Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[JFWR]

I really despise you guys with shorter, narrower feet. My big ass fat feet make vintager so hard.

Team 11.5 EEE is like being on the Jets of Vintage Shoes. :/

 

[suitforcourt]

Continuing with the acquisition of Wisconsin made shoes,NOS Mason Exec Imperials from Chippewa Falls found on David’s watch list. I’m guessing from the 80’s-quality reminds me of Dexter,mid grade but well made and solid. View attachment 1743067 View attachment 1743068 View attachment 1743069 View attachment 1743070

One of my first vintage used pairs. And still one of my favourites. I agree quality is tier 2 and same league as Dexter or Stuart McGuire.

Great pick up.

 

[Silver13gt]

Some conditioning and shine done on my Florsheim NST.

 

[Silver13gt]

Found this shoe on the vcleat watchlist, vintage Hanover PTB in brown shell. Talked to someone that worked for Hanover and he said he never saw a brown shell model from them, these are also not stamped as LB Shepard. Took a chance for $85, it’s on the way. I emailed David from vcleat and he said to buy, will see.

 

[mormonopoly]

pair of tan walk•over custom grade oxfords with cap toes.

1950s-1970s, so if anybody could help date them or even identify the model, i'd be much obliged. bought them sometime before or in early 2018 from a british seller, total with shipping was close to 50 € (good times).

what really hooked me was the slightly chiseled toe, i've never seen anything like it with shoes of such vintage. slight cracking around the vamp area, but nothing lasts forever, they're still in ace condition for their age and the way i rocked them at a wedding, even with original soles.

Boy those are nice, look how tight that welt stitching is. I think they’re actually earlier than the range you had guessed, more 1940s, possibly late 30s even. I would call that a French toe, if you’re looking for a search term to find similar pairs.

 

[happypebble]

And make sure you flag all 13A’s for me. I’m not on eBay as much as I used to be, but am still looking for unicorns.

Tip: if you like the Foot-So-Port brand, there are a whole bunch of their shoes on eBay in sizes 13A, 13AAA, I think I even saw a 4A in there somewhere. FSP's "Supreme" line of dress shoes is really good, I have three or four pairs of those and wish I had more.

 

[_cameosis_]

Boy those are nice, look how tight that welt stitching is. I think they’re actually earlier than the range you had guessed, more 1940s, possibly late 30s even. I would call that a French toe, if you’re looking for a search term to find similar pairs.

perfect, thanks for the heads up.
i wanted to be conservative with the time period, but i did have a hunch that they could be true old school. the welt stitching is gangster.
they also cemented a thin leather sole on top of the welted one as a protective layer.

not certain if it's worth contacting the current brand owners of walk•over and inquire about the logo on the insole, given that i'm in germany.

i found references to johnsonian guide-step cap toes in the meanwhile, confirming your assumption (1940s shoes), same toe style:

classic shoes for men

nos w/ box

the closest i found is a model called »broadway«, albeit the toe looks a bit more traditional, could be the perspective of the image on the flyer (also 1940s):

super 8 shoes

 

[Thomas Crown]

One of my first vintage used pairs. And still one of my favourites. I agree quality is tier 2 and same league as Dexter or Stuart McGuire.

Great pick up.

obviuosly nowhere near the quality of Florsheim but $60 as opposed to $600 for NOS seemed pretty nice!

 

[Quantum17]

Sharing a couple of new pairs that I am truly thrilled to add to my vintage shoe collection courtesy of my friend & esteemed vintage shoe expert, @Jiqea. Many thanks, sir! I have been searching for these pairs for a VERY long time.

The cap toe model is the John McHale "Viking" on the bomber last. This is a phenomenal pair of shoes that I have enjoyed wearing around town all day today. These are from the early 60s, if my recollection is correct.

The second pair is the Dack's U-Wing. Much like the McHale pair, I have been searching high and low for a pair of these for a super long time and am really glad to add these to my rotation as well. This pair is from the late 50s or early 60s.

I could not ask for a better start to 2022's shoe shenanigans.

View attachment 1742954 View attachment 1742955 View attachment 1742956 View attachment 1742957 View attachment 1742958

wow wow... WOW ?

 

[suitforcourt]

obviuosly nowhere near the quality of Florsheim but $60 as opposed to $600 for NOS seemed pretty nice!

Agree. And still better than most current shoes we find at malls.

 

[Thomas Crown]

Agree. And still better than most current shoes we find at malls.

Absolutely. Like the Dexters,they have synthetic welt and pretty stiff leather. They are half leather lined as well. These attributes lower the production cost but don’t affect the durability,especially since they aren’t sacrificing the construction quality. These are the kind of shoes that would have been perfect for every day wear and tear when regular guys all wore Goodyear welted shoes.

 

[friendlygoz]

Mid-1980s AE sharkskin Warton today.

 

[eTrojan]

Vintage violation. Decided to join in on Tassel Tuesday. Grabbed the Alden shell tassel loafers. (Cue @wasmisterfu saying “tassel loafer is best loafer”). Crazy day. Didn’t have time to prep them for their closeup. So no shiny shiny.

 

[JFWR]

How I feel when I find a pair of vintage shoes in 11.5/12 eee:

How I feel almost every other day not being able to find vintage shoes in 11.5/12 eee:

 

[smfdoc]

How I feel when I find a pair of vintage shoes in 11.5/12 eee:

How I feel almost every other day not being able to find vintage shoes in 11.5/12 eee:

Happy wingtip Wednesday. Sorry my friend, but you are going to have a LOT of dropped pass days. As a wearer of the same size, I can sympathize. BUT, some days you will catch the pass. Today is such a day as this the maiden wearing of these 12EEE Florsheims I picked up. I have decided to strip them and dye them as Chestnut Florsheims thanks to @Quantum17 who is mailing me some genuine Chestnut Florsheims for color comparisons since I have never seen a pair in real life.