Gaziano & Girling Appreciation & Shoe Appreciation Thread (including reviews, purchases, pictures)

[JubeiSpiegel]



Been some Gaziano & Girlings factory visits published at various places lately, and I just did another one on my blog.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Might interest some of you anyway, some interesting news that I think will be new to many of you, such as problems with Horween hatch grain which forced them to strip down and recolor every shoe they make out of the leather, revision of retailers, and plans about a possible new hand welted top line.

Here it is: http://shoegazingpunktse.blogspot.se/2013/10/reportage-besok-hos-gaziano-girling.html

The blog is in Swedish, but you can use the translation tool on the upper right of the web version of the page to translate it to your language.

Fantastic!

As an awesome personal sidenote, one of your pics showcases my current concept MTO pair, you can all thank me later.

They look great, thank you for that pic...

 

[bengal-stripe]



Been some Gaziano & Girlings factory visits published at various places lately, and I just did another one on my blog.

Nice article, indeed!

The blog is in Swedish, but you can use the translation tool.......

I had to laugh out loud about this sentence in English translation:

Daniel Wegan standing in front of his workbench in the factory's smallest room, where space is limited to say the least.

It might be different in Swedish, but in English "the smallest room" means only one room: the toilet!
My commiserations to poor Daniel, who has to work in the loo.

 

[jhcam8]



^^^ Here you go.  Worn all of once so far:

Look nice.
I have the wensum sole coming on a pair of Sinatras.

 

[RogerP]

Thanks jhcam8.

jingevaldsson - most excellent blog. That new "Galway" looks terrific.

I had the chance to meet Dean Girling at the recent Leatherfoot trunk show - very knowledgeable guy who is very passionate about the craft.

 

[Odd I/O]



Been some Gaziano & Girlings factory visits published at various places lately, and I just did another one on my blog. Might interest some of you anyway, some interesting news that I think will be new to many of you, such as problems with Horween hatch grain which forced them to strip down and recolor every shoe they make out of the leather, revision of retailers, and plans about a possible new hand welted top line.

Here it is: http://shoegazingpunktse.blogspot.se/2013/10/reportage-besok-hos-gaziano-girling.html

The blog is in Swedish, but you can use the translation tool on the upper right of the web version of the page to translate it to your language.

Interesting to see that they have now developed their own version of Edward Green's Galway boot. With Edward Green currently refusing to make the Galway on anything other than the 82 and 64 last this would be a good alternative for those who wanted it on the 888.

Edit: D'oh! RogerP beat me to it.

 

[in stitches]

great blog post. worth translating, and i usually hate doing that.

 

[Leaves]



Been some Gaziano & Girlings factory visits published at various places lately, and I just did another one on my blog. Might interest some of you anyway, some interesting news that I think will be new to many of you, such as problems with Horween hatch grain which forced them to strip down and recolor every shoe they make out of the leather, revision of retailers, and plans about a possible new hand welted top line.

Here it is: http://shoegazingpunktse.blogspot.se/2013/10/reportage-besok-hos-gaziano-girling.html

The blog is in Swedish, but you can use the translation tool on the upper right of the web version of the page to translate it to your language.

Top notch!

 

[bamboo]

Been some Gaziano & Girlings factory visits published at various places lately, and I just did another one on my blog. Might interest some of you anyway, some interesting news that I think will be new to many of you, such as problems with Horween hatch grain which forced them to strip down and recolor every shoe they make out of the leather, revision of retailers, and plans about a possible new hand welted top line.

Here it is: http://shoegazingpunktse.blogspot.se/2013/10/reportage-besok-hos-gaziano-girling.html

The blog is in Swedish, but you can use the translation tool on the upper right of the web version of the page to translate it to your language.

Very interesting reading. I found the part about new line's construction method particularly interesting. The method is described as somewhere between traditional hand sewn and GY and the same as StC, Meermin, Enzo Bonafe. I read about Carmina uses the method without gemming but use the machine to sew, so I presume this is the way they are talking about.

 

[nutcracker]



Very interesting reading. I found the part about new line's construction method particularly interesting. The method is described as somewhere between traditional hand sewn and GY and the same as StC, Meermin, Enzo Bonafe.  I read about Carmina uses the method without gemming but use the machine to sew, so I presume this is the way they are talking about.  

