The high end Chinese Shoe Thread

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

Not sure what you are trying to ask

@Kangnamstyles purchased shoes from Yeossal, Wayman, and Oct. Tenth. I believe he purchased Split Toe Derbies from both Oct. Tenth and Yeossal. He may have picked up a pair of SpTDs from Wayman as well.

If he indeed purchase SpTDs from all three companies (which are produced by the same factory), I'd love to see a side by side of all three models.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Good to see a thread like this here, was surely about time for it! Been browsing it through, and agree with much that has been said (although you should know that there are more actors in play than what many seem to believe, it's not Xibao who makes everything..).

To summarise my general view on the high-end Chinese makers, would be something like:
+ Excellent constructions and materials (especially the internal materials, heels etc, upper leather can vary a bit more although usually also good) for the price
+ Good flexibility and options from most makers
+ Getting more and more accessible also for international customers, this will continue to improve
---
- Finishing needs to be improved in general, to really make stuff comparable to the best European or Japanese
- The brands need to be better at finding their own identities, not just to copy-paste models from various famous brands shoes which is too often the case. Quality/price-ratio surely will attract people, but to be successful long term there have to be brand identities as well

I have a lazyman on order from Acme Shoemaker (note that Acme is a workshop and brand set up by the people behind Medallion shoes, so not only ordering stuff from existing place), which will be very interesting to receive. Made a modified last to suit my feet, always a bit risky to do semi bespoke/MTM without meeting the lastmaker, just sending measurements and feet tracing done by myself, hopefully it will work out well. Getting them in a month or so.

 

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

Good to see a thread like this here, was surely about time for it! Been browsing it through, and agree with much that has been said (although you should know that there are more actors in play than what many seem to believe, it's not Xibao who makes everything..).

To summarise my general view on the high-end Chinese makers, would be something like:
+ Excellent constructions and materials (especially the internal materials, heels etc, upper leather can vary a bit more although usually also good) for the price
+ Good flexibility and options from most makers
+ Getting more and more accessible also for international customers, this will continue to improve
---
- Finishing needs to be improved in general, to really make stuff comparable to the best European or Japanese
- The brands need to be better at finding their own identities, not just to copy-paste models from various famous brands shoes which is too often the case. Quality/price-ratio surely will attract people, but to be successful long term there have to be brand identities as well

I have a lazyman on order from Acme Shoemaker (note that Acme is a workshop and brand set up by the people behind Medallion shoes, so not only ordering stuff from existing place), which will be very interesting to receive. Made a modified last to suit my feet, always a bit risky to do semi bespoke/MTM without meeting the lastmaker, just sending measurements and feet tracing done by myself, hopefully it will work out. Getting them in a month or so.

Well those actors are possibly providing little nuances (their own lasts would be my guess), so the differences I would imagine would be miniscule. Saying that, having no first hand knowledge across any of the Chinese brands, I am extremely intrigued about hearing people's reactions to the shoes.

We were discussing ACME previously, perhaps another thread, so I would presume more than a handful of individuals would like detailed information regarding your experience with their shoes. Principally, how they can compare within their price segment.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

Well those actors are possibly providing little nuances (their own lasts would be my guess), so the differences I would imagine would be miniscule. Saying that, having no first hand knowledge across any of the Chinese brands, I am extremely intrigued about hearing people's reactions to the shoes.

We were discussing ACME previously, perhaps another thread, so I would presume more than a handful of individuals would like detailed information regarding your experience with their shoes. Principally, how they can compare within their price segment.

Not sure I understand the first sentence there. What I meant was that there are quite many workshops/factories in China making this type of shoes, and for example that "all" brands aren't made by Xibao, which many seem to believe. Some may look similar, for whatever reasons (sometimes since the people behind the workshops comes from the same larger factories etc. from the beginning, who moved to Vietnam or Laos etc. when production costs in China went up, and these people needed to start their own business to survive), and surely some workshops do shoes for several brands, but there's many around.

Yeah will do a large buyer's guide/review on the blog once I get them, and pin out all I can. And will surely share stuff here as well.

 

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

Not sure I understand the first sentence there. What I meant was that there are quite many workshops/factories in China making this type of shoes, and for example that "all" brands aren't made by Xibao, which many seem to believe. Some may look similar, for whatever reasons (sometimes since the people behind the workshops comes from the same larger factories etc. from the beginning, who moved to Vietnam or Laos etc. when production costs in China went up, and these people needed to start their own business to survive), and surely some workshops do shoes for several brands, but there's many around.

Yeah will do a large buyer's guide/review on the blog once I get them, and pin out all I can. And will surely share stuff here as well.

My apologies as I thought you were referring to the companies we had referenced earlier. Those being, Wayman, Oct. Tenth, Mori, and Yeossal along with their own label Xibao.
So the "actors" I specified previously would be the collaborateurs working with Xibao.

