The Bespoke Shoes Thread

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

fantastic. My feet aren’t too wild, but the pinky toe does get squeezed a little on the regular. That has been accommodated.
Arch is close cut and supportive, volume generally feels great - though there is a touch of excess material just behind the big toe joint.

Ill have to bring myself to wear these outside to make a complete judgement though!

Well those shoes were made for walking and that's what you should do...one of these days...yadda yadda yadda. Wear them in good health good man.

 

[boot_owl]

In the spirit of full disclosure and to demonstrate his mindset (always looking to improve rather than to convince a customer that a flaw is a feature)

His first comment was that the last was unsuccessful as the axis(?) of the last doesn’t quite align. As you can see the toe is pointed inward. He will be adjusting my last for future orders, but I don’t foresee a need to relast these unless they’re uncomfortable to walk in.

Lastmaking is hard!

 

[JohnMRobie]

Had the opportunity to pick up my first bespoke pair today. For the process we did measurements, a last fitting and then a pattern fitting with some small modifications to the last from the first fitting made.

I feel very lucky in that the timing worked out how it did at the moment and everything flowed seamlessly. I have pairs that were MTO that took much longer.

For the first pair we opted to go with something very simple but wearable to get a really good idea of the last and any tweaks for future iterations so I opted for a stitched cap toe balmoral with a single row of stitching throughout in coffee vocalou from d’annonay with a stitched forward leaning swans neck. I opted for a solid colored sole with a mild bevel. I’m really happy with how everything turned out for the first shoe and am already thinking about what next will be.

Also just a note of thanks to people like @DWFII and Janne for teaching shoe makers and keeping this craft alive and available and to the guys on this forum for so openly sharing their knowledge that helped me feel more comfortable walking in. Now for some pictures.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Know there's a bunch of friends of Nicholas Templeman here. Did a podcast episode with him where we went in-depth on the experience of ordering bespoke shoes, this from a bespoke shoemakers viewpoint. Also about for example his journey into shoemaking, about pros and cons with the traditional British ways with the freelance system and how they do bespoke fittings, about Covid and what a mess it has made of the bespoke footwear and clothing worlds in many regards, and much more. Plus, he talks about the importance StyleForum has had for his success. You can listen here or wherever you usually listen to podcasts, search for Shoegazing Podcast.

 

[Texasmade]

Nick with the shoutout to SF on the podcast.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Nick with the shoutout to SF on the podcast.

Indeed! Certainly played an important part for him.

 

[boot_owl]

I love the part where he was talking about making a last perfect to the measurements... but the client hates how it feels on foot. IMO fitting the mind is just as important as fitting the foot

 

[ntempleman]

Nick with the shoutout to SF on the podcast.

Represent yo

 

[Texasmade]

Represent yo

I thought the story about the black captoe oxford for a first pair was good.

You already know what my first pair of NT bespoke shoes are going to be.

 

[boot_owl]

I thought the story about the black captoe oxford for a first pair was good.

You already know what my first pair of NT bespoke shoes are going to be.

black cap toe... loafers

 

[takashi78]

Now that would be killer !
Do it !

 

[ntempleman]

Used to be pretty popular

 

[Texasmade]

 

[ntempleman]

Straight cap Raywoods aren’t as good as wing cap versions, I really like them. I’ll see if I can dig out a photo

 

[ntempleman]

A pair of wing cap Raywoods I did a few years back, old school chic