Japanese Shoes: Bespoke & RTW Super Thread

[chobochobo]

What's the prevailing opinion on Spigola/ Kenji Suzuki please? I may actually be getting some new shoes after 3 years of no purchases. MTO/ Bespoke. Does anyone know about leather options, mostly looking at interesting colours.

 

[daizawaguy]

Japan has opened up and no one has collected their goodies yet? For me a chocolate dark brown from the Master and Ilcea.

 

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

Japan has opened up and no one has collected their goodies yet? For me a chocolate dark brown from the Master and Ilcea.
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Even the shoe tree has curvature on it... 👍🏻.

 

[dawei94]

Anyone here have chukka boots made by either Yohei Fukuda or Spigola? They both looked really good in the occasional picture that I could find, but curious if anyone here has commissioned a pair?

 

[shirtingfantasy]

Just to share with you this recent pair I got from Yohei Fukuda:

 

[RuleBritannia]

Just to share with you this recent pair I got from Yohei Fukuda:

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They look nice. What's his price point and turnaround time? keen to visit Japan in 2023 if only to give some of their cobblers a go.

 

[shirtingfantasy]

See here:

Order and Process

From an original design of your own creation to our Ready to Wear shoes, we offer the finest shoes for today’s gentleman.From bespoke shoes to our ready to wear collection, each shoe is made with the same approach to craftsmanship, quality, and elegance.Our bespoke and house bespoke shoes are...

yoheifukuda.jp

 

[shirtingfantasy]

They look nice. What's his price point and turnaround time? keen to visit Japan in 2023 if only to give some of their cobblers a go.

Just emailed them yesterday to ask again. Turnaround is 6 months now for MTO.

 

[Haagendazs]

Is it worth going to those shoemakers for mtm? Or is the general consensus you either go bespoke or just save some money and buy more mainstream products?
Debating a pair of bespoke shoes but the price is out of my reach, thought about mtm as there's a personal last as well but obviously I understand its still not bespoke level. Would love to know the thoughts of experts in this field.

 

[JohnMRobie]

Is it worth going to those shoemakers for mtm? Or is the general consensus you either go bespoke or just save some money and buy more mainstream products?
Debating a pair of bespoke shoes but the price is out of my reach, thought about mtm as there's a personal last as well but obviously I understand its still not bespoke level. Would love to know the thoughts of experts in this field.

Standard answer: it depends

A lot of what it depends on will come down to you. For me - I weigh how close the stock last is to my fit and how extensive are the modifications I need to be made. What the reason I’m going to the maker is. Can I get what I want MTM (most makers I’m aware of have a limited MTO/MTM menu compared to bespoke). How confident am I in the makers fitting - a good maker won’t hesitate to tell you if the modifications are more extensive than they’d like for MTM.

 

[Haagendazs]

Great points, let me think through it but I guess it's hard to justify a multi thousand usd shoes
Thanks a lot appreciate your thoughts

 

[dawei94]

Great points, let me think through it but I guess it's hard to justify a multi thousand usd shoes
Thanks a lot appreciate your thoughts

Arguably, if you buy bespoke tailoring from the higher-end makers that cost about the same as bespoke shoes, you get more value for your money with the shoes if RTW or MTM doesn't fit you well. Ill-fitting tailoring might be a bit awkward relative to the comfort of a suit that fits you really well, but poorly fitting shoes can cause severe pain (as was the case for me). If I was tightening up a classic menswear budget, I would go to RTW tailoring and shirting well before giving up bespoke shoes. Something to consider at least. If RTW or MTM fits you pretty well, then I would argue that the higher cost of bespoke is more of an aesthetic premium in that you get something that will crease less, you pick exactly the details you want and the finishing / quality of work will likely be higher

 

[Haagendazs]

Thanks for your point of view!
I guess the problem is that I don't feel too bad about rtws, a few brands caused me pain at the little toe after extensive walk, while gg is quite comfortable but the side bulging is very apparent.
My sole reason to try mtm or above is to seek comfort but I don't know how much more comfortable I can feel given that my rtw experience isn't too bad.
Totally understand its up to me to decide, but appreciate you guys' view regardless. Thanks!

 

[dawei94]

Thanks for your point of view!
I guess the problem is that I don't feel too bad about rtws, a few brands caused me pain at the little toe after extensive walk, while gg is quite comfortable but the side bulging is very apparent.
My sole reason to try mtm or above is to seek comfort but I don't know how much more comfortable I can feel given that my rtw experience isn't too bad.
Totally understand its up to me to decide, but appreciate you guys' view regardless. Thanks!

So my foot is both really wide and differently shaped from AE and Alden's 4E lasts, so the first time I broke in a pair of AE Park Avenues, I was limping for a week and one of my feet went numb for 3 weeks...

I have 1 pair of bespoke shoes from each of Yohei Fukuda, Spigola and Marquess (all Japanese makers that have been mentioned in this thread) in different styles, and I can say that for each one, other than the first 5 wears where the leather was softening, I can wear them each for full 8-12 hour day and feel very minor if any discomfort (which will get adjusted out on the second pair with changes to the last). Even for the first 5 wears for breaking in, the discomfort was very minor, probably less so than wearing broken in RTW shoes. I also tried the personal last with Saint Crispins and that was better (no numbness in the feet), but still uncomfortable enough with both the break-in and the actual wearing that I figured I would try the best that there is to see if it was even possible to have classic leather shoes that are comfortable to wear for me (and there are based on my experience). I didn't want to keep going up the scale of progressively more expensive, more personalized lasts that kinda worked out and instead figured I'd just see what was possible. I know others have a lot of success with the Saint Crispins personal last but I think it just needed too many adjustments for my foot to work. With each of the 3 Japanese makers I worked with, they all fit very well and are very comfortable, so I think it's more that the shoes are fitted to your foot rather than one particular maker making shoes in a way that is particularly comfortable. I don't ever expect to buy classic leather shoes or even semi-casual leather shoes from anyone other than bespoke makers ever again, the foot pain and discomfort is just not worth it, and while the upfront cost is quite high, the later shoes are less because there's no last fee (and some may charge a fitting shoe fee as well, which won't be necessary after the first shoe or maybe two) and the shoes are super durable. I wore my 3 pairs 5 days a week in the office for 3 years (so about a year of daily wear on each) and the soles are maybe half-worn. I don't work in such a formal office environment anymore, but I would think 3 pairs getting you through 6 years of daily wear before even a resole is excellent longevity by anyone's standards. I think even regular leather shoes can withstand at least 2-3 resoles (someone correct me if I'm wrong), so if you can get 3 resoles out of them, you can get 24 years of daily wear out of them, the majority of a career in an office setting. Resoles aren't free, but they aren't that expensive either (if you're able to afford MTM or perhaps bespoke shoes, resoles should be within your budget I would think), so to me, while a hefty upfront cost, the extra comfort and the longevity of the shoes makes it worth it to me. YMMV of course, but the short answer to your question of how much more comfortable bespoke can be is, they can be incredibly comfortable, with the source of the comfort (to me) coming from the bespoke last rather than a particular maker's construction

 

[Haagendazs]

Thanks a lot! Appreciate your view on this. Will be speaking to some bespoke shoemakers and seek their view as well, just need to get over the initial cost...