Archibald London: true craftsmanship, no middlemen, Official Vendor Thread

[dhoff10]

Got the shoes: (not so) brief review.
- Packaging is standard, shoebox, paper thingy inside shoes. No spare set of laces.
- Shoes look very close to the visuals shown on the website.
- Leather shows some "markings" or creases that highlight where the heel stiffeners are. Overall, the 'marks' I see on the leather seem to be natural, and not defects like veins or 'hollow' leather that I've seen on Berluti for instance.
- Welt shows some 'imperfections': to me that shows it was handwelted and that the the tool used to make the indentations to mark the stitch distance was hand-applied.
- The strip of leather hiding the back-seam on one of the shoes could have been finished better.
- Inner lining with no obvious faults, simple design.
- Outsole with closed-stitch was done well. I've seen companies sort of mess up where you could see the lip of leather that was glued back. Not here.
- Some original design choices: lots of toe spring, and the eyelets further apart than any of my other shoes.

Overall I'd give the shoe an 8-9/10 discounting price (there's no competition if you factor in the price). The leather is better than my 780€ Goodyear Santoni shoes, but seems a bit below my Edward Green MTO/John Lobb Prestige which cost double the amount of my Santonis. That being said, it's subjective and could be from the type of leather or the fact that this was handlasted, and therefore the leather on my Archibalds could have been subject to more pulling motions or what not. Not qualified to say for sure. It's obviously full-grain calfskin though, and resembles Annonay Vocalou Aniline calfskin.

Things to improve (maybe):
- Product is advertised as artisanal. Yet not an individualized marking on the outsole or the inner lining. Santoni's founder signs his limited edition handwelted shoes, but no need to even go that far, just a scribble indicating the last, size, etc. My Archibalds have nothing written on the inside except the embossing on the insole.
- Things to maybe add to the packaging: spare set of laces (i got round-ish laces, maybe the spare could be flatter), or maybe a piece of cloth like Edward Green does. I don't know about including a plastic shoehorn. Things to consider maybe. A wooden box like Stefano/Mario Bemer is overkill imho.
- Some brands include a piece of paper on their high-tier shoes saying "This shoe was made/inspected by [signature or initials]", seems easy enough to do.
- Fancier outsole design. The current design is simple, like Lobb Saint-James, or Vass or what not.

I wish I had a pair of Vass/Bonafé/Meccariello to comparé, as these are the closest handwelted competitors, albeit more expensive (700-1000€ as opposed to 450€). My feeling is that Meccariello for double the price might offer a cleaner finish, but the value of these Archibalds seems unbeatable for a Western European product.

Enclosing:
- inner lining writing and extra laces/cloth can be added at minimal cost.
- a more 'premium' product could be designed, perhaps on a made to order basis, which would include a waist where the welt disappears (forgot the technical term), which is a staple of super high-end shoes. . I don't know how much more handiwork goes into this as opposed to the shoes I got. Maybe double. Having an idea of the price would be nice, since transparency is what you guys are about.
- possibility of add-ons like metal toe taps and rubber topys: doesn't affect me, I live in a city with many talented cobblers. Could be of high value to people who live in remote places though.
- selling shoe trees: not necessarily lasted though, as that could be expensive.

Very helpful review. For your last point, they have shoe trees but for some reason they're not on the website. Shoot them an email and they'll send you some. Charged me $35 USD. Not sure about about shipping though if ordering alone - I had them add it to an open order

 

[ixk]

Very helpful review. For your last point, they have shoe trees but for some reason they're not on the website. Shoot them an email and they'll send you some. Charged me $35 USD. Not sure about about shipping though if ordering alone - I had them add it to an open order

Yeah, I'll enquire. Worst case scenario, I'll ask for trees along my styleforum sneakers. Happy with the shoes though, took literally 10 minutes to break in.

 

[zanci]

Any plans to do a camel/cashmere/silk robe?

What would be the price?

 

[ArchibaldRoh]

Got the shoes: (not so) brief review.
- Packaging is standard, shoebox, paper thingy inside shoes. No spare set of laces.
- Shoes look very close to the visuals shown on the website.
- Leather shows some "markings" or creases that highlight where the heel stiffeners are. Overall, the 'marks' I see on the leather seem to be natural, and not defects like veins or 'hollow' leather that I've seen on Berluti for instance.
- Welt shows some 'imperfections': to me that shows it was handwelted and that the the tool used to make the indentations to mark the stitch distance was hand-applied.
- The strip of leather hiding the back-seam on one of the shoes could have been finished better.
- Inner lining with no obvious faults, simple design.
- Outsole with closed-stitch was done well. I've seen companies sort of mess up where you could see the lip of leather that was glued back. Not here.
- Some original design choices: lots of toe spring, and the eyelets further apart than any of my other shoes.

