Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[jpm1]

Generally that seems to jive; where I’ve seen things get weird though, is the exotic materials, sometimes those numbers have no relation to an existing style.

The other thing that I’ve seen used, with only partial consistency, is a leading prefix before the style code. For example “1 5705”; do you know what these prefix numbers indicate?

Have not seen that before - very interesting. The black calf sku was chosen as default for smu I assume because every pattern was made in black calf at one time or another.

Best guess is the prefix relates to maybe which production line they were made? The production case numbers contain more information including which personnel worked on the shoe I believe but I’m unsure how to translate those codes.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Good call. I hadn’t considered the wholesale account specials.

Heres a pair from ‘88 that I have been looking at:

Allen Edmonds Wingtip Tassel Loafers Men's Casual Dress Shoes Black Size 12C | eBay

These shoes shows signs of normal wear but do not contain any major issues or blemishes.

rover.ebay.com

Style number: 0110. No model name, made in 1988. There was no zero last back then so likely another example of these specials?

Those are kinda neat, if you like best-loafers. It’s a store special, but they did have a 0-last (from the fall 88 catalog):

(Sorry for the giant last picture, imgur scaled it weirdly.)

 

[jpm1]

Those are kinda neat, if you like best-loafers. It’s a store special, but they did have a 0-last (from the fall 88 catalog):

(Sorry for the giant last picture, imgur scaled it weirdly.)

Very cool. I didn’t know that. The full Brogue short wing tassel is a unique pattern. If they were any other color they’d already be on their way to me. Still might happen...

 

[madhat]

Good call. I hadn’t considered the wholesale account specials.

Heres a pair from ‘88 that I have been looking at:

Allen Edmonds Wingtip Tassel Loafers Men's Casual Dress Shoes Black Size 12C | eBay

These shoes shows signs of normal wear but do not contain any major issues or blemishes.

rover.ebay.com

Style number: 0110. No model name, made in 1988. There was no zero last back then so likely another example of these specials?

Those are kinda neat, if you like best-loafers. It’s a store special, but they did have a 0-last (from the fall 88 catalog):

(Sorry for the giant last picture, imgur scaled it weirdly.)

I know late 80s/early 90s models starting with a 0 usually meant MTO. I had a pair of MTO nubuck Sanfords from that era.
But obviously misterfu decoded the last digit.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Have not seen that before - very interesting. The black calf sku was chosen as default for smu I assume because every pattern was made in black calf at one time or another.

Best guess is the prefix relates to maybe which production line they were made? The production case numbers contain more information including which personnel worked on the shoe I believe but I’m unsure how to translate those codes.

I don’t think it’s a production line prefix, IMHO. I think it might indicate single customer versus group customer MTO, that sort of thing. I’m only guess though.

One other interesting thing, is 70’s and early 80’s special orders sometimes only had a three digit style code, like these insanely beautiful never worn MacNeils, from 1975, owned by @davidVC :

They’re clearly labeled MacNeil, but they have no corresponding 1975 catalog listing and the style number is just 957.

 

[happypebble]

Vintage City Club monkstraps for the 4th of July weekend. I don't think the materials are all that great quality, and the toe is a little more square than I'd normally tolerate, but I keep coming back to these because they're just stupid comfortable. "12E"

 

[jpm1]

I don’t think it’s a production line prefix, IMHO. I think it might indicate single customer versus group customer MTO, that sort of thing. I’m only guess though.

One other interesting thing, is 70’s and early 80’s special orders sometimes only had a three digit style code, like these insanely beautiful never worn MacNeils, from 1975, owned by @davidVC :

They’re clearly labeled MacNeil, but they have no corresponding 1975 catalog listing and the style number is just 957.

These MacNeils are incredible.

 

[suitforcourt]

Is this real?!?

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[wasmisterfu]

Vintage City Club monkstraps for the 4th of July weekend. I don't think the materials are all that great quality, and the toe is a little more square than I'd normally tolerate, but I keep coming back to these because they're just stupid comfortable. "12E" View attachment 1418678

Well, they’re clearly summer-of-love to disco-era square toe, not 90’s-2000’s pilgrim square toe, as there was absolutely fashion inspiration behind those. So they are kinda retro-chic with that whole monk-strappy thing going on. Not pretty, but kinda cool with jeans.

 

[wasmisterfu]

These MacNeils are incredible.

Yeah, if they were in my size, I’d totally have to burglarize @davidVC’s home. I’d get immediately caught because I’d only take shoes, but I’d stash them somewhere, like an airport locker, like you see in all the heist and spy movies. That way I could retrieve my loot later, after @suitforcourt works a deal to get me a minimal prison sentence. Then they would be mine, all mine.

 

[jpm1]

Yeah, if they were in my size, I’d totally have to burglarize @davidVC’s home. I’d get immediately caught because I’d only take shoes, but I’d stash them somewhere, like an airport locker, like you see in all the heist and spy movies. That way I could retrieve my loot later, after @suitforcourt works a deal to get me a minimal prison sentence. Then they would be mine, all mine.

Might be worth the risk lol

 

[happypebble]

Well, they’re clearly summer-of-love to disco-era square toe, not 90’s-2000’s pilgrim square toe, as there was absolutely fashion inspiration behind those. So they are kinda retro-chic with that whole monk-strappy thing going on. Not pretty, but kinda cool with jeans.

Agreed. Not the greatest styling ever, but they fit well, and they were just $25 new old stock, never worn, so I can't complain, and they come up in my rotation more than you'd expect since they feel good on my feet. I'd love to be able to get a production date; the original box they came in makes me think early to mid Seventies. Anybody know when the City Club brand disappeared?

 

[wasmisterfu]

Might be worth the risk lol

If they were my size, you’d already have read the strange story of “The Shoe Burglar”, all about how strange obsessive hobbies can lead to extreme behavior.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Agreed. Not the greatest styling ever, but they fit well, and they were just $25 new old stock, never worn, so I can't complain, and they come up in my rotation more than you'd expect since they feel good on my feet. I'd love to be able to get a production date; the original box they came in makes me think early to mid Seventies. Anybody know when the City Club brand disappeared?

The best (though certainly not well cited) history of the brand, also positions the brand a little too-high on the quality tree, IMHO.

HISTORY — City Club Shoes

www.cityclubshoes.com

While the brand was popular, especially in the 50’s, it was essentially a “poor-man’s Florsheim”. They looked nice, but they were full of cost-cutting tricks that would later be employed all over the industry. These late 50’s examples were well executed externally, but the 1/2 cost differential between these City-Club’s and their ISC Florsheim brethren we’re achieved largely through material differences and cost-cutting where it wasn’t immediately obvious.

Paperboard insoles, bonded leather lining bits, really shoddy interior work:

Plus, there’s other strangeness, like a fake welt extension (these are 270 welted shoes, with a fake welt extension around the heel to make them look like a 360). Oh, and they’re an early version of PU coated CG, and from what I can tell, the finish chips off easily probably due to age and not having the technology sorted out.

ISC churned out a bazillion of these things during their heyday, yet you rarely see examples, especially examples with wear. I’m pretty sure these things were fully intended to have a limited lifespan.

 

[woofmang]

Vintage City Club monkstraps for the 4th of July weekend. I don't think the materials are all that great quality, and the toe is a little more square than I'd normally tolerate, but I keep coming back to these because they're just stupid comfortable. "12E" View attachment 1418678

I'm just trying to figure out what that background is; it does seem to go with the 70s vibe of the shoes, though...