Maftei Shoes - Vienna - Bespoke, MTO , RTW

[marlinspike]

Each pair comes with shoe tree, shoe bag and box?
Then the price is unbelievable.

I don't know about the bag and box, but I asked him if it came with trees and he told me of course you have to use them.

 

[stephenaf2003]

What is the leather?

To be honest these were my first pair of Maftei that I had made. I ordered these in their shop in Vienna a few years ago, I just picked the leather, didn’t ask what it was called. I really wish that I lived in Europe. These guys would be the only shoe makers I would use. Ordering from the States and the language barrier makes it just too difficult, for me anyway. I haven’t tried it in a couple of years, maybe they’ve gotten better at commerce with the U.S.
But aside from that, their craftsmanship is just, off the charts amazing.

 

[marlinspike]

To be honest these were my first pair of Maftei that I had made. I ordered these in their shop in Vienna a few years ago, I just picked the leather, didn’t ask what it was called. I really wish that I lived in Europe. These guys would be the only shoe makers I would use. Ordering from the States and the language barrier makes it just too difficult, for me anyway. I haven’t tried it in a couple of years, maybe they’ve gotten better at commerce with the U.S.
But aside from that, their craftsmanship is just, off the charts amazing.

Doesn't he work with some US based professor for American customers who need assistance ordering?
For me, my speaking German was good enough for me to converse with him in the shop.I am a bit slow at writing in German though, and sometimes e-mailed in English. He has someone who speaks English responding to the e-mails.

I also, I'm pretty sure you're wearing what I basically ordered as my first shoe there - his version of the Norweigian split toe in the Horween Russian Grain leather. The only difference is I didn't ask for patina and I asked him to make the welt stitch the same color as the leather.

 

[stephenaf2003]

Doesn't he work with some US based professor for American customers who need assistance ordering?
For me, my speaking German was good enough for me to converse with him in the shop.I am a bit slow at writing in German though, and sometimes e-mailed in English. He has someone who speaks English responding to the e-mails.

I also, I'm pretty sure you're wearing what I basically ordered as my first shoe there - his version of the Norweigian split toe in the Horween Russian Grain leather. The only difference is I didn't ask for patina and I asked him to make the welt stitch the same color as the leather.

Yes, I heard about this professor, but I ended up connecting through his daughter via email, who speaks English very well. She arranged a go between to meet me in 2017, the last time I was in Maftei’s shop, that spoke English and was a great translator. But, after ordering my last pairs, there were sizing issues and getting them resized proved too difficult to resolve. Again, if I were in Europe it would be a very simple fix I think. Maybe, I’ll re-try with them at some point when I start to travel abroad more often again.

As for the leather, I own several pairs of boots with Horween hatch grain, and these are definitely not Horween hatch grain. These are a very heavy pebble grain, not sure which tannery though.

 

[marlinspike]

My test shoes arrived. I think he did this because not only am I oversees but I have very odd feet (most people in my situation would have a surgery, but I'd rather avoid surgery and have bespoke shoes at the same time). They're missing some of the touches I specified (color matched thread instead of white - how do you ever polish a shoe with white thread without ruining the look?, a red lining, and leather soles - though I'm starting to think maybe these rubber soles are a good idea for this shoe). They do need some changes to the fit - everything behind the tongue is perfect, and the heights are perfect, but there it's narrow in the front and it needs to accommodate my unique surgery-needing foot better), but even with those discomforts they actually feel very good to walk in compared to the best fitting RTW show I ever found (AE 65 in 13 EEE). The eagle eyed will notice I did some color manipulation to the photo. this was to get it as close as possible to reality. When I have the final shoes, I will take pictures in better lighting.

