JR Rendenbach Closing

[ValidusLA]

At least here in the US, Baker leather does not market cut outsoles for resole work. Neither does Masur. or any other top end leather producer.

Cut sole are what cobblers (shoe repairman) want--they don't want to buy a side or a bend and cut their own. Ultimately they don't have any use for the offcuts and margins.

Rendenbach more or less had the shoe repair market sewn up (pardon the pun) for anything more prestigious or better quality than the domestic syntan outsoles. Or South American outsoles.

But that's also one of the things I disliked about JR--they deeply branded their logo in the center of the outsole and there was no way a maker was going to get a 'natural' bottom.. Beyond that, why do I, as a maker want to put out a product that fundamentally advertises someone else's product? Might as well make the uppers with a Coca-cola painted leather or make a whole cut oxford with a Nike swash inlaid on the side.

This is good insight.

So who do you think US based cobblers will turn to?

 

[JFWR]

This is good insight.

So who do you think US based cobblers will turn to?

My cobbler told me she doesn't know yet. She's going to be in touch with some companies.

 

[DWFII]

So if this reputable company (probably the one with the largest market share?) is closing down, what could happen to the other few ones in the near future?

This is an old (but good) and often unwelcome refrain from me, but IMO, it's a little late to be thinking about that. I sympathize...more than you know. But it's part of a decades old tendency a to reduce everything to the lowest common denominator. Even here on this forum.

If corrected grain leather is acceptable among so-called aficionados, where will the demand for high end calf come from? If GY welting is OK, what happens to HW? If celastic for toe stiffeners and heel stiffeners is adequate where will the leather suitable for leather stiffeners come from? If leatherboard insoles are justifiable who will produce good insole shoulders? If leatherboard or paperboard heel stacks are admissible where will the leather to make solid heels come from?

These questions may seem like attenuated rhetoric to many but they are real, hard dilemmas for the maker of anything that is fine quality. As long as you have people defending rubber outsole on the basis of utility or GY on price or RTW on the basis of accessibility; and most importantly as long as you have people buying into those rationales, the objective quality of things will continue to slide.

And neckties will lose whatever cachet they once had, until they are considered old-fashioned and ultimately extinct.

 

[DWFII]

This is good insight.

So who do you think US based cobblers will turn to?

I dunno.

Who will the bespoke makers turn to when 10-12 iron insole shoulders are gone? That was an increasing problem throughout the years I was active. And towards the end, many makers just gave up and went to the next best thing. Which in itself, is an ouroboros kind of conundrum--a downward spiral that can only have one ending--everything plastic and paper.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

And neckties will lose whatever cachet they once had, until they are considered old-fashioned and ultimately extinct.

I just bought two today, so perhaps I can sell pictures of myself as relics someday.

(this whole convo is especially poignant in the wake of Foster and Son's closing)

 

[DWFII]

I just bought two today, so perhaps I can sell pictures of myself as relics someday.

(this whole convo is especially poignant in the wake of Foster and Son's closing)

Well the only reason I threw that in there was because I was sadly amused (can a person be both sad and amused at the same time?) by a recent thread on SF that appeared to be examining that very issue. I didn't join in (where angels fear to tread) but I am pretty certain i know how it went and why.

 

[JohnMRobie]

This is good insight.

So who do you think US based cobblers will turn to?

It’ll cost you an extra $15 from what JR was going for but these guys have Baker it says. https://www.potterandsons.com/collections/packages/products/j-fj-baker-oak-bark-leather

On some of my pairs I care much more about they’ll go back to their makers. I’ve also contemplated reaching out to some outworkers I know of who do mainly bottom work and inquiring about the price if I ship the shoes to Japan.

 

[ValidusLA]

This is an old (but good) and often unwelcome refrain from me, but IMO, it's a little late to be thinking about that. I sympathize...more than you know. But it's part of a decades old tendency a to reduce everything to the lowest common denominator. Even here on this forum.

If corrected grain leather is acceptable among so-called aficionados, where will the demand for high end calf come from? If GY welting is OK, what happens to HW? If celastic for toe stiffeners and heel stiffeners is adequate where will the leather suitable for leather stiffeners come from? If leatherboard insoles are justifiable who will produce good insole shoulders? If leatherboard or paperboard heel stacks are admissible where will the leather to make solid heels come from?

These questions may seem like attenuated rhetoric to many but they are real, hard dilemmas for the maker of anything that is fine quality. As long as you have people defending rubber outsole on the basis of utility or GY on price or RTW on the basis of accessibility; and most importantly as long as you have people buying into those rationales, the objective quality of things will continue to slide.

And neckties will lose whatever cachet they once had, until they are considered old-fashioned and ultimately extinct.

View attachment 1685748

Not that I disagree. And the race to the bottom really scares me for the future of any of the stuff that I like.

But part of me feels like the issue here is deeply affected by luxury brands. They charge such high amounts for such **** that I think people become unable to understand quality and price interaction.

Alexander McQueen or Gucci (with some exceptions) are just making ****** shoes, for marginally less than Edward Green. And EG or GG look less "cool" or whatever.

Once fashion, brands, and hype took over, craft was doomed.

 

[mhip]

Not that I disagree. And the race to the bottom really scares me for the future of any of the stuff that I like.

But part of me feels like the issue here is deeply affected by luxury brands. They charge such high amounts for such **** that I think people become unable to understand quality and price interaction.

Alexander McQueen or Gucci (with some exceptions) are just making ****** shoes, for marginally less than Edward Green. And EG or GG look less "cool" or whatever.

Once fashion, brands, and hype took over, craft was doomed.

I just watched Potter and Sons take apart a YSL Wyatt boot for resoling.
The heel was plastic, with a leather veneer wrapped around it to look like a stacked heel.

 

[JFWR]

Not that I disagree. And the race to the bottom really scares me for the future of any of the stuff that I like.

But part of me feels like the issue here is deeply affected by luxury brands. They charge such high amounts for such **** that I think people become unable to understand quality and price interaction.

Alexander McQueen or Gucci (with some exceptions) are just making ****** shoes, for marginally less than Edward Green. And EG or GG look less "cool" or whatever.

Once fashion, brands, and hype took over, craft was doomed.

This is a really good point.

 

[DWFII]

Once fashion, brands, and hype took over, craft was doomed.

Hard to disagree with that...objective quality too.

 

[ValidusLA]

Hard to disagree with that...objective quality too.

People would rather have a crazy green "museum" patina than objective quality.

I honestly wish I could be in the high objective quality bespoke shoe game, if it even still exists. I don't have the ability to spend more than $800-1k on shoes.

I've lurked some of your old posts (whole cut re: BT etc) and thank you for all the knowledge over the years.

I take it you are no longer making shoes?

 

[DWFII]

I take it you are no longer making shoes?

Thanks for the kind words.

No, not making many shoes. I'm 75 and my balance is shot and my fingers stiff and I'm scheduled to have a cataract surgery consultation in two weeks. Other than that, I'm in good shape...for the shape I'm in.

And if that weren't bad enough, COVID has pretty much shut my teaching down, too. I'd take on students if I could but many don't want to have to provide proof of vaccination.

[sigh]

 

[Viral]

Interesting how anything less than elves or older experienced Italians making shoes by hand and related items is considered a problem

 

[ValidusLA]

Interesting how anything less than elves or older experienced Italians making shoes by hand and related items is considered a problem

Literally not what anyone here is saying.