Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[suitforcourt]

Ahhh, it's a new page! Thanks for the link!

Edit: What sort of place do I live in? A metro area of about 5 million and not one member.

I live in the largest metropolitan in Canada (Greater Toronto area). Not one SSIA member in the biggest city. None in my city (3rd largest by population).

I have to drive at least 1.5 hours to find a SSIA cobbler. Or mail them my shoes. Sad.

 

[wasmisterfu]

I'm fairly certain it was just 2008/2009. The black insoles didn't last long.

They didn’t last long... and for good reason: it cost them extra money to dye what is a fairly thick piece of leather and nobody thought it looked particularly good. There were also worries that it’d stain socks (not that I ever saw any reports confirming that fear).

One of the folks in the AE thread posted this interesting video taken by Steve from Bedo’s on a recent factory tour of the AE Port Washington factory (built by John Stollenwerk in 1984 after the original,smaller, facility burnt down due to a boiler room fire). What’s interesting is the mix of modern JIT manufacturing, high-tech automation (for example, they’ve introduced automated cutters) and century old sewing machines.

Appearently it was poron insole day (they use poron insoles for their speedwelt line - they’ve also used poron insoles for the Brooks Brothers AE models and was an option during the MTO days - I’m not a fan of poron because I don’t like synthetics and squishiness). When they get over to the lasting stations you can see the bottom side of a couple of Benchwelt (aka, heritage; aka, regular) AE’s, with the big old leather slab insole.

There’s some interesting discussion about lasting process differences between working with shell versus calf. I thought the post lasting remediation information about shell was very interesting and really highlights why they cost more (beyond just the Horween leather itself).

Over all it’s an interesting look at, what is today, by production, the largest GYW factory in the world (and one of the last dedicated solely to GYW), and one of the last large-scale shoe factories in the US. It’s also encouraging to see that Caleres has made recent investments in the facility. But what I find most interesting is how little has changed:


It’s also pretty amusing when Steve is poking around the bins of shoes awaiting recrafting.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Totally on point with my green dyed AE 5th Avenues. And matching tie and cuff links.

Patrick Bateman approved.

 

[Paul902]

Totally on point with my green dyed AE 5th Avenues. And matching tie and cuff links.

Boba Fett and green 6-eyelet cap toes...that's monster good!

 

[suitforcourt]

They didn’t last long... and for good reason: it cost them extra money to dye what is a fairly thick piece of leather and nobody thought it looked particularly good. There were also worries that it’d stain socks (not that I ever saw any reports confirming that fear).

One of the folks in the AE thread posted this interesting video taken by Steve from Bedo’s on a recent factory tour of the AE Port Washington factory (built by John Stollenwerk in 1984 after the original,smaller, facility burnt down due to a boiler room fire). What’s interesting is the mix of modern JIT manufacturing, high-tech automation (for example, they’ve introduced automated cutters) and century old sewing machines.

Appearently it was poron insole day (they use poron insoles for their speedwelt line - they’ve also used poron insoles for the Brooks Brothers AE models and was an option during the MTO days - I’m not a fan of poron because I don’t like synthetics and squishiness). When they get over to the lasting stations you can see the bottom side of a couple of Benchwelt (aka, heritage; aka, regular) AE’s, with the big old leather slab insole.

There’s some interesting discussion about lasting process differences between working with shell versus calf. I thought the post lasting remediation information about shell was very interesting and really highlights why they cost more (beyond just the Horween leather itself).

Over all it’s an interesting look at, what is today, by production, the largest GYW factory in the world (and one of the last dedicated solely to GYW), and one of the last large-scale shoe factories in the US. It’s also encouraging to see that Caleres has made recent investments in the facility. But what I find most interesting is how little has changed:


It’s also pretty amusing when Steve is poking around the bins of shoes awaiting recrafting.

You are one of the more knowledgeable members of this thread who is always willing to share information.

Or you're totally full of it, and pull it off so well, that you've fooled me the entire time.

Either way, carry on.

 

[wasmisterfu]

I live in the largest metropolitan in Canada (Greater Toronto area). Not one SSIA member in the biggest city. None in my city (3rd largest by population).

I have to drive at least 1.5 hours to find a SSIA cobbler. Or mail them my shoes. Sad.

You need to start shaming folks up there into wearing ecologically conscious foot wear that’s made of biodegradable materials and is recraftable, resolable, etc. If someone brings up shoes, I’m sure to lay on a whole bunch of virtue-signaling BS as part of the pitch for why they should A. Buy quality footwear not made by gulag labor and B. Consider vintage footwear.

I might be fighting a losing battle, but if I get one person to buy decent shoes that help support local cobblers and such (so I have somewhere to get my shoes fixed - ‘cause it’s really all about my agenda), then I’ve helped stem the tide. Plus, it’s WAY more amusing to sanctimoniously lecture someone about how their shoes are made by child labor out of materials that are destroying the earth, rather than only just telling them that their shoes look like cheap garbage. Point blank, I don’t want them to just feel bad about how they look, I want them to feel guilty for buying them.

