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Son Of Saphir

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Todays shoe
An old MTO Vass with 360 goiser welt in shell cordovan
rare appearance of 3636 last.
One of my favourites

20221007_135539.jpg 20221007_135606.jpg
 

JohnMRobie

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Ive finally had some time to properly inspect my new Budapesters and on second inspection, I must say I’m quite disappointed with the quality. There are black stains around the front of the shoe and the brogue wings have been cut poorly that it looks as if it’s damaged. I’ve emailed Vass twice and have had no reply from them.

Do you think the black stains are removable and Am I being too pedantic about the brogue wings? These are my first hand welted shoes and needless to say they were not cheap so I was expecting much better quality control than this.

View attachment 1838501 View attachment 1838502 View attachment 1838503 View attachment 1838504 View attachment 1838505
Put away the camera zoom and enjoy your new shoes.
 

Son Of Saphir

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Why Vass so special?

They can make a double soled goiser constructed Budapester feel almost like a sneaker.
It can be flexible and soft like no machine made shoe can feel.
The secret in the hand welt and the hand stitching of the sole,
it allows for fully flexible shoe that mold to foot properly.
No gemmed feather to cause resistance and stiffness and limited molding
No constant bottom thread used in machine stitch to cause extra tension and limited molding.
(some exceptions to this...depend on leather and on individual maker)

Compare to stiff double sole machine made Trickers,
it a world apart.
Limited molding from GYW

The Vass = solid and soft and mold to foot.
It provide a ride few shoes can.
It like a Rolls Royce for shoes.
The Vass make nice design and o.k lasts,
but it not fancy.
It all about the ride and the construction, ie solid and soft and mold to foot.

If you want cold machine made beauty, style and lasts = go to EG or Lobb
If you want the real deal and top ride and warmth of hand crafted = go to Vass


Top bespoke = can be too light (meh) = like slippers
Vass = solid meaty shoe that is flexible and light = got the balance right = ideal shoe = can feel it and enjoy it = meat on the feet
 

Son Of Saphir

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Vass not care about the "vass charm"
Vass not care about selling out to modern styling.
Vass are famous and make lots of money,
that is what they care about.
You complain to manager and he will roll his eyes.
Vass have client world wide who love their shoes regardless of "Vass charm".

Me a very big Vass fan (the biggest) and wear there shoes a lot.
Nothing compares to the `Vass ride'.
The `Vass ride' never gets old.
It always feels good.
Sometimes me want something fancy on the feet,
but it never makes up for the `Vass ride'.
The `Vass ride' make you ride like a King,
few shoes are able to do that.
 
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Tomc

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Here is my F last tan oxford photographed new 14 years ago.
They have the watermark and stains like yours.
View attachment 1840807 View attachment 1840808

My tan 3636 last are the same with watermarks and black marks.
Many of my Lattanzi shoe also have the marks.
My Gaziano & Girling also have the marks
My Edward Green also have some marks
My Stefano Bemer also have alittle of the marks

Why?
Me thinks it when they use the buffing wheel to polish the heels and sides of soles,
the stain from the buffing brush rub off on the upper.
The electric buffing brush needed to get the high shine sole/heel edge,
it hard to avoid.
They try to rub it off and hence the water mark.

The John Lobb also have it.
The Santoni bentivegna and norvegese also have it.
THEY ALL HAVE IT!!! :bounce2:

You look and you see it,
on all the great shoes of the world. :fu:

defect.jpeg
no defect.jpg

Top is defective. Bottom is normal. It's not difficult to see.

Me thinks you're blatantly misrepresenting the comparison to defend Vass (for some reason).
 
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Son Of Saphir

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Can see the big watermark.
With polishes it should become less noticeable over time.
 

Tomc

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Can see the big watermark.
With polishes it should become less noticeable over time.

That's not a watermark and it doesn't polish out. I've had something similar with a pair of Vass.

"Hopefully it polishes away" is not an acceptable situation for a new pair of shoes from any decent brand.

