The Bespoke Shoes Thread

[dauster]

What I still don't understand is how GC's business is sustainable - the more I hear about them the worse it gets. Yes, super rich customers might not ask for a refund but I can't see anybody coming back if the shoes don't fit - even if you are a billionaire/ or actor. Do they really separate Superman's shoes and regular customers shoes and a) goes to the "we care" pile and b) goes to "zero QC we don't give an f***" pile?

 

[clee1982]

no idea, but it seems like some gets the intern treatment

 

[dieworkwear]

What I still don't understand is how GC's business is sustainable - the more I hear about them the worse it gets. Yes, super rich customers might not ask for a refund but I can't see anybody coming back if the shoes don't fit - even if you are a billionaire/ or actor. Do they really separate Superman's shoes and regular customers shoes and a) goes to the "we care" pile and b) goes to "zero QC we don't give an f***" pile?

I don't know, but it's more common to see rich people in ill-fitting clothes than well-fitting clothes. It's possible that some people just don't know better.

Last year, some guy on here said he just recently found out he's a size 9 shoe. For the last ten years, he's been wearing a size 11. This is despite being on this forum for ten years. Lots of people wearing the wrong size.

 

[dauster]

I don't know, but it's more common to see rich people in ill-fitting clothes than well-fitting clothes. It's possible that some people just don't know better.

Last year, some guy on here said he just recently found out he's a size 9 shoe. For the last ten years, he's been wearing a size 11. This is despite being on this forum for ten years. Lots of people wearing the wrong size.

I would love to see his collection of super thick socks. size 9 vs 11 that's nuts very good point. lots of rich people wear expensive yet awful fitting clothes and they probably don't care enough to correct them or ask for a refund.

 

[djdanniedee]

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if they make the celebrity shoes in-house with more attention, and for the average customer, theirs get sent out to outworkers.

 

[Boggis]

Last year, some guy on here said he just recently found out he's a size 9 shoe. For the last ten years, he's been wearing a size 11. This is despite being on this forum for ten years. Lots of people wearing the wrong size.

Not wanting to derail the bespoke thread but Ive had a similar experience! Before I discovered decent shoes (RTW) I wore size 11 in Clark's. When I went into a Cheaney shop to get measured I walked out with size 9 boots, I was incredulous but the shop assistant insisted they were the right fit. Anyway, 3 years later and I cant wear those boots without a pain in my pinky toe that lasts for days after wearing, they were simply far too small.

I've had the same experience with C&J, shop assistant insisting on a size 9, I'd learned my lesson by this stage though. In reality my true size is more 10 or 10.5, but very narrow. The shop assistants were focussing on getting the fit right on the heel/across the vamp, but mangling my toes in the process.

Anyway, point I'm making is that for some of us fit is unfortunately difficult and sometimes we end up wearing badly fitted shoes for lack of a better option!

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if they make the celebrity shoes in-house with more attention, and for the average customer, theirs get sent out to outworkers.

I don’t know, they might turn a better product if they used outerworkers

 

[j ingevaldsson]

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if they make the celebrity shoes in-house with more attention, and for the average customer, theirs get sent out to outworkers.

Nah, Cleverley and the other West End firms have never had bottom making done to a large extent in-house, most have always been done by outworkers. The freelance system can work very well, these folks showed it themselves before, but it means you gave to be more careful on some things, like what demands are set on the outworkers, quality check and not accepting subpar work, paying outworkers good enough sums (Cleverley is not on the high end here...), etc.
And FWIW, also for example John Lobb Ltd have had their fair amount of QC issues in recent years.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

My better half indulged me on these shoes. She works in bridal alterations, so her income was... well... the shoes make up a huge part of what she would earn. When she saw the shoes today and the finish (I didn't even show the cuts and scratches on the inside of the alligators), she immediately saw them and started to cry.

