Lu Yang shoes appreciation thread

[sirapol]

Im giving him a try this weekend. Hopefully it will be good!

 

[shirtingfantasy]

New pair for @ThunderMarch

 

[woofmang]

3. The final shoes

After yet another two months, Lu told me that the shoes were ready. Shipment from Mainland China to Hong Kong was by the usual SF Express. During the wait, Lu actually did a trunk show in Hong Kong in collaboration with Dashing House Menswear (https://www.dashinghousehk.com/), yet another young bespoke operation in Hong Kong. As I commissioned my pair before they announced the collaboration (as a significantly lower price), I did not attend the trunk show as a matter of principle.

The packaging was not luxurious, but decent enough (similar to many artisanal makers in Italy).
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Narrow waist as requested. The shoe price included triumph metal toe plate already - personally installed by Lu on the day before shipping.
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Tapered... and most importantly seamless heel.
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What surprised me was the fit. Perhaps I did not have too much of an expectation for such an e-bespoke process, the shoes actually fit surprisingly well.
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There was a little bit of excess leather over the vamp. Guess this can only be corrected in my next order.
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"Stretch marks" - @bamboo said it is quite commonly seen on seamless wholecuts.
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Lu said that his wife tried to polish the shoes before sending them to me. But as can be seen from previous photos, it was a matte shine at best. To show the nuanced museum colour better, I decided to give the shoes a wax-based polish (Berluti/ Avel clear wax, fawn wax, dark brown wax, Kiwi Parade Gloss, dark brown wax). Not yet mirror shine, but a passable high shine.

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Finally, a couple of photos comparing the Lu Yang bespoke shoe and Meccariello Aurum RTW, and shoes in actual wear:
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Beautiful! Congratulations!

 

[clee1982]

by the way how long did the whole process take?

 

[shirtingfantasy]

by the way how long did the whole process take?

With all the back-and-forth, around 6-9 months is usually adequate.

You do need to provide him with feedback in time as there are at least 2 fittings. If you want to meet him personally then there is also considerations of his availability in the city you can go to.

 

[shirtingfantasy]

Beautiful! Congratulations!

I invited a friend who has Yim to look as the shoes. He said Lu finishing is quite clearly better than Yim.

Guess it makes sense since Yim is operating at the single-pair MTO level with a small factory, whereas Lu is just himself and his wife at home - more flexibility and more individualised.

 

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

I invited a friend who has Yim to look as the shoes. He said Lu finishing is quite clearly better than Yim.

Guess it makes sense since Yim is operating at the single-pair MTO level with a small factory, whereas Lu is just himself and his wife at home - more flexibility and more individualised.

That is surprising to hear about Lu's work being better than Yims. ThunderMa always speaks very favorably about Yim's work, in particular, and his overall shoes, in general. You are right though that individual operations tend to be better due to the attention that can be applied to the shoes.

How are the shoes holding up? How would you compare them now to AMs stuff? Not in appearance, but how they feel on your feet?

 

[clee1982]

yup, any longer term update?

 

[Peking_Gent]

Damn, the price of these is ridiculous. I know Jimjun makes bespoke shoes for more than 10,000 CNY, that's 1400ish USD.

 

[shirtingfantasy]

yup, any longer term update?

Shoes are okay, but wearing AM too much lately, and LY don't get the deserved wear...

 

[shirtingfantasy]

Damn, the price of these is ridiculous. I know Jimjun makes bespoke shoes for more than 10,000 CNY, that's 1400ish USD.

LY also increased his price a bit now, but there will be 2-3 pairs of fitting shoes.

 

[ant922599]

Shoes are okay, but wearing AM too much lately, and LY don't get the deserved wear...

So, is this more of a negative reflection on LY, or a positive reflection on AM? Or neither and you've just not reached for them regularly?!

Keen to hear....

 

[Peking_Gent]

LY also increased his price a bit now, but there will be 2-3 pairs of fitting shoes.

Just booked my appointment with Lu Yang in March next year. He is so booked up, and those 24-pairs-a-year production volume is not catching up with this demand. It won't take long before we need to wait for the same or even more time for him than Yohei Fukuda.

 

[lexxdeleon]

Sharing some photos of my first trial fitting shoes from Lu Yang. All being done remote, but he does in-person fittings at trunk shows.

The last photo shows the cork outsole used for trial pairs.

 

[Peking_Gent]

Sharing some photos of my first trial fitting shoes from Lu Yang. All being done remote, but he does in-person fittings at trunk shows.

The last photo shows the cork outsole used for trial pairs.

How do you communicate the fit with him? I thought he usually cut the shoe open, etc.