 

[j ingevaldsson]

My apologies as I thought you were referring to the companies we had referenced earlier. Those being, Wayman, Oct. Tenth, Mori, and Yeossal along with their own label Xibao.
So the "actors" I specified previously would be the collaborateurs working with Xibao.

Yeah I meant in general, those brands above and others that have been mentioned in this thread. Even if I know who make for who, in many cases I don’t state it if it’s not something the brands are open with themselves. In this case, several brands that have been mentioned as being made by Xibao aren’t, hence my comment.

 

[bsarosi]

Yeah I meant in general, those brands above and others that have been mentioned in this thread. Even if I know who make for who, in many cases I don’t state it if it’s not something the brands are open with themselves. In this case, several brands that have been mentioned as being made by Xibao aren’t, hence my comment.

Can you at least share which are not made by Xibao that many think are?

 

[Kangnamstyles]

@Kangnamstyles purchased shoes from Yeossal, Wayman, and Oct. Tenth. I believe he purchased Split Toe Derbies from both Oct. Tenth and Yeossal. He may have picked up a pair of SpTDs from Wayman as well.

If he indeed purchase SpTDs from all three companies (which are produced by the same factory), I'd love to see a side by side of all three models.

Lol no I didn’t get sptds from each brand. Mine are all different models. Maybe one day in the future. I think @vriche has ordered sptds from two of those brands coming.

 

[bsarosi]

I have SpTDs coming from Oct.Tenth and Yeossal and plan to do a comparison. These are two retailers that many believe are both produced by Xibao.

 

[saurabh]

I also have SpTD’s from both Oct Tenth and Yeossal coming in the next few weeks.

 

[WilYa]

Good to see a thread like this here, was surely about time for it! Been browsing it through, and agree with much that has been said (although you should know that there are more actors in play than what many seem to believe, it's not Xibao who makes everything..).

To summarise my general view on the high-end Chinese makers, would be something like:
+ Excellent constructions and materials (especially the internal materials, heels etc, upper leather can vary a bit more although usually also good) for the price
+ Good flexibility and options from most makers
+ Getting more and more accessible also for international customers, this will continue to improve
---
- Finishing needs to be improved in general, to really make stuff comparable to the best European or Japanese
- The brands need to be better at finding their own identities, not just to copy-paste models from various famous brands shoes which is too often the case. Quality/price-ratio surely will attract people, but to be successful long term there have to be brand identities as well

I have a lazyman on order from Acme Shoemaker (note that Acme is a workshop and brand set up by the people behind Medallion shoes, so not only ordering stuff from existing place), which will be very interesting to receive. Made a modified last to suit my feet, always a bit risky to do semi bespoke/MTM without meeting the lastmaker, just sending measurements and feet tracing done by myself, hopefully it will work out well. Getting them in a month or so.

Just to chime in, Jesper is 100% right
1. There are many more players you can think of, e.g. Jimjun also does spectacular work and has many OEM orders
2. ACME is totally independent though funded by Medallion, they have their workshop just outside Beijing. The workshop is truly stunning, as some of us had a sneak peek in the Bilibili video. It is managed by Tang who was a partner of Xibao's brand (then TGC now OT) before joining Medallion in late 2018. Therefore, OT and ACME do have some resemblances.
3. I totally agree with the brand/style identities. But it is really a long way to go.

 

[clee1982]

I don't follow close enough, but just look on taobao, there definitely are a lot of chinese shoe maker (especially on the lower end)

 

[vriche]

Lol no I didn’t get sptds from each brand. Mine are all different models. Maybe one day in the future. I think @vriche has ordered sptds from two of those brands coming.

I have SpTD’s coming from Yeossal, Oct. Tenth and Hephaestus.

 

[WilYa]

Mattina is on top in terms of identity/style because the workshop was managed by Zhang Dong, ex-Lobb St James and now by Zhao RuoDa, ex-Bemer.
Their RTWs are GYW but you can also get HW via MTO

 

[clee1982]

this is the first info I find on Mattina, no IG though, guess they're not interested in oversea

Mattina款式知多少 - fp

首先就要提出批评，我很早就知道了从Stefano Bemer学成归国的Bespoke鞋匠赵若达，在我心里，或者喜欢正装皮鞋的人心里，这就是毫无疑问的国内第一人。然后呢，是Laszlo Vass（是的，就是Vass的Vass）撰写的《手工绅士鞋》的官方译者，他毫无疑问就是国内的权威。所以，他说Wingtip叫做燕尾包头，说中文的，都得这么说！Captoe叫做一字包头，那么就盖棺定论了。 好嘛，Bespoke太高端，找不到人很正常，听说他有成鞋后，四处打听，居然找不到。。。。。听说Zingchen家的鞋子是赵若达监制，赶紧跑过去看，结果还剩一个款式在卖。。。。还断码，这是要黄啊。...

fupei.net

this is hephaestus?

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