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bootyboy

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The best shoes tress with value for money are from skolyx.se imo (especially if you are looking to buy like 5+ pairs). They come out to be about $15-20 per pair. I use them on a number of my EG pairs and they work out quite well.

Just make sure you size them right as they tend to run a bit large.
 

Wertheimer

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Best trees I have ever owned were Yohei Fukuda’s
Not to derail from EG, but his shoes are simply exquisite. I've been tempted by his RTW line, but they are just out of my price range. Perhaps one day I will try to get a pair. I would love to go to The Armoury in NYC and see a pair in person.

I was looking at Skoaktiebolaget and they do indeed have a good selection of trees for a reasonable price. The colors they offer are a nice luxury as well. The cherry red is pretty. Woodlore is also solid for the price.
 

bsarosi

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Another option for shoe trees is Seamless Bespoke and they're having a 20% sale for pre-order of shoe trees. While they have lasted trees for EB, they also offer a generic shoe trees that looks pretty good. Only issue is they won't be delivered till end of August.

 

sforum1

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You cannot have much respect for the expensive shoemakers that don't automatically (meaning free of charge, included in the price of the shoes) include trees with their shoes. If you know that trees are necessary to extend the life of your shoes then you should know better than not to include them with your shoes and expect that the customer will choose to pay an additional $200 for trees when they may not be able to see the value.

You are already charging an arm and a leg for the shoes and shamelessly keep raising the prices, you think that by adding an extra $20 to the price which would be the cost to make will change anything? But no, for them it's all about money. I already sold you a pair of shoes for a ridiculous $1300, why stop there? Why not on top of that also sell you a pair of trees for an equally ridiculous $200? Many of you will choose to not buy them but who cares. If your shoes don't last as long then better for me.
 
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mebiuspower

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^Pretty sure when you buy a Ferrari, a tank of fuel is not included.
 

sforum1

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^Pretty sure when you buy a Ferrari, a tank of fuel is not included.
Pretty sure they do. I don't own one but Mercedes and BMW do. Full tank all the way to the top.

Plus, not a good example at all. If you have any respect at all for your shoes then include the damn trees. No shoes should ever have to live without trees and the shoemaker will be the first to tell you this.
 
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Phileas Fogg

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In keeping with the car analogy, would you say it’s like buying a $50k car and then the salesman tries to sell you the corrosion protection package for $895? :bounce2:
 

jischwar

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You cannot have much respect for the expensive shoemakers that don't automatically (meaning free of charge, included in the price of the shoes) include trees with their shoes. If you know that trees are necessary to extend the life of your shoes then you should know better than not to include them with your shoes and expect that the customer will choose to pay an additional $200 for trees when they may not be able to see the value.

You are already charging an arm and a leg for the shoes and shamelessly keep raising the prices, you think that by adding an extra $20 to the price which would be the cost to make will change anything? But no, for them it's all about money. I already sold you a pair of shoes for a ridiculous $1300, why stop there? Why not on top of that also sell you a pair of trees for an equally ridiculous $200? Many of you will choose to not buy them but who cares. If your shoes don't last as long then better for me.
For whatever reason, it seems like something the handwelted makers do more often than not.
 

sforum1

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In keeping with the car analogy, would you say it’s like buying a $50k car and then the salesman tries to sell you the corrosion protection package for $895? :bounce2:
It's more like going to a fine restaurant that charges $500/person and they ask you if you want butter with your bread because it costs an extra $10.

And your reaction is:

1. $10 you said, for a piece of butter?
2. also, why was it not included when you are already charging me $500 for the meal?
3. and most importantly, are you really expecting me to eat the bread without butter (in case I said no because I thought it was too expensive) or is it abundantly clear to you by now that I'm a sucker and I will pay anything you ask me to pay, no matter how ridiculous it might be?

What makes things worse is when you decide to pay the $10 and what you end up getting is the exact same butter you get at MCD for free.
 
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TokenMao

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It's more like going to a fine restaurant that charges $500/person and they ask you if you want butter with your bread because it costs an extra $10.

And your reaction is:

1. $10 you said, for a piece of butter?
2. also, why was it not included when you are already charging me $500 for the meal?
3. and most importantly, are you really expecting me to eat the bread without butter (in case I said no because I thought it was too expensive) or is it abundantly clear to you by now that I'm a sucker and I will pay anything you ask me to pay, no matter how ridiculous it might be?

What makes things worse is when you decide to pay the $10 and what you end up getting is the exact same butter you get at MCD for free.

Not really. If you're going to use the fine dining analogy, it'd be more like going to an expensive restaurant that has a $500 / person set menu and charges you extra for the optional wine pairing. Except it's also BYOB and they let you bring your own (cheaper) bottle of wine to enjoy with the meal.

More generally there's no such thing as a free shoe tree, it's either included and baked into the price you're paying or it's not. Would you rather EG raise prices by $160 and include "free" shoe trees with every pair of shoes? Because that's the consequence of EG including shoe trees with every pair of shoes. Out of the makers I've tried only Vass, Zonkey Boot, and St. C include shoe trees with every purchase. That leaves a plethora of other "high end" makers who do not: EG, JL, G&G, Bonafe, AM (maybe I'm wrong here I forget), Scafora, not to mention many other popular shoemakers like C&J, Carmina, Alden, Viberg, Alfred Sargent, and pretty much every single other maker with a SF thread. Even some bespoke makers charge you extra for the trees.

