BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes
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I hope we're having a discussion not an argument here....
Lasts are idealized models of the foot. In general, the cone of the last, for instance, is higher and narrower than the instep of the foot. The insole may or...in my world... may not be wider than the footprint (or narrower). And the beat goes on.
So putting a lasted shoe tree back in a shoe resets the shoe to the last...not to the foot. If the shoe has been lasted tight to the wood (not a gimme) the shoe immediately changes shape and even size a very slight bit once the last is pulled. So a tree that is not an exact duplicate of the last in terms of size has to be smaller, by default. Doesn't mean it's ill-fitting but it does mean that the shoe is being reset to something less than the last and closer to the foot...esp. if the shoes have been worn several times before the tree is made to it (the shoe).
I am not putting my name up for consideration as an expert in shoe trees. But I do know leather and shoes and I know how they behave in a multitude of situations. For instance, while it is true that leather will shrink up when it dries, at least 90% of that (if not more) is simply a return to normal. Simply because when leather gets wet, it gets bigger, thicker, patterns get larger. It plumps up--water fills the spaces between the fibers, the fibers themselves swell, and the fibers move around a bit. But I'm not sure the concommitent shrinkage is all that significant. Does a hat band shrink such that you can no longer wear the hat when summer comes? Does baseball mitt or gloves shrink significantly if allowed to dry slowly and out of the sun or away from heat? Does a saddle shrink after a race? I suspect the answer is similar to what I've been saying all along--"not significantly." Tempered leather returns to its original size, for the most part, if nothing else is done to it..
Beyond that...and yet another consideration--a pair of shoes in a regular rotation are seldom, if ever, completely dry.
So what do I recommend or use? I use generic off-the-rack, close fitting (as opposed to "ill-fitting"), shoe trees for my shoes, and nothing whatsoever for my boots. When I slip a pair of boots on, I cannot...repeat, cannot...chase a 'bow wave' of pipes or wrinkle across the instep or the joint. The same holds true for my shoes. And I have no gaps at the top line of heel. My feet do not slide forward in my boots or shoes. And all this after wet lasting (removing much of the stretch) and 30+ years of no trees or generic trees. Go figure. I can post photos if you would like.
I will say, I started this conversation thinking this was a "tempest-in-a-teapot', neither here nor there. But now I am beginning to suspect that it is much like the "how-to-maintain-your- expensive-shoes" or "what-additional-high-priced products-do-I-need-to-buy-to-justify-the-$500.00-plus-I-just-spent-at-Macy's" controversy, when the very best advice, and all you really need to know, is simply to keep them clean. Something else to throw money at...in lieu of understanding.
FWIW, IMO, YMMV....
I am neither a shoe maker, last maker, nor purveyor of shoes. I am merely a wearer and purchaser of them.
From my experience and what was told to me from a few Bespoke makers, the premise would be to search for and use an appropriate fitting tree.
Ideally, it would be a lasted shoe tree (a tree that closely mimics the original last in which the shoe was created).
Saying that, allow me to share an experience I had.
I was commissioning a pair of shoes from a Bespoke maker in France. He noticed my apprehension when he quoted me the price for the Bespoke trees (Hervé Brunelle makes his trees). He proceeded onto grabbing a pair of generic spring loaded trees. He said make sure if you buy generic trees they fit like this. Which was a tree, as @DWFII stated, fit well.
Being the shoe tree snob that I am, I immediately questioned the action. He said, think of shoe wearing as a race. This is your checkpoint (a shoe with a last in it). This is where you want to go as you are racing (he placed leather around my foot that was tight but comfortable). He said why do you want to undo the energy, sweat, and tears it took you to get to this point in the race to end up back at the original check point?
He said my job (the shoemakers job) is to put this (pointed at the last) to fit comfortably into this (pointed at my foot) not vice versa. This (pointed at the shoe tree) is merely a place holder.
All told, he seems to agree with both Nicholas & DWF. Use the bespoke tree, but do not go insane when you can not.
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