This ******* sucks and I hope you find a way out of it. I'm glad DWW and others have written repeatedly about why bespoke by no means guarantees better, which sort of removes the aura of mystique from the table and reduces it to what it is: you paying a human with a very special old world skill to bring something to life for you, and a chance to be more a co-pilot than just a passenger in the process. That's all you are guaranteed though. I think seeing things from this perspective helps a prospective bespoke customer more accurately evaluate the value that he receives in exchange for what is to be a rather large amount of money that probably should probably be in a hedge fund or something. Alligator wholecuts specifically aren't hard to find RTW or MTO and for me would be just as fun for the one or two days a year that I would want to wear them. You won't have to wait, if it's a mess you can just exchange it, and you'll have enough left over to get a matching pair for your (lovely and beautiful) wife.

Last year, some guy on here said he just recently found out he's a size 9 shoe. For the last ten years, he's been wearing a size 11. This is despite being on this forum for ten years. Lots of people wearing the wrong size.

Funny, I had a similar(ly devastating) revelation recently when my tailor showed me exactly how long 6" is. I guess 2020 was hard for everyone.

 

[dieworkwear]

Alligator wholecuts specifically aren't hard to find RTW or MTO and for me would be just as fun for the one or two days a year that I would want to wear them. You won't have to wait, if it's a mess you can just exchange it, and you'll have enough left over to get a matching pair for your (lovely and beautiful) wife.

I don't know about that. Bespoke is the only time I've seen gator shoes look good, to be honest. MTO and RTW gator shoes, even from very high-end companies, for some reason always look ... not great.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

I don't know about that. Bespoke is the only time I've seen gator shoes look good, to be honest. MTO and RTW gator shoes, even from very high-end companies, for some reason always look ... not great.

Oh now you're just being unnecessarily contrarian. I would maybe agree with this only WRT the time I went into a Mezlan store and found myself surrounded by pimps, Saudi arms dealers, and Colombian drug lords. Now that I know better though, there's at least one company off the top of my head who has access to perfectly nice gator hides and can easily stretch one over a decently shaped last of theirs which I like and which fits me well (hint hint without namedropping too hard in someone else's thread, the last is named after that thing where water falls out of the sky).

And their sales rep was definitely not interested in my personal life or whether or not I would be spending Easter in Mykonos with a lovely and beautiful wife. Even when (or especially when) I invited her to join me in that capacity. She just wanted to confirm I was a UK 9EE...but hey but we all have to start somewhere, right? Sorry I'll stop now. But this just isn't getting old for me.

 

[clee1982]

well if you want cheaper ish rtw gator, Carmina is having them on sale

 

[daizawaguy]

Here is Styleforum on George Cleverly -

Notice the low ankle cut? Cant imagine how that one was not sent back. If I took delivery of that shoe, I would be walking out the shop and the shoes would be left behind with my credit card in my pocket.

Permanent Style

How great things age: Cleverley Russian-reindeer monks

www.permanentstyle.com

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Here is Styleforum on George Cleverly -

Notice the low ankle cut? Cant imagine how that one was not sent back. If I took delivery of that shoe, I would be walking out the shop and the shoes would be left behind with my credit card in my pocket.

Permanent Style

How great things age: Cleverley Russian-reindeer monks

www.permanentstyle.com

Yeah that is a classic. Both how the shoe was sent out to a "public" person like Simon where one know it will be shown to a large crowd, and how Simon is repeatedly praising it without a word about that large mishap for a pattern, is inexplicable. And then they zoom in on it on several photos...

 

[WhyUEarly]

Yeah that is a classic. Both how the shoe was sent out to a "public" person like Simon where one know it will be shown to a large crowd, and how Simon is repeatedly praising it without a word about that large mishap for a pattern, is inexplicable.

In general, I don't put a lot of weight in Simon's shoe reviews esp compared with his review on suits. It doesn't seem like he is as obsessive about shoes. By a simple measure, consider many more photos are on shoegazing shoe reviews. I personally find that pair of double monks to look disappointing but as long as Simon likes them...