 

[stephenaf2003]

My test shoes arrived. I think he did this because not only am I oversees but I have very odd feet (most people in my situation would have a surgery, but I'd rather avoid surgery and have bespoke shoes at the same time). They're missing some of the touches I specified (color matched thread instead of white - how do you ever polish a shoe with white thread without ruining the look?, a red lining, and leather soles - though I'm starting to think maybe these rubber soles are a good idea for this shoe). They do need some changes to the fit - everything behind the tongue is perfect, and the heights are perfect, but there it's narrow in the front and it needs to accommodate my unique surgery-needing foot better), but even with those discomforts they actually feel very good to walk in compared to the best fitting RTW show I ever found (AE 65 in 13 EEE). The eagle eyed will notice I did some color manipulation to the photo. this was to get it as close as possible to reality. When I have the final shoes, I will take pictures in better lighting.

Beautiful leather.

 

[marlinspike]

BTW, does anybody know is there a specific name for this style of Norwegian? It looks like the welt construction is also a real Norwegian, so maybe I should stick with the rubber sole on the final shoe. Never thought I would say that, I don't own any rubber soles at the moment other than one pair of tennis shoes.

 

[ijustknow]

Check this pair.

 

[marlinspike]

Herr Maftei made me a good offer on buying multiple shoes, which reminded me I never posted my final pair here. At this point they've been worn a good bit, but they cleaned up nicely.

One of the coming pair will be loafers, and to say the least I have odd feet, so....test pair

 

[marlinspike]

A pair of wingtips in No. 8 Shell. Some creasing and some marks on the soles because I wore them before photographing them (ignore that inside side-crease, I have a deformation of my foot, it's unavoidable if you want the shoe to still look like a shoe). Interesting what he did with the waist to try to accomodate my foot while still looking good (I have a bizarre foot, the widest point is about 1/4" forward of my ankle, and everything from the ankle forward is at least as wide as the ball. Sadly, my employer subsidized insurance won't cover any surgeon I would trust with this).

 

[Noblekostas]

@marlinspike
Nice. I got a pair of Stingray from him (and I have 3 more to sell), a seamless wholecut, a cordovan split toe and a black oxford.

The Stingray was my holy grail until now.

 

[marlinspike]

@marlinspike
Nice. I got a pair of Stingray from him (and I have 3 more to sell), a seamless wholecut, a cordovan split toe and a black oxford.

The Stingray was my holy grail until now.

Is there much market for used bespoke shoes, or are these from the RTW models? I can't imagine I'd ever run into someone who can wear mine (not a lot of 13 6Es out there with a C heel).

The one negative I'll say about these is somewhere there was a breakdown in communication, as I had asked for medallion cap toes, and we even used a model from his instagram as a guide. That said, I do find these rather attractive, so not huge problem. I wonder if I should go back to writing in German, or maybe just a medallion cap toe means something different there.

 

[Noblekostas]

Is there much market for used bespoke shoes, or are these from the RTW models? I can't imagine I'd ever run into someone who can wear mine (not a lot of 13 6Es out there with a C heel).

The one negative I'll say about these is somewhere there was a breakdown in communication, as I had asked for medallion cap toes, and we even used a model from his instagram as a guide. That said, I do find these rather attractive, so not huge problem. I wonder if I should go back to writing in German, or maybe just a medallion cap toe means something different there.

It’s from the RTW.

communication is a big issue.When your write English his assistant Anthony translates it and a lot is lost. I don’t know about the medallion. Here’s my pair:

 

[ijustknow]

A pair of wingtips in No. 8 Shell. Some creasing and some marks on the soles because I wore them before photographing them (ignore that inside side-crease, I have a deformation of my foot, it's unavoidable if you want the shoe to still look like a shoe). Interesting what he did with the waist to try to accomodate my foot while still looking good (I have a bizarre foot, the widest point is about 1/4" forward of my ankle, and everything from the ankle forward is at least as wide as the ball. Sadly, my employer subsidized insurance won't cover any surgeon I would trust with this). View attachment 1528690 View attachment 1528691 View attachment 1528694

Super Amazing!

 

[marlinspike]

Super Amazing!

This pair came recently, an order of yours was my inspiration.