The high end Chinese Shoe Thread

[jischwar]

Very strange, I know it’s over the holidays, but emailed them twice since Christmas through their website. Maybe an issue with the website?

You checked your spam too?

 

[unprocessed]

You checked your spam too?

Indeed I did

 

[clee1982]

Very strange, I know it’s over the holidays, but emailed them twice since Christmas through their website. Maybe an issue with the website?

email or IG I think IG might have been better

 

[unprocessed]

Anyone have their email address? Will try to email instead of submitting the form on their website.

 

[bernoulli]

Email is [email protected]. According to people from the company, IG and email are the easiest way to contact them. Hopefully, they will fix the website or check the forms they get more often.

Anyone have their email address? Will try to email instead of submitting the form on their website.

 

[bernoulli]

I can't compare Blake to GYW or HW in terms of durability or sturdiness. As most people here, I have too many shoes, so resoles are immaterial. Blake-stitched shoes are as comfortable, if not more so than GYW or HW shoes. I wrote, deleted and reinserted the following sentence: "Potentially, Blake-stitched shoes are the most beautiful, as the lines are much cleaner and it is much easier to achieve sleekier-lasts, narrow-waists and all the paraphernalia that shoe-aficionados look for, other than SPI (and who needs SPI when there is no welt and no space between outsole and vamp?)". But SF is not really ready for that discussion so don't quote me on that.

How is it different compared to an HW pair other than the over durability and sturdiness? If a Blake pair were constructed on the same type of thick insoles used for an HW pair, is it still as comfortable as a regular blake pair?

 

[clee1982]

Yea but my biggest gripe with Blake (I still own some, more fashion boot type) is it absorb water really easily, out of the box comfort harder to beat Blake or even just cemented (if you want absolute low profile can’t go lower than this)

 

[ajay199127]

I can't compare Blake to GYW or HW in terms of durability or sturdiness. As most people here, I have too many shoes, so resoles are immaterial. Blake-stitched shoes are as comfortable, if not more so than GYW or HW shoes. I wrote, deleted and reinserted the following sentence: "Potentially, Blake-stitched shoes are the most beautiful, as the lines are much cleaner and it is much easier to achieve sleekier-lasts, narrow-waists and all the paraphernalia that shoe-aficionados look for, other than SPI (and who needs SPI when there is no welt and no space between outsole and vamp?)". But SF is not really ready for that discussion so don't quote me on that.

Thank you for the insight, being a resident of a country with less than 5 days of rainfall/year, makes the commission of a blake mtm very appealing.

 

[clee1982]

when I say absorb water easily I mean even step on some puddle by accident though

 

[bernoulli]

Since it is raining today, I conducted a very comprehensive scientific experiment (soon to be submitted to Nature - hey, I got published there once, maybe lighting does strike twice). I got the flimsiest blake-stitched pair of boots I own, some weird Jeffery-West thingie I bought ten years ago, and went into the elements. The sole is almost gone, as well. I even wore white socks so any water damage would be clearly visible. I was agnostic about the hypothesis. It does make sense that a blake-stitched pair of shoes would not be that good at keeping water out in comparison with GYW or HW shoes.

However, I can report that in this very scientific experiment, the hypothesis was not confirmed. I even stayed put on a water puddle for 30 seconds or so. Nothing. Everything is dry. Can I generalize from this? Most likely not. But one data point is still one data point.

when I say absorb water easily I mean even step on some puddle by accident though

 

[clee1982]

Good for you, but if it’s bad weather I would not pick Blake as first choice

 

[ajay199127]

A pair from BW

 

[bernoulli]

Agree. Still, it confirms my recent shift towards Blake. It is likely that future commissions will feature all the bells and whistles from the sleekiest HW shoes for a fraction of the price. My main concern right now? Leather quality. Shanghai "bespoke" shoemakers may be able to deliver great design but I don't know if they have access to decent leather.

Good for you, but if it’s bad weather I would not pick Blake as first choice

 

[unprocessed]

Agree. Still, it confirms my recent shift towards Blake. It is likely that future commissions will feature all the bells and whistles from the sleekiest HW shoes for a fraction of the price. My main concern right now? Leather quality. Shanghai "bespoke" shoemakers may be able to deliver great design but I don't know if they have access to decent leather.

How would you compare Acme’s leather quality to that of a G&G, AM, etc?

 

[ajay199127]

Factoring in all the cons and my my personal OCD to always have a topy. I am going to see how a faux welted Blake with modified last and vibram explosions pan out.