JM Weston also employs a GY method without gemming (at least for their Golf model)

 

[laufer]



Been some Gaziano & Girlings factory visits published at various places lately, and I just did another one on my blog. Might interest some of you anyway, some interesting news that I think will be new to many of you, such as problems with Horween hatch grain which forced them to strip down and recolor every shoe they make out of the leather, revision of retailers, and plans about a possible new hand welted top line.

Here it is: http://shoegazingpunktse.blogspot.se/2013/10/reportage-besok-hos-gaziano-girling.html

The blog is in Swedish, but you can use the translation tool on the upper right of the web version of the page to translate it to your language.

Thank you for this. Within this article lies the reason why you pay premium for G%G shoes. They did no pass a faulty hatch grain onto consumers like some other retailers did. When I bought AS Radwell chukka from Pediwear what I received was discussing; small patches of faded color. It was mind boggling that passed bought factory and retailer control. I did not receive even an apology let alone a compensation for having to return those shoes back to England.
Kudos to G&G for their commitment to quality.
If Bespoke England remains the only authorized dealer for G&G Nick deserve is every bit. He really did wonders to promote and present G&G shoes.

 

[RogerP]

Interesting to see that they have now developed their own version of Edward Green's Galway boot. With Edward Green currently refusing to make the Galway on anything other than the 82 and 64 last this would be a good alternative for those who wanted it on the 888.

Edit: D'oh! RogerP beat me to it.

Well you make a good point about this move having the potential to create market availability for those seeking the Galway look in more diverse last options. I know I am definitely interested.

 

[chogall]

Well, hopefully the new construction method will be price competitive to at least Saint Crispins.

But with machine sewn outsole, they cannot do a closed waist similar to bespoke and pegged waist construction...

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Thank you everyone for all your kind words!

Great write up and photos, from the translation, so G&G's vendor will be only Bespoke England? So no more supplied to Bodileys and EoM etc?

Yes, as I have understood it BE will be the only retailer in the UK, except themselves in their London shop and on their online shop.

Fantastic!

As an awesome personal sidenote, one of your pics showcases my current concept MTO pair, you can all thank me later.

They look great, thank you for that pic...

Ah, so you are the one who did the Galway version? Looks great, will probably be many people happy for being able to order a G&G version of that boot.

Nice article, indeed!
I had to laugh out loud about this sentence in English translation:
It might be different in Swedish, but in English "the smallest room" means only one room: the toilet!
My commiserations to poor Daniel, who has to work in the loo.

Haha, no, doesn't mean the same thing in Swedish.

Very interesting reading. I found the part about new line's construction method particularly interesting. The method is described as somewhere between traditional hand sewn and GY and the same as StC, Meermin, Enzo Bonafe.  I read about Carmina uses the method without gemming but use the machine to sew, so I presume this is the way they are talking about.  

JM Weston also employs a GY method without gemming (at least for their Golf model)

No, this is two different things. The JM Weston version of Goodyear welting (and maybe Carmina also then, haven't heard about this, they do use traditional gemming as a standard afaik) is with a lip cut out from a leather sole, instead of glueing on a canvas strip like with gemming, but they do use a Goodyear machine to sew the welt stitch. The reason many don't use this method is because of problems to get the leather lip to handle the heavy machine stitches, a canvas rib is harder and easier to sew in.

But the hand welting that G&G will use, and that SC, bonafe and Meermin use, is real hand sewn welt stitching. But instead of carving the lip/holdfast/feather out from a thicker leather insole, you order special insoles where the lip has already been carved out. That lip is a bit higher and not as sturdy as the hand cut out lip used in traditional hand welting, but a good alternative which makes the process faster and therefore cheaper.

Well, hopefully the new construction method will be price competitive to at least Saint Crispins.

But with machine sewn outsole, they cannot do a closed waist similar to bespoke and pegged waist construction...

Their aim is to keep pricing not far from the Deco line, they don't want the prices to run away too much. If this means that they'll skip the spade soles or something, I don't know, and probably they don't either yet. Like I wrote, the plans are still at an early stage.

 

[JubeiSpiegel]



Ah, so you are the one who did the Galway version? Looks great, will probably be many people happy for being able to order a G&G version of that boot.

Pretty excited, did they mention what they will be calling it, if they are indeed adding it to their line?

 

[j ingevaldsson]



Pretty excited, did they mention what they will be calling it, if they are indeed adding it to their line?

No, and not completely sure that they'll add it to the RTW-line, but it will be easy to order MTO at least since they've done the pattern now.