People seem to take my criticisms of Vass' QA failures as personal attacks on them for some reason. They're not. You're not Vass (I think), and frankly defending a company that you give money to seems counterintuitive to me. You should at least be paid for PR work like this!
 

DonRaphael

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That's not a watermark and it doesn't polish out. I've had something similar with a pair of Vass.

"Hopefully it polishes away" is not an acceptable situation for a new pair of shoes from any decent brand.

People seem to take my criticisms of Vass' QA failures as personal attacks on them for some reason. They're not. You're not Vass (I think), and frankly defending a company that you give money to seems counterintuitive to me. You should at least be paid for PR work like this!
Calm down, mate. I think most of the people referring to the "Vass charm" do it tongue in cheek.

For most people, the defects described are either unimportant or not visible after a couple of wears and polish, thus nothing to be bothered with.

There's a reason Vass offers a great/the greatest value proposition on the market. Corners need to be cut somewhere. In my experience, Vass CS has handled issues like this exemplary if you get in touch with them.

Most Vass customers are customers mainly because of the value proposition, me included. If you're looking for something else, maybe you should be looking elsewhere. And I say that in the most polite and well meaning way possible. There are shoe makers that have many more people employed in the QC department that might offer a better product for you based on your preferences.
 

Tomc

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Calm down, mate. I think most of the people referring to the "Vass charm" do it tongue in cheek.

For most people, the defects described are either unimportant or not visible after a couple of wears and polish, thus nothing to be bothered with.

There's a reason Vass offers a great/the greatest value proposition on the market. Corners need to be cut somewhere. In my experience, Vass CS has handled issues like this exemplary if you get in touch with them.

Most Vass customers are customers mainly because of the value proposition, me included. If you're looking for something else, maybe you should be looking elsewhere. And I say that in the polite at way possible. There are shoe makers that have many more people employed in the QC department thst might offer a better product for you based on your preferences.

I mostly agree with you, and everything you wrote is what I've been saying through the previous posts. You probably didn't see see those which is fine.

Anyways I was mainly trying to stop the fanboys from wiping Vass' butt and making QA failures seem desirable. The pictured shoe isn't mine. It belongs to another member.
 

ACLC

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I'll consider 6 pairs to be enough experience, maybe you won't.

Anyways, to the original poster feel free to not smoke the copium of brand fan boys, and trust your gut. If you were here to find a supporting opinion for your situation, you be hard pressed to find it in the "I love Vass" thread. I'm just an anomaly because I own a lot of brands.

I really don’t understand the indifference to defects on a 400+ euro shoe here. For me, the reason I would buy a 400 euro shoe over a 200 euro shoe is the attention to the finer details… otherwise what are you paying for? I have tan 100 euro brogues that have better cuts on the wings and no staining, is that too much to ask for on a shoe that costs four times more?
 

ACLC

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And also to add - Vass are selling shoes as “B-grade” on their site with similar or less stains than my pair!
 

sforum1

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I really don’t understand the indifference to defects on a 400+ euro shoe here. For me, the reason I would buy a 400 euro shoe over a 200 euro shoe is the attention to the finer details… otherwise what are you paying for? I have tan 100 euro brogues that have better cuts on the wings and no staining, is that too much to ask for on a shoe that costs four times more?
If you truly care then you can care as much as you want and act accordingly. If someone wants to pay $600 and get a garbage experience and garbage shoes then it's their money and they can do so. If they want to pay $4000 they can do that too.

I ordered from Vass twice. The second time was because I wanted to give them a second chance. I should have not done that. And I never went back. And never will. And I don't need anyone's approval for that. Period. End of story.

As for the shoes, one pair I sold at 70% loss. The other went to the garbage where it belonged.
 

Blastwice

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Here's what I would do:
  • wear the shoes
  • put some cognac cream on them
  • fuggedaboutit
Great way to save on International shipping, for one.
 

Son Of Saphir

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...........
 
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