The high end Chinese Shoe Thread

[clee1982]

This SWB looks pretty good as handwelt alternative to CJ Pembroke too (If say in some dark brown English grain)



And my preference is for short chelsea rather than full size chelsea (think they get caught at the back of pant when sit down then stand up again) and again in simple dark color non crust non museum

 

[JohnMRobie]

Biggest thing keeping me from Yearn is I can’t tell what the deal is with their shoes. When they launched everyone had a spec sheet and talked about how impressive it was for the money before we found out the specs they rattled off were the $1,000 premium MTO shoes not the RTW line. But also not a fan of their patina or museum either.

 

[clee1982]

Oh yea spec sheet for the RTW line would be nice, it’s fine to “cut corners” (not as saying it’s bad you pay for what you get), just would be good to know where the differences are then we can decide if to pay up for the MTO for example

 

[bernoulli]

I have a couple of shoes from them. They are great value for money and I would put them on pair on Vass in terms of craftsmanship for their RTW/MTO line. I was attracted by the shape of their most aggressive lasts. I have nothing much to complain but they can't be compared to shoes from, let's say, Acme. If I can help in any way, post here or DM.

Biggest thing keeping me from Yearn is I can’t tell what the deal is with their shoes. When they launched everyone had a spec sheet and talked about how impressive it was for the money before we found out the specs they rattled off were the $1,000 premium MTO shoes not the RTW line. But also not a fan of their patina or museum either.

 

[clee1982]

Yup but when I last checked their RTW and MTO are substantially different?

 

[JohnMRobie]

I have a couple of shoes from them. They are great value for money and I would put them on pair on Vass in terms of craftsmanship for their RTW/MTO line. I was attracted by the shape of their most aggressive lasts. I have nothing much to complain but they can't be compared to shoes from, let's say, Acme. If I can help in any way, post here or DM.

View attachment 1711140

Thanks for the insights.

Yup but when I last checked their RTW and MTO are substantially different?

There’s a base MTO with like a $50 upcharge that’s identical to RTW but “premium MTO” is the spec sheet everyone rolled out with leather stiffeners, hand sewn soles at 12spi, fiddleback waist etc. with lasted trees.

 

[prof.contingency]

Some great discussion here, guys. Duly noted (@clee1982) about some of the designs you would like to see in the future (by the way, you can always shoot us an email or PM me here, and we can actively work on something).

I won't say too much for now (I prefer to have the discussion flow), but it might be helpful for me to do a quick specifications comparison between Yearn's RTW and MTO (the RTW specifications are also available on our website).

In general, the two have different intentions; the MTO has a customisability aspect, where the client can mix, match, and specify to their heart's intent, whereas the RTW has no customisiability but a shorter lead time (ordinarily in stock for us). Whilst both the RTW and MTO are hand-welted (very important), the MTO also has some added features (differences highlighted in bold). Off the top of my head:

Yearn's RTW​	Yearn's MTO​
Hand-welted	Hand-welted
Outsole handstitched to 8 SPI	Outsole handstitched to 12 SPI
European Leather Uppers (Italy, Spain, or Germany)	European Leather Uppers (Italy, Spain, or Germany)
Leather Soles	Leather Soles
Hand-Beveled Narrow Waist	Fiddleback Waist (to a greater extreme)
No Toe Taps	Triumph Toe Taps
Regular Stiffeners	Leather Stiffeners
No Customisability	Customisability
No Included Shoe Trees	Lasted Shoe Trees Included
$419 USD / £320	$1000 USD / £780

I hope that helps!

 

[clee1982]

you guys plan to take MTO order as well in addition to just sell RTW?

 

[prof.contingency]

you guys plan to take MTO order as well in addition to just sell RTW?

Great question. We will be happy to facilitate any MTO orders to the UK in that we can group them with our regular shipment and import procedures. UK clients will likely be able to save a bit of money here and will benefit from local UK customer service, exchanges, and returns. But I should say that we don't ordinarily advertise this.

Instead, I will advise clients to order the MTOs direct from Yearn (they also have superb customer service).

 

[clee1982]

good to know, I'm US based (but probably a lot members here too), but can think that's a decent way to group things too

 

[Roscoe the best]

My first pair of OCT was done, can't wait to receive them in my mailbox. The owner of OCT is nice BTW.

 

[clee1982]

Aha you went direct, where are you based?

 

[Roscoe the best]

Aha you went direct, where are you based?

I was talking to the owner through WeChat, I am in Canada,lol.

 

[Zapasman]

My first pair of OCT was done, can't wait to receive them in my mailbox. The owner of OCT is nice BTW.

View attachment 1713390 View attachment 1713391 View attachment 1713392 View attachment 1713393

Beautiful boots, but I do not understand how such a good maker uses so badly the rapid machine to attach the outsole. Then comes the fudging and the final work is a mess to me. Its a pity.

 

[BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes]

Beautiful boots, but I do not understand how such a good maker uses so badly the rapid machine to attach the outsole. Then comes the fudging and the final work is a mess to me. Its a pity.

I actually don't think it looks that bad. The fudging looks a little funny, but I would accept it at these prices.