josepidal
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2006
- Messages
- 2,163
- Reaction score
- 65
A Crazy Rich Asian friend sent me photos that made me laugh so hard I just had to share them (with permission, though he avoids forums and social media). So this guy bought almost one of every Archibald SF-01 sneaker (including v1s) and has been egging me to buy some. This is one loyal (and insane by non-SF standards) customer.
Summarizing what my friend said:
- He bought 10 pairs of SF-01s, and is planning to buy one of every goodyear welted shell cordovan mid, plus the vegetable tanned off white when that comes out in mids (he wants a shootoout with his OG Common Projects Achilles Mids).
- The SF-01s are great sneakers in their own right. If you look at the first two photos, they are (by design) not as sleek as Common Projects but the toes are slightly rounder than Gucci Ace (his two favorite leather sneakers). He describes them as more classic minimalist sneakers and have their own aesthetic when worn, where CPs and Aces feel more "fashion" (despite being classic leather sneakers, too). Hard to describe, but you get the gist.
- He loves the SF-01 leather choices, especially the range of browns (he plans to buy more brown non-dress socks). He thought anticato was amazing, then he saw Horween CXL and then Horween Cordovan. He bought one of every kangaroo sneaker, as he loved the Samba kangaroo sneakers from years ago and RM Williams boots.
- He loves the gum sole option (again, Sambas!) as you can see. These worked out well with suede.
- He has wide feet and tongue gate does not show on his sneakers. He is indifferent to the leather strip of the tongues of his v1s because his Gucci sneakers have the same thing. He got busy and did not figure out his Archibald dress shoe size, and so missed goodyearweltedgate.
- He bought a lot more than sneakers: bags, multiple sets of sheets, watch straps, crystal tumblers, and almost one of every copper pan including the gigantic 13.5-inch copper skillet that he loves more than woks for stir-frys and one-skillet meals.
- Archibald generally delivers what they promise. He understands the promise as high quality, great value items produced by small workshops one feels good supporting. Certainly not the highest end of the range, but definitely far from the bottom. My friend is happy to use Archibald leather bags alongside Hermes, for example.
- My friend trusts Archibald enough that he would try a category of item he has never purchased in his life if they carry a new product in that category. Best example is the copper pans. He bought a whole set during the lockdowns and researched how to properly use and care tin-lined copper pans, and now cannot live without cooking with them himself almost every day. The copper pans are actually thinner (2mm) than the preferred specs here in the USA (3mm), but that is how the artisan and his customers wanted it, to increase responsiveness to heat over ability to store heat (and the latter sounds like a job for thicker cookware like cast iron anyway, so it sounds perfectly logical).
- What seals the deal is the team is a joy to deal with, if sometimes stretched. They are patient with detailed questions, and are clearly proud of what they carry and want to get things right. My friend is confident enough that Archibald will fix something for early adopters if a problem comes up, and that is not true of every luxury fashion company, even up and comers. He swore he would never buy Dior again after he wrote Dior's head office and went to an Asia flagship boutique in person holding Dior shoes where the soles hardened and fell apart on his feet after a few years, and they refused to do anything, and could not even answer whether it was possible to replace the soles. He had bad experiences with Buscemi customer service and YSL sneakers where the soles detached partially after three wearings.
- He said Rohan is calmer when you Whatsapp one-on-one. He admires someone so passionate about his products, and it's a plus that he lived in East Asia at one point.
- Archibald is not perfect and there were some minor annoyances along the way. The team are definitely not experts on the items they sell, and they need to ask the artisans for specific questions like what size watch strap fits a specific model Patek Philippe or what thread count is tolerable in a hot country. They do not claim to be experts either or need to be to distribute the products, but it probably explains why they had a setback with dress shoes. It probably also explains why their most successful product is arguably sneakers, which are simpler than dress shoes but just as beloved to some regulars here.
Longer than I planned to type out, but if anyone ordered more than 10 pairs, let me know so I can tease my friend.
Summarizing what my friend said:
- He bought 10 pairs of SF-01s, and is planning to buy one of every goodyear welted shell cordovan mid, plus the vegetable tanned off white when that comes out in mids (he wants a shootoout with his OG Common Projects Achilles Mids).
- The SF-01s are great sneakers in their own right. If you look at the first two photos, they are (by design) not as sleek as Common Projects but the toes are slightly rounder than Gucci Ace (his two favorite leather sneakers). He describes them as more classic minimalist sneakers and have their own aesthetic when worn, where CPs and Aces feel more "fashion" (despite being classic leather sneakers, too). Hard to describe, but you get the gist.
- He loves the SF-01 leather choices, especially the range of browns (he plans to buy more brown non-dress socks). He thought anticato was amazing, then he saw Horween CXL and then Horween Cordovan. He bought one of every kangaroo sneaker, as he loved the Samba kangaroo sneakers from years ago and RM Williams boots.
- He loves the gum sole option (again, Sambas!) as you can see. These worked out well with suede.
- He has wide feet and tongue gate does not show on his sneakers. He is indifferent to the leather strip of the tongues of his v1s because his Gucci sneakers have the same thing. He got busy and did not figure out his Archibald dress shoe size, and so missed goodyearweltedgate.
- He bought a lot more than sneakers: bags, multiple sets of sheets, watch straps, crystal tumblers, and almost one of every copper pan including the gigantic 13.5-inch copper skillet that he loves more than woks for stir-frys and one-skillet meals.
- Archibald generally delivers what they promise. He understands the promise as high quality, great value items produced by small workshops one feels good supporting. Certainly not the highest end of the range, but definitely far from the bottom. My friend is happy to use Archibald leather bags alongside Hermes, for example.
- My friend trusts Archibald enough that he would try a category of item he has never purchased in his life if they carry a new product in that category. Best example is the copper pans. He bought a whole set during the lockdowns and researched how to properly use and care tin-lined copper pans, and now cannot live without cooking with them himself almost every day. The copper pans are actually thinner (2mm) than the preferred specs here in the USA (3mm), but that is how the artisan and his customers wanted it, to increase responsiveness to heat over ability to store heat (and the latter sounds like a job for thicker cookware like cast iron anyway, so it sounds perfectly logical).
- What seals the deal is the team is a joy to deal with, if sometimes stretched. They are patient with detailed questions, and are clearly proud of what they carry and want to get things right. My friend is confident enough that Archibald will fix something for early adopters if a problem comes up, and that is not true of every luxury fashion company, even up and comers. He swore he would never buy Dior again after he wrote Dior's head office and went to an Asia flagship boutique in person holding Dior shoes where the soles hardened and fell apart on his feet after a few years, and they refused to do anything, and could not even answer whether it was possible to replace the soles. He had bad experiences with Buscemi customer service and YSL sneakers where the soles detached partially after three wearings.
- He said Rohan is calmer when you Whatsapp one-on-one. He admires someone so passionate about his products, and it's a plus that he lived in East Asia at one point.
- Archibald is not perfect and there were some minor annoyances along the way. The team are definitely not experts on the items they sell, and they need to ask the artisans for specific questions like what size watch strap fits a specific model Patek Philippe or what thread count is tolerable in a hot country. They do not claim to be experts either or need to be to distribute the products, but it probably explains why they had a setback with dress shoes. It probably also explains why their most successful product is arguably sneakers, which are simpler than dress shoes but just as beloved to some regulars here.
Longer than I planned to type out, but if anyone ordered more than 10 pairs, let me know so I can tease my friend.
