real Peals

[jerrysfriend]

Here is something you don't see too often, "real" 40+ year-old Peals, before Brooks bought the name. I assume that these are ready-mades, instead of bespoke. http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ws....me=WDVW The question is: did Peal make its own ready-made shoes back then, or just the bespoke ones, as Cleverly does now?

 

[bengal-stripe]

478 Oxford Street was the last address of Peal & Co before they went out of business, sometimes in the early to mid 1960s. Prior to that they occupied premises in Wigmore Street.

Wigmore Street or one of the Streets in Mayfair or St. James's is a far more prestigious and appropriate address for a bespoke only firm then Oxford Street. My guess is, they might have moved to Oxford Street to attract passing clientele and to sell ready-to-wear in addition to their bespoke shoes. This is only a guess, I do not know if they had a ready-to-wear line; but if they did, these shoes would have been made by one of the Northampton factories and not by Peal themselves.

The shoes on offer are in pretty good condition; usually shoes of that age are all dried-out and cracked-up. (A year or two back, Andrew Harris sold a pair of bespoke Peal loafers in even better condition.) Obviously the shoes on offer are bespoke, the number would have indicated the customer and the last.

A short while ago, I've come across a once beautiful pair (but now in very poor condition) by a company new to me: "Hellstern & Sons - London and Paris"; inside the shoes they had embossed the Prince of Wales plumes and the Russian double-headed Eagle (I suppose there were quite a few Romanov Grand Dukes hanging around in Paris of the 1930s).

I have never come across a pair from the famous house Tuczek (where old Mr Cleverley spent most of his working life), but I'm working on it.

 

[ernest]

The 2 guys I met in Paris alone in the same thread...

Be carefull, you are only simple members (not contributing members), so try not to post too much otherwise the police of thought may come and put you in a bag...

 

[bengal-stripe]

Be carefull, you are only simple members (not contributing members), so try not to post too much otherwise the police of thought may come and put you in a bag...

Some of us might have contributed, but are too modest to show off with it.

 

[Horace]

A short while ago, I've come across a once beautiful pair (but now in very poor condition) by a company new to me: "Hellstern & Sons - London and Paris"; inside the shoes they had embossed the Prince of Wales plumes and the Russian double-headed Eagle (I suppose there were quite a few Romanov Grand Dukes hanging around in Paris of the 1930s).

I wonder if there's a list somewhere on the Internet, as there is with the British royal warrants, that comprises those who supplied the Romanovs?
I'd be curious to see what they were buying after the Revolution. (And before for that matter).

 

[bengal-stripe]

That's the list of the current (British) Royal Warrant holders: http://www.royalwarrant.org/ I wouldn't know whom the Romanovs patronized, apart from Faberge, their egg-supplier:

 

[ernest]

Quote:

(ernest @ Feb. 20 2005,00:02) Be carefull, you are only simple members (not contributing members), so try not to post too much otherwise the police of thought may come and put you in a bag...
Some of us might have contributed, but are too modest to show off with it.
May be these people could tell LA what is beeing a gentleman?

 

[jcusey]

May be these people could tell LA what is beeing a gentleman?

Maybe you could let this argument die or take it to a PM. Some of us are tired of having threads polluted with this garbage.

 

[linux_pro]

IBM has a royal warrant. Heh heh. Maybe I could sell them some ISP service and get my own. Now, that would be neat.

 

[STYLESTUDENT]

Brooks were selling the Peal shoes (made by Edward Green, per Flusser) by 1963. Not that I am that old, but I remember seeing the expensive wing-tip slip-ons in a Brooks catalog when I started college (at a very young age, I may add). There are magazine articles on the internet that say both Fred Astaire and Clark Gable wore Peal shoes in 1960-both were Brooks customers. Why would Green make shoes for a rival, for domestic production? It's more logical to suppose that Brooks contracted directly with Green after it bought the name. Back then, Brooks also sold leather goods (tan pigskin (or maybe bridle) wallet-too young then to know the difference-and also briefcases) under the Peal name. All this suggests that Peal remained a custom house until it sold off in the late '50s.

 

[Manton]

It's more logical to suppose that Brooks contracted directly with Green after it bought the name... All this suggests that Peal remained a custom house until it sold off in the late '50s.

This is the story as I understand it. I don't know the dates, however. Late 50s or early 60s sounds about right.

 

[bengal-stripe]

Why would Green make shoes for a rival, for domestic production?

I believe at that time, Edward Green would not have produced anything under their own name. As was the practice at the time, they produced private label work, putting whatever name was requested into the product. I think, it was only after John Hlustik had bought the run-down company in the early 1980s (paying one quid (GBP), as a going concern and with all the debts); that they started establishing the name Edward Green to the end consumer.

 

[Will]

That's also my understanding.

Will