alot of comments about 'cocroach killers' tho

 

[pkiula]



no idea wot u mean about stumpiness, heard alot of comments about 'cocroach killers' tho

I received my burgundy Vass u-last shoes yesterday. A bloody disappointment. These are "43E", so were meant to be narrow. But they are fugly and stumpy as hell. I will explain with pictures.

A pair of old Mantellassi's remain my favorite shoes, because in the same size, they manage a much better and naturally flowing cut/shape that augments the front part of the feet. Incidentally, they're less "pointy" than the Vass, but more proportionately structured. So "flow" does not have to mean "pointy" as someone in this thread remarked earlier.

I started watching this thread looking at all the highly misleading pics of the U-last, because almost all the googoo-gaga pictures are taken from the front of the shoe, as though the shoe is on eye level. Unless you spend most of your life prostrate, this is never ever the angle from which you or others will experience the shoe. When taken from the top, a pic of Vass is hardly a glowing tribute. My local store has dime-a-dozen shoes in this cut, with double soles and whatnot, for 1/3rd the price.

The K-last is fortunately a little less stumpier, and I can't wait for that to be more widely available. Right now vass wants to charge a marginal premium.

 

[pkiula]



This new information allows me to re-assess your opinions in a new light. No hate, just a statement of fact.

No worries. Happy socks are not for everyone My business sector allows me to be funky.

When I meet with a senior client or attend a formal dinner, I of course stick with dark blue or black.

 

[SpooPoker]

Hey, I have pics to contribute.

 

[Pliny]



My local store has dime-a-dozen shoes in this cut, with double soles and whatnot, for 1/3rd the price.

If u think Vass are a rip-off because they look the same but cost more than the kicks in your local store then this is not the place for you. Go to your local store or find another that sells inexpensive shoes in your taste.

Vass are respected here as much for the integrity of their construction and their tradition as their looks. If you haven't been able to develop an informed opinion about the appearance of the U last from looking in this thread it aint the fault of the people who post here.

I appreciate the craft of Vass shoes, and I happen to love the way they look, whichever the last. The materials are second to none, as is the construction- hand lasted and hand welted and part of a very long and proud Austro-Hungarian tradition, with a little bit of Italian flair added to make the U and F lasts, which are both wonderfully elegant.

 

[fritzl]



Yes, and I promise to show what I mean with a picture soon.

no offense, imo, we're talking a different "language", might be due to different cultural mentalities.

so, i'm curious what you have to offer. we are certainly on the consensus regarding the flow and i agree that this is a important factor.

 

[kolecho]



Hey, I have pics to contribute.

Very nice. Congrats!

 

[pkiula]



If u think Vass are a rip-off because they look the same but cost more than the kicks in your local store then this is not the place for you. Go to your local store or find another that sells inexpensive shoes in your taste.

Come now, let's not make it handbags at ten paces?



Most of my shoes are hand made. Vass is not the only option, not even at its price point.

Mind you, I'm not saying Vass is a "rip off". That's your phrase. I have taken pains to include these words every time I express my personal disappointment with Vass -- "To me", "Personally", "To my eyes". It's a personal opinion. To which we're all entitled.

The reason I am disappointed is NOT because Vass are low quality. I think they're up there in terms of the product they make. My disappointment is the shape of the shoe as it looks to me.

I promised pictures. I'm no shoe critic, so I don't know the words to explain this. But my eyes see a more pleasing "flow" in some other shoe cuts that I still have to find in the U-last of Vass (which is why I think the pics in this thread are misleading, except the recent ones where owners have kindly shared pics from "the top, the wearer's point of view").

The K-last which I have had the pleasure of seeing in person in Vass' workshop (so I hope you understand I'm a bit more in touch than you think) are much more pleasing to me.

After taking pictures from many angles, I think this collection of following shots of shoes **worn on my feet** shows the difference as I see it:



And here's another view of the same thing:



Please ignore the hideous condition my other shoes are in. Desperate need to clean, polish and stow them with respect. But the point of the pics is to illustrate the "unnatural" width of even the "narrow" (43E) Vass in u-last as seen from the top, which makes it stumpy, stunted, whatever the word is. I wonder what the "wide" version is! To my eyes.

Hope this helps..