Shoe advise for an amateur

[GinSoakedBoy]

Hi All

I am a shoe enthusiast and have been reading up a lot of threads recently on SF. This forum is absolutely great - just joined today and this is indeed my first post.. Feeling excited!

I wanted to get some general advise & answers to my questions below from all the pro's out there. Pardon me for any stupid questions - I am an amateur when it comes to shoes but am quite keen to build up my collection & further my knowledge! My best shoes at the moment are a pair of Fratelli Rosetti's (blake construction) and a pair of rubber soled Bally's i got suckered into buying at the duty free at Heathrow airport.

I am looking to spend around £200 - £250 on a pair of black shoes for work (which I will use in rotation with another pair). My preference is for "sleeker" lasts (i am infatuated with the Vass U last and C&J 348 last for example). C&J is out of my budget at £350 (looking at their website) but is there anywhere i can get them at better prices? . I have a pair of Loake's (the Design line, not the 1880) but I gather from this forum that they are not very well made and generally come with cheap quality corrected-grain leather. Are there any other options that fit my budget? How about Loding / Meermin / Markowski? I feel Allan Edmonds is a bit conservative for my taste.

Also, i have some other basic queries:
1. I have been reading that a shoe conditioner is probably the most important product to apply for shoe care. Should i be using Conditioner + Cream + Wax polish or would Conditioner + Wax polish suffice? I did read Ron Rider's post (which was very useful), but saw a shoe care video on the John Lobb website that uses only Conditioner + Wax Polish.

2. There are a couple of shoes that i wear maybe once a year. Is there any harm done by keeping them in the shoe box (with shoe trees inserted) between wears? Or is it advisable to regularly polish / condition them?

3. What is the best way to identify corrected grain leathers and is it true that such quality would wrinkle more than calf leather? I did read that CG looks more shiny, plastic, uniform etc but i still find it hard to tell. For example, can one say if the upper in the link below is CG? The website says calf leather + Goodyear Welted, but i doubt its the case looking at the £155 price tag.
http://www.loake.co.uk/design-loake/victor.html

Thanks for reading all the way down! Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[Balfour]

Loake 1880 (and only 1880) offer excellent price:quality at the lower end of your budget. Some of the ill feeling is about the lower ranges, which do indeed use corrected grain, are made abroad, etc. See: http://www.styleforum.net/t/354125/loake-appreciation-shoe-p0rn-thread/0_50

Herring Shoes (a mail-order retailer) are excellent. The have an own-brand shoe made by Cheaney, slightly over your budget, with the sleek last you are looking for: http://www.herringshoes.co.uk/produ...&catid=56&oldcolid=2452&stype=0&colourid=2451

Use HSAB code for a free pair of shoe trees (and look on their twitter feed for other discount codes).

 

[GinSoakedBoy]

Thanks Balfour.

The Loake 1880 range have wider lasts in general so not to my taste unfort.

I did go to my local Crockett and Jones store and tried out a few pairs and boy, were they comfortable! The 348 and 360 both look great after wearing.. getting really tempted to shell out that extra bit for a pair!

Anywhere i can get them at a discount? Looked up the PLal website but they don't have many left apart from odd sizes.. i'm a UK 9.5E on the 348

 

[Cleav]

GSB, you in the UK? Go to C & J factory shop. It is a lottery in that you do not know what you will find. Some times you'll be lucky...

 

[Cleav]

@amdaman

Thanks for asking, they are C & J Westbourne

 

[amdaman]

Thanks for replying - they look sleek on the picture there but from what I can see the width is E ??

 

[Cleav]

Standard width