Overall I'd give the shoe an 8-9/10 discounting price (there's no competition if you factor in the price). The leather is better than my 780€ Goodyear Santoni shoes, but seems a bit below my Edward Green MTO/John Lobb Prestige which cost double the amount of my Santonis. That being said, it's subjective and could be from the type of leather or the fact that this was handlasted, and therefore the leather on my Archibalds could have been subject to more pulling motions or what not. Not qualified to say for sure. It's obviously full-grain calfskin though, and resembles Annonay Vocalou Aniline calfskin.

Things to improve (maybe):
- Product is advertised as artisanal. Yet not an individualized marking on the outsole or the inner lining. Santoni's founder signs his limited edition handwelted shoes, but no need to even go that far, just a scribble indicating the last, size, etc. My Archibalds have nothing written on the inside except the embossing on the insole.
- Things to maybe add to the packaging: spare set of laces (i got round-ish laces, maybe the spare could be flatter), or maybe a piece of cloth like Edward Green does. I don't know about including a plastic shoehorn. Things to consider maybe. A wooden box like Stefano/Mario Bemer is overkill imho.
- Some brands include a piece of paper on their high-tier shoes saying "This shoe was made/inspected by [signature or initials]", seems easy enough to do.
- Fancier outsole design. The current design is simple, like Lobb Saint-James, or Vass or what not.

I wish I had a pair of Vass/Bonafé/Meccariello to comparé, as these are the closest handwelted competitors, albeit more expensive (700-1000€ as opposed to 450€). My feeling is that Meccariello for double the price might offer a cleaner finish, but the value of these Archibalds seems unbeatable for a Western European product.

Enclosing:
- inner lining writing and extra laces/cloth can be added at minimal cost.
- a more 'premium' product could be designed, perhaps on a made to order basis, which would include a waist where the welt disappears (forgot the technical term), which is a staple of super high-end shoes. . I don't know how much more handiwork goes into this as opposed to the shoes I got. Maybe double. Having an idea of the price would be nice, since transparency is what you guys are about.
- possibility of add-ons like metal toe taps and rubber topys: doesn't affect me, I live in a city with many talented cobblers. Could be of high value to people who live in remote places though.
- selling shoe trees: not necessarily lasted though, as that could be expensive.

Thank you so much for this, it is really very, very useful and has yielded clear action points for us to address with our craftsmen.

We will be taking each and every point into account and attend to it from here on to ensure the resultant pairs and processes are improved further.

We will include the extra laces in the next package you order as well as a cloth which hopefully we can source and include in time.

"- a more 'premium' product could be designed, perhaps on a made to order basis, which would include a waist where the welt disappears (forgot the technical term)" - Would anyone be able to help with this? I would like to communicate it to our craftsmen to understand if it is something we can actually do. @OrlandoMo

With regards to the toe stiffener, we actually spoke about it with the craftsmen yesterday when we visited them. So the toe stiffener would be leather as mentioned earlier and easy enough to offer but we will be shooting some of the models with it before including it as a formal option online as it does raise the profile of the front a little bit given leather is thicker (and stronger) which might be aesthetically less appealing for some.

I would love to offer hand-welted shoes in a fully customizable manner as well moving forward but perhaps something we can all work on together to ensure we get it right? With this, we can offer all options including the one mentioned where the sole is fully hand-stitched on (like the top tier from Stephano Bemer).

 

[ArchibaldRoh]

Any plans to do a camel/cashmere/silk robe?

What would be the price?

Hi there, but just so I am sure what you are thinking off, any examples of such items you like?

 

[ixk]

Thank you so much for this, it is really very, very useful and has yielded clear action points for us to address with our craftsmen.

We will be taking each and every point into account and attend to it from here on to ensure the resultant pairs and processes are improved further.

We will include the extra laces in the next package you order as well as a cloth which hopefully we can source and include in time.