And when they ask me how I justify driving a 556BHP V8 powered dinosaur inhaling, carbon footprint stomping automobile, I just point to the shoes and tell them how I thrifted them. See, I’m one of the good guys, honest.

 

[wasmisterfu]

You are one of the more knowledgeable members of this thread who is always willing to share information.

Or you're totally full of it, and pull it off so well, that you've fooled me the entire time.

Either way, carry on.

I’m totally full of crap. 99% of the time I’m just repeating what others have said to make myself sound like I know stuff. Oh, and a lot of google-fu. And browser bookmarks, I have a lot of those. I’m also an expert in cut&paste.

(Though I use DuckDuckGo now because google has so mangled their organic search results with all their algorithm silliness that if you google vintage AE you’ll get back some amazon ad for $99 fake vintage shoes).

 

[wasmisterfu]

I’m a member but my shop isn’t on it ??

Now that’s not right. I wonder how many entries are missing? @suitforcourt thinks there aren’t any cobblers in his city, but maybe their database is just hugely incomplete.

 

[smfdoc]

Well alright. I'm not sure if they are gator or croc, but they are real. I wish they had a leather sole, but that can be easily fixed. You can tell by the insole that these were produced before the black insole period.

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Not that it could not happen, but I have never seen any reference to Allen Edmonds using crocodile on any shoe. I have seen many references to alligator which was available for MTO shoes and also listed in the catalog at different times.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Not that it could not happen, but I have never seen any reference to Allen Edmonds using crocodile on any shoe. I have seen many references to alligator which was available for MTO shoes and also listed in the catalog at different times.

 

[madhat]

They didn’t last long... and for good reason: it cost them extra money to dye what is a fairly thick piece of leather and nobody thought it looked particularly good. There were also worries that it’d stain socks (not that I ever saw any reports confirming that fear).

One of the folks in the AE thread posted this interesting video taken by Steve from Bedo’s on a recent factory tour of the AE Port Washington factory (built by John Stollenwerk in 1984 after the original,smaller, facility burnt down due to a boiler room fire). What’s interesting is the mix of modern JIT manufacturing, high-tech automation (for example, they’ve introduced automated cutters) and century old sewing machines.

Appearently it was poron insole day (they use poron insoles for their speedwelt line - they’ve also used poron insoles for the Brooks Brothers AE models and was an option during the MTO days - I’m not a fan of poron because I don’t like synthetics and squishiness). When they get over to the lasting stations you can see the bottom side of a couple of Benchwelt (aka, heritage; aka, regular) AE’s, with the big old leather slab insole.

There’s some interesting discussion about lasting process differences between working with shell versus calf. I thought the post lasting remediation information about shell was very interesting and really highlights why they cost more (beyond just the Horween leather itself).

Over all it’s an interesting look at, what is today, by production, the largest GYW factory in the world (and one of the last dedicated solely to GYW), and one of the last large-scale shoe factories in the US. It’s also encouraging to see that Caleres has made recent investments in the facility. But what I find most interesting is how little has changed:


It’s also pretty amusing when Steve is poking around the bins of shoes awaiting recrafting.

pfft. They've got the Indy lining for sock staining! My navy unlined Cronmoks did a fair job as well. Admittedly, Alden's tan liners color my socks the first few wears as well.

Not that it could not happen, but I have never seen any reference to Allen Edmonds using crocodile on any shoe. I have seen many references to alligator which was available for MTO shoes and also listed in the catalog at different times.

As I recall, you found some info saying you could differentiate between croc and gator by the scales. A dot or something?

 

[suitforcourt]

Another great article about the demise of footwear manufacturing in US. This article is about Red Wing.

Red Wing, Iconic U.S. Shoe Maker, Labors Mightily to Bring Production Home

The Minnesota company had to rebuild vanishing skills and overcome high wages to introduce a new work boot.

www-wsj-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[friendlygoz]

Can you stretch a pair of 9C vintage. alligators to a 9D or is it foolish to try? Steve from Bedo’s says you can but you have to be very careful.

 

[CWOyaji]

As I recall, you found some info saying you could differentiate between croc and gator by the scales. A dot or something?

Crocodile will have a pore mark on each scale, like this.

 

[wasmisterfu]

The modern “gunboat” longwing:

Wimpy. Flaccid. WEAK.

Now THESE are GUNBOATS:

Look at how thick that sole is!

Huge welt!

Massive construction.

Leather everywhere, the way it should be.

The preceding ambiguously homoerotic shoe-Appreciation was brought to you by Hanover Shoe, Inc. Hanover: A MAN’s shoe.