Mystery Budapest Shoemaker

[Michael Ay329]

Multiple variables use to go into the price for Vass shoes.
Upcharge for cordovan
Upcharge for F or U last
Upcharge if you made a boot

For a U.S. based customer like me, one thing I liked about dealing with Gabor is that he gave one price...and it covered everything, shipping, shoe trees, custom fees....unlike other shoe companies that gave you one price, but then you had to add all of the above variables to provide yet another "final" higher price.

I currently hate the value of the euro as my dollar is being raped in the currency exchange market...although PayPal provides some friendly conversion rates

By the way, Gabor won't be offering the shoes via ebay...for now, he'll deal with folks via e-mail

 

[fritzl]

Originally Posted by Michael Ay329

Thus Vass is not the ONLY Hungarian shoe maker to transition to these newer lasts...his own homegrown competitors are upping their game to meet the needs of the international cogneseti

wtf, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[luk-cha]

Originally Posted by fritzl

wtf, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

yea you let him have it!!

 

[fritzl]

Originally Posted by luk-cha

yea you let him have it!!

you are not running in this competition

 

[maomao1980]

These look like Vass, is supposedly made like Vass, and is priced the same as Vass. I thought there is enough trouble generating sufficient demand for Vass in the US as is, what is the point of bringing these guys out of Budapest?

 

[GuidoWongolini]

Where is Tom..

 

[luk-cha]

Originally Posted by fritzl

you are not running in this competition

hahaha too glad! i'd take a pinch of red powder over these things!!!

 

[bengal-stripe]

Originally Posted by fritzl

wtf, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Said the **** neanderthalensis, when he given the choice to become a **** sapiens.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by maomao1980

These look like Vass, is supposedly made like Vass, and is priced the same as Vass. I thought there is enough trouble generating sufficient demand for Vass in the US as is, what is the point of bringing these guys out of Budapest?
Is that a rethorical question? Obviously, the Vass market has become too competitive and GH is finding other products on which he can be exclusive - or at least face less competition. Something every sensible businessman would do when faced with increased competitive pressure.

 

[Pezzaturra]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Is that a rethorical question? Obviously, the Vass market has become too competitive

??? Who are the competition???

 

[maomao1980]

Originally Posted by Pezzaturra

??? Who are the competition???

I guess GDL meant that there are now multiple sources that supplies Vass outside of Hungary and there fore GH, being the sensible businessman that he is, has pursued a different maker of a similar shoe. My question is more on the demand side of things. If the current demand for Vass has already been met by the existing suppliers, what is the point of offering a virtually identical product at the same price? there is no longer any market share left for the new supplier to capture, that doesn't make a lot of business sense to me.

 

[gdl203]

You are correct that there needs to be some differentiation to attract those who would normally buy Vass to this unknown mystery hungarian bespoke shoemaker (UMHBS). We're all waiting to hear what that differentiation may be - and it doesn't have to be price.

 

[Pezzaturra]

Originally Posted by maomao1980

I guess GDL meant that there are now multiple sources that supplies Vass outside of Hungary and there fore GH, being the sensible businessman that he is, has pursued a different maker of a similar shoe. My question is more on the demand side of things. If the current demand for Vass has already been met by the existing suppliers, what is the point of offering a virtually identical product at the same price? there is no longer any market share left for the new supplier to capture, that doesn't make a lot of business sense to me.

Oh I see.
However it is infinitely puzzling to me why anyone who is frequenting this forum would ever order VASS from anyone other than Eva Vass.

I can see some sort of MTM service being offered with wider range of lasts and more consistent fit for those who cannot fit into RTW VASS (I would be first to admit that U-last is a very narrow last).

 

[Michael Ay329]

I never used Eva since Gabor was the closest Vass seller to my home. It helped that he met me in person and I was able to try on a Budapester in my size and look at the U and F last shoes (whichi I ordered). Further transactions were done by e-mail and PayPal.

Does Eva Vass communicate via e-mail and in English? For those who don't have their Vass last sizing down...does she send shoes/boots for sizing purposes?

Just ordering directly from the shoe manufacturer, without a middle person is nice, but unless sizing is nailed down and the manufacturer has an easy way to peronally-electronically deal with...is just outright risky. Too many Vass shoes have been resold, at a loss, because the buyers played a guessing game out of sizing.

This is why I became a customer of Gaziano & Girling over 2 years ago. They visited my city, measured me and made recommendations as to the sizing of their RTW/MTO shoes. The first order worked out well and I'm still their customer

Likewise, Ron Rider has a proven system by mailing out boots/shoes within my size range and I eventually opted for one which fit well.

I hope Gabor's venture is able to properly address the above concerns and to provide a product which can differentiate itself from others made out of Hungary. If not, as some have noted, why bother to gambe with a shoe maker with an unproven track record. By unproven I mean, no one else has a shoe made by them to comment

 

[Omega Man]

Let me take a wild guess on this mystery Budapest Shoemaker.
Quote from Germany's ebay "Sandor Kiss is beside Vass and Dinkelacker a less well-known manufacturer of nevertheless qualitatively high-quality shoes from Budapest."