Made in Spain Footwear, including TLB Mallorca, Cobbler Union, Yanko, Norman Vilalta, etc

[Andrew0409]

With all due respect, that probably represent 10% of the brands in this price range.
But don’t get me wrong, I think TLB has great value and I think it’s probably the best in its price range, was just curious on the sample size of your conclusion.

Would you offer up some brands in the price range you think are comparable?

 

[Encore]

aeris line of Antonio Meccariello

 

[Andrew0409]

aeris line of Antonio Meccariello

AM is probably my next purchase, but they are about 100 euros more with VAT for me.

 

[mhip]

aeris line of Antonio Meccariello

I've done the Pavlov dog thing looking at some of his shoes...

 

[Encore]

AM is probably my next purchase, but they are about 100 euros more with VAT for me.

Trying to follow you:
Aeris Website price is 409.84, Italy VAT 22%
Arista Website price is 351.24, Spain VAT 21%,

How is that add up to a 100 euro difference?

if 80 euro ~ 100 euro in your view
I think 351 would also ~ 400 euro for you

 

[Andrew0409]

Trying to follow you:
Aeris Website price is 409.84, Italy VAT 22%
Arista Website price is 351.24, Spain VAT 21%,

How is that add up to a 100 euro difference?

if 80 euro ~ 100 euro in your view
I think 351 would also ~ 400 euro for you

Trying to follow you:
Aeris Website price is 409.84, Italy VAT 22%
Arista Website price is 351.24, Spain VAT 21%,

How is that add up to a 100 euro difference?

if 80 euro ~ 100 euro in your view
I think 351 would also ~ 400 euro for you

I said about 100. Not sure why you've been coming off to me as combative to everyone right now. Take it easy.

 

[Encore]

I said about 100. Not sure why you've been coming off to me as combative to everyone right now. Take it easy.

Nah, my point is simply if 80 is about 100, 350 is then about 410, trying to convince you that 80 is just "about the same", nothing else.

 

[Wild Strawberry Rabbit]

Don’t own Artista, but I own regular TLB line and IMO it’s a little dissapointing, the leather quality is nothing special. I also would definitely not state that they are better than e.g Carmina. In this price range I prefer Meermin Linea Maestro for smth around 340 EUR, incredible value for money. As a bonus they are handwelted (does not matter for me, but I know that’s important for some of SF members).

I would also like to note that we should probably wait with judging the TLB a year or two. Right now the brand is new and noone really knows how will they age and for me that’s one of most important things when assessing the shoes quality.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Don’t own Artista, but I own regular TLB line and IMO it’s a little dissapointing, the leather quality is nothing special. I also would definitely not state that they are better than e.g Carmina. In this price range I prefer Meermin Linea Maestro for smth around 340 EUR, incredible value for money. As a bonus they are handwelted (does not matter for me, but I know that’s important for some of SF members).

I would also like to note that we should probably wait with judging the TLB a year or two. Right now the brand is new and noone really knows how will they age and for me that’s one of most important things when assessing the shoes quality.

Sorry you're a little disappointed in your mainline TLB's, although I don't fully follow if it's only the leather quality that is "nothing special" or in general you're not impressed.

Either way, showing my oldest TLB to give a bit of view at least, both are more or less as old as can be from respective range. They've seen a fair bit of use, since I work with the brand I wear my TLB's more than many other of my shoes when I need to "represent".

TLB main line, about 2 years old:

TLB Artista line, 1 year 3 months old:

 

[LThomsen]

How many times and in what conditions have you worn the artista pictured?

 

[Wild Strawberry Rabbit]

@j ingevaldsson It's mostly leather that's dissapointing.The design is nice and crafstsmanship is good (although finishing is not ideal, but I guess it's the issue for all Spanish shoes, it's the same for Carmina or Yanko). The leather is quite thin and does not crease as nicely as e.g. C&J benchgrade (not to mention C&J handgrade or Vass…). For me it's more on Yanko/Mermin Classic level, not on 350+ EUR shoes level. I would expect better leather for the price. Maybe I'm just unlucky, the leather on your shoes (especially on Artista pair) looks far better than my pair and also creases nicely.

 

[Patrick1053]

@j ingevaldsson It's mostly leather that's dissapointing.The design is nice and crafstsmanship is good (although finishing is not ideal, but I guess it's the issue for all Spanish shoes, it's the same for Carmina or Yanko). The leather is quite thin and does not crease as nicely as e.g. C&J benchgrade (not to mention C&J handgrade or Vass…). For me it's more on Yanko/Mermin Classic level, not on 350+ EUR shoes level. I would expect better leather for the price. Maybe I'm just unlucky, the leather on your shoes (especially on Artista pair) looks far better than my pair and also creases nicely.

"For me it's more on Yanko/Mermin Classic level "

Blasphemy. You either got really unlucky or maybe the creasing is related to a fit issue, not a leather issue.

 

[dukenukem4ever]

Bench grade still more expensive than Artista keep in mind...

 

[j ingevaldsson]

How many times and in what conditions have you worn the artista pictured?

Oh, quite hard to say, some periods very often at very hard use, long days long walks sometimes bad weather etc (like during trunk show periods with lots of travels and they have been one of few shoes brought), some periods less and in more kind environments. Maybe once a week if calculated some average for the whole year.

@j ingevaldsson It's mostly leather that's dissapointing.The design is nice and crafstsmanship is good (although finishing is not ideal, but I guess it's the issue for all Spanish shoes, it's the same for Carmina or Yanko). The leather is quite thin and does not crease as nicely as e.g. C&J benchgrade (not to mention C&J handgrade or Vass…). For me it's more on Yanko/Mermin Classic level, not on 350+ EUR shoes level. I would expect better leather for the price. Maybe I'm just unlucky, the leather on your shoes (especially on Artista pair) looks far better than my pair and also creases nicely.

Ok, yeah could be that you were a bit unlucky, even if I find TLB quite consistent in general (specially compared to many other Spanish factories) there can be cases with variations. One of the strongest points in general for British manufacturers is good consistency, but you get much simpler-made shoes for the money. The mentioned C&J Benchgrade are for example very simple construction-wise, with square waists and fully square sole edges, heels cut far from the uppers, open channel soles, and that at an (as mentioned above) higher price point then even Artista. If that's something that one don't care much about, of course C&J could still be the better choice.

 

[WhyUEarly]

@j ingevaldsson It's mostly leather that's dissapointing.The design is nice and crafstsmanship is good (although finishing is not ideal, but I guess it's the issue for all Spanish shoes, it's the same for Carmina or Yanko). The leather is quite thin and does not crease as nicely as e.g. C&J benchgrade (not to mention C&J handgrade or Vass…). For me it's more on Yanko/Mermin Classic level, not on 350+ EUR shoes level. I would expect better leather for the price. Maybe I'm just unlucky, the leather on your shoes (especially on Artista pair) looks far better than my pair and also creases nicely.

Personally I don't love Vegano leather but imo there's nothing wrong with the quality. For what it's worth, in the U.S., Carmina retails for $450, while TLB Artista costs $380 exVAT. I didn't think C&J benchgrade leather was anything special either.

Creasing might not be the best way of evaluating leather quality since there's several factors involved. Maybe the TLB lasts just aren't a good fit to minimize creasing for you.

Mythbuster Part 1 - Leather Creasing Means Something is Wrong - The Shoe Snob Blog

Leather creases. Plain and simple. There is no such thing as crease free leather. Frankly the thought of people thinking that leather should not crease is just absurd. So many times have I heard people complaining about wrinkled leather and thus blaming either the leather or the maker for this...

www.theshoesnobblog.com