Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[suitforcourt]

E-thrifted these bad boys from vcleat.com list.

These are mystery shell Florsheim PTBs. A cobbler dyed them chocolate brown, and rebuilt with house leather soles, crespino sole protectors, and SViG heels. The shoes are really comfortable.

Given the lockdown, I've pulled out all of my jeans. Man, some pairs I've had since my teens to 20s, so totally vintage. Back then, I was heavier and preferred loose fit or comfort fit jeans. These days, stepped up to some nicer brands with slimmer fits.

 

[meister]

This is probably true. I’m waiting on my first order from John Doe, but thus far the customer service has been excellent, & they already buy a lot of leather from Horween. Unclear if they’d be willing to work with shell, but if they are they seem like the kind of firm that’d whip up a pattern for 6-10 people at a modest premium.

There was also this exciting GMTthat was being organized over on Reddit for ZEB shoes. It fell through last year. Having messaged back and fourth with Bojan (Zeb’s proprietor) on Instagram in the past, he’s expressed an interest in launching a “classic longwing model in the near future” (exact quote).

From Reddit, his pricing seems reasonable, and he’s well regarded in the r/goodyearwelt crowd.

“300 Euros to cover the cost for making the pattern [and it seems prototype]... Prices (shipping cost NOT included): €410 for calf leather €390 for suede €430 for Maryam tannery horsehide €610 for Horween shell cordovan.”

This guy’s Instagram is ? and I *really* want a pair of shell wholecut slippers from him eventually. Never personally seen his work though.

That said, John Doe seem like a lovely small business and have very affordable pricing to boot.

Zeb seems to work off basically two lasts.

 

[meister]

Speaking of Footjoy and Spades:

I found these a few weeks ago. The thrift store is bad about pricing their shoes a little high. These were $25. They were right next to a pair of $25 Kenneth Coles. As you can imagine, I passed on the Coles.

But, I snagged these vintage Footjoy Spade

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10.5. They are a little tight in an odd way.
Maybe the shape of the last just fits me oddly.

Great picture of Ronald Reagan. not wanting to start a whole thing, I’m just a big fan of his.

Might be made on the Rex last. A little stretch could fix that problem.

 

[Oshare]

Bostonian Crown Windows shell LWBs at the office on Monday.

Most people are expecting the Japanese Prime Minister to declare an emergency situation today. And while the government doesn't have the power to put the country into full lockdown (apparently a lot of gov't power was curtailed after WWII), they will probably "ask" people to do the equivalent.

Many businesses will comply, so I may be working from home more frequently over the coming weeks.

 

[Pedlar]

Dack’s today

 

[smfdoc]

I think I've cleaned up these FootJoy short wings to my liking, though I might give them a bit more shine with some clear polish.

Here is the eBay listing picture:

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And how they looked when starting:

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After. I didn't have any black laces in my supply, so I put in green ones.

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There are three lines of text on the sole.
"FootJoy"
(Something I can't quite make out)
"Discontinued"

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Wore them to work. We were recently permitted to wear jeans daily, which is nice.

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I noticed the bottle of VSC in the one shot. This is the 3 OZ bottle that sells for $11. Fans of VSC should look for the 32oz can that is on sale for $26. I bought mine 4 years ago and I am still using it. Link.

 

[mormonopoly]

I keep looking at this pair on eBay. The construction is unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. They look like they were made for a shoemaking competition more than for actual sale to the public. https://m.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Men-...e&pageci=8d4b53b7-a4cb-4af9-9ad7-ed1f01c53778

 

[Nealjpage]

I keep looking at this pair on eBay. The construction is unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. They look like they were made for a shoemaking competition more than for actual sale to the public. https://m.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Men-...e&pageci=8d4b53b7-a4cb-4af9-9ad7-ed1f01c53778

They almost look like Frankenstein's shoes.

 

[friendlygoz]

Posted these recently but here they are again for @suitforcourt ’s birthday.

 

[Pedlar]

I keep looking at this pair on eBay. The construction is unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. They look like they were made for a shoemaking competition more than for actual sale to the public. https://m.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Men-...e&pageci=8d4b53b7-a4cb-4af9-9ad7-ed1f01c53778

They’ve got the Grenson triple-welt thing going on...

 

[FeloniusMonk]

Might be made on the Rex last. A little stretch could fix that problem.

Yes, they're definitely on the Rex last. It's printed on the insole of my pair.

 

[Nealjpage]

I noticed the bottle of VSC in the one shot. This is the 3 OZ bottle that sells for $11. Fans of VSC should look for the 32oz can that is on sale for $26. I bought mine 4 years ago and I am still using it. Link.

I bought the small bottle from eBay for about $9. I wanted to try it before buying a big can.

 

[CWOyaji]

Incoming shell for personal...

These look like either model 92612 or 92649, but have a customer's name in them and are NOS. We shall see.

 

[Oshare]

Posted these recently but here they are again for @suitforcourt ’s birthday. View attachment 1367209

Darnit. I just drooled on my phone.

 

[Rich G]

I keep looking at this pair on eBay. The construction is unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. They look like they were made for a shoemaking competition more than for actual sale to the public. https://m.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Men-...e&pageci=8d4b53b7-a4cb-4af9-9ad7-ed1f01c53778

Interesting. Obviously a lot of work went into those. But the inside of the shoe looks well used for something listed as NOS.