"- a more 'premium' product could be designed, perhaps on a made to order basis, which would include a waist where the welt disappears (forgot the technical term)" - Would anyone be able to help with this? I would like to communicate it to our craftsmen to understand if it is something we can actually do. @OrlandoMo

With regards to the toe stiffener, we actually spoke about it with the craftsmen yesterday when we visited them. So the toe stiffener would be leather as mentioned earlier and easy enough to offer but we will be shooting some of the models with it before including it as a formal option online as it does raise the profile of the front a little bit given leather is thicker (and stronger) which might be aesthetically less appealing for some.

I would love to offer hand-welted shoes in a fully customizable manner as well moving forward but perhaps something we can all work on together to ensure we get it right? With this, we can offer all options including the one mentioned where the sole is fully hand-stitched on (like the top tier from Stephano Bemer).

As an aside, I swapped my laces for ones with 5 more centimeters. But that's pretty minor. I also sent you guys an email regarding my order, maybe it's better if I PM you here?

 

[ixk]

Also, this is a shoe where the welt disappears at the waist

And below the way RTW companies imitate this (poorly) by trimming after the fact.

Credit to Jacques & Déméter.

Example 1 is only doable in handwelted shoes, but i'm not sure how much more work it requires.

Finally, below is some super fancy outsole work with flush toe-taps and a rubber topy it seems, by Zakarian in Moscow. You can see at the waist that the welt is basically invisible.

 

[zanci]

Hi there, but just so I am sure what you are thinking off, any examples of such items you like?

Sites-USA-Site

Suitsupply

eu.suitsupply.com

something like this ...

 

[EgoCamisas]

Thank you so much for this, it is really very, very useful and has yielded clear action points for us to address with our craftsmen.

We will be taking each and every point into account and attend to it from here on to ensure the resultant pairs and processes are improved further.

We will include the extra laces in the next package you order as well as a cloth which hopefully we can source and include in time.

"- a more 'premium' product could be designed, perhaps on a made to order basis, which would include a waist where the welt disappears (forgot the technical term)" - Would anyone be able to help with this? I would like to communicate it to our craftsmen to understand if it is something we can actually do. @OrlandoMo

With regards to the toe stiffener, we actually spoke about it with the craftsmen yesterday when we visited them. So the toe stiffener would be leather as mentioned earlier and easy enough to offer but we will be shooting some of the models with it before including it as a formal option online as it does raise the profile of the front a little bit given leather is thicker (and stronger) which might be aesthetically less appealing for some.

I would love to offer hand-welted shoes in a fully customizable manner as well moving forward but perhaps something we can all work on together to ensure we get it right? With this, we can offer all options including the one mentioned where the sole is fully hand-stitched on (like the top tier from Stephano Bemer).

I think the more "technical" term for the described waist is just a "fiddle waist". Cheers

 

[OrlandoMo]

Sites-USA-Site

Suitsupply

eu.suitsupply.com

something like this ...

Not in production yet but will ask our producer what does he think about making one, maybe in cashmere?

 

[zanci]

Depends on the price...

 

[ArchibaldLondon]

Hi SF-ers,

We've got some good news to start off your weekend...

You can now shop the full SF-01 range.

Thank you to all who contributed, we're proud of the fact that this is truly the product of a cumulative effort. We’ve made sure it’s a secret link so that only users of the forum can purchase at the Naked (at cost) price which includes a donation of $5 per pair to Styleforum. In the event that there are any variations in the cost of the sneakers, we’ll return the discrepancy to purchasers in the form of Archibald credit, though we suspect that won’t be the case.

The sizing is true to our Ghirlandina sneakers with a size chart available for you to measure against, and each pair will come with tonal and white laces. We've also included the option of adding some minimal branding on the tongue, or having an entirely unbranded sneaker- the choice is yours.

You have 30 days to pre-order your sneakers- then we'll go into production, and potentially order a second run at full price that may be open to the public.

We hope you like them as much as we do!

Team Archibald

 

[Darkkp]

Does anyone know how you would size the SF-01s compared to the Common Projects achilles low?

 

[ArchibaldRoh]

Does anyone know how you would size the SF-01s compared to the Common Projects achilles low?

I would say very similarly and a good basis to pick size with.

 

[dhoff10]

Hi @dhoff10, Orlando informed me we have shoe trees that fit the 001 and 002 lasts quite well but don't currently have one for the boot (003). They are not lasted per se but they fit well on both lasts.

Is a shoe tree that fits 003 is available yet? If not, any timeline for it?