Japanese Shoes: Bespoke & RTW Super Thread

[daizawaguy]

@ThinkDerm - difficult to resist not to! A Black imitation brogue, the same as the one in dark Brown...fitting shoes in six months, and finished in a year or so...

 

[ntempleman]

If you’re skilled enough cut a channel in a bit of 1/16” dress welt without going through the back, I'd hope that you’ve put a similar amount of time into stitching stitching it neatly

 

[bengal-stripe]

I'd hope that you’ve put a similar amount of time into stitching stitching it neatly

Apparently, your colleague Bill Bird, at one of the Independent Shoemakers meetings few years back, presented a pair of Tuczek shoes (from the Golden Age of shoe making) which were stitched to something like 6 stitches/inch, while the wheeling on top of the welt was 16/inch.

What we will never know, were those the specifications of Tuczek or did some clever outworker see an opportunity to finish the job somewhat quicker (in accordance with that old shoemaker's maxim: "Small stitches make quality work, large stitches buy you bread!").

 

[DWFII]

FWIW, it is also possible to cut a vertical channel in the welt and "embed" the stitches in this channel. Between burnishing and fudging the stitching is equally (or near-as-nevermind) invisible.

 

[ntempleman]

I’ve always said there’s not enough love given to the No.4 fudge. If someone insists on exhibition work, just go round 2 or 3 times. Job done

 

[DWFII]

I’ve always said there’s not enough love given to the No.4 fudge. If someone insists on exhibition work, just go round 2 or 3 times. Job done

I suspect this was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But, unfortunately, I have run across makers who seriously contend that fudging or pricking up can split stitches such that there appears to be more than really are there. In my experience one would have to be nearly legally blind to not see the difference. Or to be fooled by such.

I might...FWIW...I have a #18 fudge wheel. Some maker(s), sometime in the past, obviously felt that the #4 fudge wasn't worth spit regardless how many times it was run.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Some stuff from my latest visit to Japan. This time I focused more on RTW and factories than only bespoke makers. First pictures from the Scotch Grain factory, located just outside the Tokyo shoe district Asakusa, a neat and tidy factory that produces 2,000-2,500 pairs a week (more info and pics in a report on my blog):

Building heels:

All Scotch Grain shoes, also the €225 priced ones, have leather board heel stiffeners:

Goodyear welting, with one of many relatively new machines:

Bottoming floor:

Edge finishing:

One of their top range shoes in the showroom:

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Floriwonne, alias Nobuaki Fujisawa, is known for his exquisite patina and fine MTO shoes. He has now launched a very interesting customizable RTW range. The base model is a wholecut in crust leather, shown to the right on the picture below, and the customer can then choose which patina one wants, but also customize what kind of model. Either you go with five straight pairs of eyelets and have a conventional wholecut oxford, but you can also choose for example a buckle or ghilie lacing where the pieces will be added afterwards:

The base model, wholecut in crust without punched eyelets or anything:

Bottom. The shoes are Goodyear welted with Blake stitched waist:

Slightly tapered heel:

Add two leather pieces, and voilà, you have a ghilie:

(Also here there's more pics and info on my blog for those interested)

 

[Mica2015]

Of the list on page 1, can anyone suggest some foreigner friendly shoemaker that offers MTO?
By foreigner friendly, I mean they have a decent website that provide detailed info. They used English. One good example would be Hiroyuki Yanagimachi. I am looking for others that operate just as Hiro. Thanks for the advice.

 

[ThunderMarch]

Of the list on page 1, can anyone suggest some foreigner friendly shoemaker that offers MTO?
By foreigner friendly, I mean they have a decent website that provide detailed info. They used English. One good example would be Hiroyuki Yanagimachi. I am looking for others that operate just as Hiro. Thanks for the advice.

Fukuda, Marquess speak good English.
Seiji McCarthy speaks English as his first language.
Akiyoshi Nishiyama (Osaka) has a translator all the time (almost).
Clematis (Chiemi) speaks English well.
Even Murata - San who could could hardly speak much English the first time I met him (about 1 year odd ago), is now writing emails completely in very very decipherable English.

The language barrier is really becoming less and less of an issue these days with the Japanese makers.

 

[Mica2015]

Thank you very much! ThunderMarch.

I need good communication, even for MTO order.

Fukuda, Marquess speak good English.
Seiji McCarthy speaks English as his first language.
Akiyoshi Nishiyama (Osaka) has a translator all the time (almost).
Clematis (Chiemi) speaks English well.
Even Murata - San who could could hardly speak much English the first time I met him (about 1 year odd ago), is now writing emails completely in very very decipherable English.

The language barrier is really becoming less and less of an issue these days with the Japanese makers.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Of the list on page 1, can anyone suggest some foreigner friendly shoemaker that offers MTO?
By foreigner friendly, I mean they have a decent website that provide detailed info. They used English. One good example would be Hiroyuki Yanagimachi. I am looking for others that operate just as Hiro. Thanks for the advice.

Some mentioned by TM already, but here's a list with the Japanese brands doing MTO/MTM/bespoke I did a while back when I got a similar question, refers to how one or more people at each brand is with English (might be some errors there, a couple of them I met at a sort of party with various shoemakers, and don't remember exactly the language level on everyone):

Good / very good English:
Clematis Ginza
Guild of Crafts
Hiro Yanagimachi
Marquess
Seiji McCarthy
Yohei Fukuda

Okay / mediocre English (can talk and write to some extent, sometimes with help from Google Translate):
Floriwonne
Joe Works
Main d'Or
Misawa & Workshop
Toru Saito
TYE

 

[Mica2015]

I think I am going to Hiro Yanagimachi. Most of them don't have detailed info online. Thanks for your reply.

Some mentioned by TM already, but here's a list with the Japanese brands doing MTO/MTM/bespoke I did a while back when I got a similar question, refers to how one or more people at each brand is with English (might be some errors there, a couple of them I met at a sort of party with various shoemakers, and don't remember exactly the language level on everyone):

Good / very good English:
Clematis Ginza
Guild of Crafts
Hiro Yanagimachi
Marquess
Seiji McCarthy
Yohei Fukuda

Okay / mediocre English (can talk and write to some extent, sometimes with help from Google Translate):
Floriwonne
Joe Works
Main d'Or
Misawa & Workshop
Toru Saito
TYE

 

[daizawaguy]

Otsuka button boots

 

[daizawaguy]

Visited Shoji Kawaguchi in his new atelier today for my final fitting. Dedicated artisan and passionate to perfection.