Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[wasmisterfu]

Wow,I knew Church’s hasn’t been well regarded since the Prada regime,but I never checked it out since I’m always looking at vintage Church’s. I had assumed a general decline in quality,maybe a few “fashion forward “ additions but Damn!—that stuff you posted could be considered criminal,to do that to the reputations of the generations of highly respected craftsmen is sad indeed

It's borderline criminal.

Also, what kind of person buys a fake worn, vintage shoe? That's like Inception levels of disingenuousness and inauthenticity. Why not just buy an ACTUAL vintage shoe? Or wear your new shoes until they develop that worn patina? If you look at that shoe, they went to all the trouble of making it curled, for goodness sake, and making the suede matted and ruined along with the welt line and heel stack. A lot of effort to a make a fake used shoe?! What the hell is going on in the world?!?!?!? Seriously... WTF!???!? A 500 dollar shoe so trust fund fauxhemian douchebags can you can LOOK like they THRIFTED it!? THOSE SHOES ACTUALLY MAKE ME ANGRY!

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Allen Edmonds Hinsdale. These are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.
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Cool! Just back from Recrafting.

 

[Chawk806]

Allen Edmonds Hinsdale. These are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.
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Nice looking loafers!!

 

[Oshare]

From front porch to finished product in less than 24 hours. Florsheim Imperial 93605 from May 1966 (Code 'EG' and vcleat at heel edge). Details in my post a couple of pages back on Page 600.
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Nice! For the cracked and missing bits of piping along the topline, do you just use some leather dye to make it less noticeable or is there anything else you can do to repair it?

 

[suitforcourt]

Allen Edmonds Hinsdale. These are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.
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Have you ever recrafted shoes with an independent cobbler? If so, who do you use/prefer? And how would you compare cobbler Vs factory recraft?

I have only used Church's refurbishment service, in terms of manufacturing original. Never again. Way overpriced. I am lucky I have found a few very skilled cobblers in Canada who know what they are doing.

 

[M635Guy]

Allen Edmonds Hinsdale. These are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.
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Try the AExMD chukka. It's crazy

 

[wasmisterfu]

finally finished my contest pair, 1960s Dack's whole cut brown water bison oxfords View attachment 1014846 View attachment 1014848 View attachment 1014849

I’m a sucker for wholecuts, and those are beautiful shoes.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Allen Edmonds Hinsdale. These are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.
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Wow, they did an excellent job on the recraft. Very tight outsole stitch. That’s a fantastic pair of loafers.

 

[suitforcourt]

Wow, they did an excellent job on the recraft. Very tight outsole stitch. That’s a fantastic pair of loafers.

I have seen some horrendous results from AE's recraft service via the Facebook AE group.

But I do agree this pair was done properly.

 

[MJMcRibb]

I have seen some horrendous results from AE's recraft service via the Facebook AE group.

But I do agree this pair was done properly.

They replaced some missing stitching on a pair of shell Leeds I sent in a while back and it was terribly done.

 

[CWOyaji]

I couldn't be happier with them, really. I got them with the recraft already done and no wear on them at all.

 

[wasmisterfu]

I have seen some horrendous results from AE's recraft service via the Facebook AE group.

But I do agree this pair was done properly.

They’ve very recently (from what I’ve seen), clamped down on recraft quality issues pretty hard. One of the big changes, for example, is they are matching the outsole stitching density to original spec, something they hadn’t been doing for a long time.

 

[suitforcourt]

They’ve very recently (from what I’ve seen), clamped down on recraft quality issues pretty hard. One of the big changes, for example, is they are matching the outsole stitching density to original spec, something they hadn’t been doing for a long time.

If things turn around, I might try them. Otherwise my roster of cobblers is decent.

It takes me about 10 years to wear out the soles. Heels usually half that time. So I'd rather the recraft be done properly even if it costs a little more.

 

[wasmisterfu]

If things turn around, I might try them. Otherwise my roster of cobblers is decent.

It takes me about 10 years to wear out the soles. Heels usually half that time. So I'd rather the recraft be done properly even if it costs a little more.

IMHO, you only send them back to the factory for the whole shebang: full relasting for welt replacement, refinishing and so forth. For soles I’ll go to my cobbler. If I’ve got something really tricky such as vintage non-AE or I want a vintage correct mongo-soles and contrast stitch, I’d go to B.Nelson over on 55th.

 

[tocohillsguy]

So the Ebay sourced Stuart McGuire shell PTBs arrived today. Although they fit TTS, they are significantly wider than my Leeds of the same size. I suspect the SM last is closer to Alden’s barrie last. The SMs are super dark; almost black. Probably dyed by SM. They also look like an acrylic finish was applied, much like Alden. I'm guessing SM was trying to replicate Alden's PTB. I haven't tried to strip or clean them inasmuch as I haven't decided if I'm going to keep them. Looks like the welt is some plastic, man made material. Here's a picture next to my AE Leeds that need to be conditioned and shined.