The only potential benefits I can see from including shoe trees are: 1) convenience, 2) psychological benefit (because the cost is hidden you feel like you're getting it for "free"), and 3) maybe on the margin it means you're charged a tiny bit less since the shoemaker might be willing to take a slightly lower margin on a higher $ revenue. Personally I don't really mind either way but it's an exaggeration to claim that a shoemaker with any modicum of respect for their product would include trees.
 

sforum1

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Not really. If you're going to use the fine dining analogy, it'd be more like going to an expensive restaurant that has a $500 / person set menu and charges you extra for the optional wine pairing. Except it's also BYOB and they let you bring your own (cheaper) bottle of wine to enjoy with the meal.

More generally there's no such thing as a free shoe tree, it's either included and baked into the price you're paying or it's not. Would you rather EG raise prices by $160 and include "free" shoe trees with every pair of shoes? Because that's the consequence of EG including shoe trees with every pair of shoes. Out of the makers I've tried only Vass, Zonkey Boot, and St. C include shoe trees with every purchase. That leaves a plethora of other "high end" makers who do not: EG, JL, G&G, Bonafe, AM (maybe I'm wrong here I forget), Scafora, not to mention many other popular shoemakers like C&J, Carmina, Alden, Viberg, Alfred Sargent, and pretty much every single other maker with a SF thread. Even some bespoke makers charge you extra for the trees.

The only potential benefits I can see from including shoe trees are: 1) convenience, 2) psychological benefit (because the cost is hidden you feel like you're getting it for "free"), and 3) maybe on the margin it means you're charged a tiny bit less since the shoemaker might be willing to take a slightly lower margin on a higher $ revenue. Personally I don't really mind either way but it's an exaggeration to claim that a shoemaker with any modicum of respect for their product would include trees.

No exaggeration. I did not say for every shoemaker to include them, only the ones that are charging $1300 for their shoes and have these huge profit margins. And I did not say they would be 'free'. I said if they think it is perfectly reasonable to charge $1300 or $1500 for a pair of shoes, they can't possibly think that $1320 or $1520 is too much.

Cleverley includes them and they are a much more respected brand that all the rest combined. If I were G&G for example I would not want my shoes to be sitting somewhere with cheap Woodlore trees in them. That's called having respect for your product that you claim is 6X better than the other brand, and that other brand is where those cheap trees belong.

What I know is that once you put the $15 Woodlore trees in the Cleverley it's not Cleverley anymore. Would BMW want their M cars to be driven around with ugly cleap 16" wheels? Some owner might want that if he could save money, but does BMW want that?
 
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TokenMao

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No exaggeration. I did not say for every shoemaker to include them, only the ones that are charging $1300 for their shoes and have these huge profit margins. And I did not say they would be 'free'. I said if they think it is perfectly reasonable to charge $1300 or $1500 for a pair of shoes, they can't possibly think that $1320 or $1520 is too much.

Cleverley includes them and they are a much more respected brand that all the rest combined. If I were G&G for example I would not want my shoes to be sitting somewhere with cheap Woodlore trees in them. That's called having respect for your product that you claim is 6X better than the other brand, and that other brand is where those cheap trees belong.

What I know is that once you put the $15 Woodlore trees in the Cleverley it's not Cleverley anymore. Would BMW want their M cars to be driven around with ugly cleap 16" wheels? Some owner might want that if he could save money, but does BMW want that?

What? So your point basically boils down to you think luxury shoemakers should force their customers to buy their shoe trees? ...Ok I guess? You said earlier that EG trees are crappy and no better than Woodlore so why would you want EG forcing you to buy their "overpriced" trees?

Cleverley is bespoke and costs multiples of what EG/JL/GG is so not really a fair comparison. Especially since bespoke shoes have a potentially more unique shape and would benefit more from a lasted tree. Again, please enlighten me on why the standard for RTW makers around the $1k price point is to bundle shoe trees. I've listed the three brands I've had experience with that include shoe trees (Vass, Zonkey Boot, St. C), the list of shoemakers who don't bundle trees is much larger and includes makers who are more on the purist side compared to the business profit maximizing side (Bonafe, Scafora, AM).

Your car analogy is also really bad... when you're driving around in your car people can see your wheels. When you're walking around in your nice shoes nobody can see your shoe trees because they're at home, so where's the potential "damage" to the prestige of the shoe brand from using cheap shoe trees? Unless you've seriously mis-sized them and they've warped the shoe or something who cares enough to judge you?

If you want to go down that line of reasoning then shouldn't shoemakers also require their customers to take great care of their shoes too; seeing a scuffed dry / cracked shoe might turn potential customers away from the brand. So why not propose that if you buy a pair of nice shoes you have to bring them to be inspected by the maker every month to make sure you're not bringing shame to their work, if you don't pass their standards then they take away your shoes :-D
 

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