Pierre
Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2004
- Messages
- 13
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Hi, I'm new on this board. Greetings to all. I recently decided it was time to renew some of my wardrobe and started gathering information. This was not an easy task as I'm in Paris and a lot of the mid-prize items discussed here are rather US. High-end is easily available across the corner of the office but it is out of my league. However I learned quite a bit about proper dress code and what to look for in quality suits and shirts. Thank a lot for the forum indeed. I finally bought two nice canvassed (but machine made) suits for around $600 each. I love the cut and the fabric (super110, nothing fancy). It is 'semi to measure', meaning dimensions can be adjusted (including waist for instance) and details can be picked (pockets, lining, ...). I got them at Smuggler. Anyway, RTW always fitted me pretty well (lucky me) and the adjustments were minor. For shirts, I will try Jantzen. Plenty of info available here. Now for some shoes. I very much like those C&J (e.g. those) but that's quite expensive (USD600). Other models retail at USD430 but I guess they are not from the handgrade line? I will check during sales but I'm doubtful I buy any shoes at that price tag yet. The really cheap alternative would be Bexley. For instance those. They are USD125 only. Good leather (same as Finsburries for instance), goodyear, leather sole. But entirely machine made. That's were the videos come in, enjoy. They have another line, hand made for double price. Would you think it is worth it? I will visit them and see how comfortable the shoes are. I'm all vor value shopping. If C&J have a much longer life expectancy (and resoling would help. how much is it?), then with time I could get there. If worned once a week, can they live 10 years? More? What is reasonable to expect? How do handgrade compare to benchmade in this regard? I actually had very cheap shoes holding more than 5 years without any particular care; I guess I'm not a shoe wrecker. Cheers, P.