Sartorial Adventures in Vienna, Budapest & Warsaw

[Warning: picture heavy post!]

Thought I would share some some photos of my recent 12 day sartorial adventures in Central-Eastern Europe, mostly shoemakers:

We start with a certain Gerald Fischer in Vienna (Address: 1090 Wien, Liechtensteinstrasse 29):




Unfortunatley, I did not get to handle the shoes as they were closed for lunch. They have a website though, www.fischerschuhe.at Prices were listed:

Maßschuhe (bespoke?) : 450E
Holzgenagelta: 258E
Goodyear: 168E
Handmade belts: 64E


Next, Abba schuhe, apparently made in Budapest(?), which also stocks Vass:





Cannot remember the name of this glove shop, but it was located on Herrengasse (I think!).




Balint was found on Singerstrasse. Very sexy lasts..:







We head to Budapest now, with a random shoemaker of dubious quality - Toth Istvan. Claims to be made in 'various workshops in Hungary'. About 250Eur, claimed to be bespoke.. I did not bite.



And of course... how can we miss Vass? It was quite the adventure finding the shop without having the address to start with:
First I spotted a display in between 2 random shops:


Apparently, Vass is part of pop culture in Budapest:


The trail continues...show yourself already!


Seek and ye shall find:








Prices are confirmed at 115,000HFT for U and F lasts, with 5,000HFT more for lasted trees. Additional 20,000HFT charge for cordovan, if I don't remember wrongly. Both Evas in the shop speak english, but Eva Vass was quite obviously more fluent.

Found an interesting fur shop on 1052 Budapest V., Vaci utca 10 1/4 (tel: 317-35-58). "No synthetics!", claims the owner proudly. He says that his family has been in the business 3 generations making fur, leather and wool products by hand. Very friendly chap.






And we head north to Warsaw to seek out Jan Kielman, maker of shoes for Cpt. Charles de Gaulle!







And some random pictures since life isn't all about shoes..

Great photographs.


- B

Thanks for sharing these photos. The shoes along the river bank - is that an instillation made of bronze?

Great photos - hope you had a great time.

Thanks folks. I had great fun indeed.

HORNS - yes, I believe those are brass. They were found along the river on the Pest side of the river.

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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Great photographs.

Originally Posted by HORNS

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Thanks for sharing these photos.

+1

Originally Posted by gshen

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.... I did not bite.

Did you bite anywhere?
(apart from biting into the Currywurst. I had no idea, they sold them in either Vienna or Budapest.)

Nice photo-tour of your trip.

Originally Posted by bengal-stripe

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+1




Did you bite anywhere?
(apart from biting into the Currywurst. I had no idea, they sold them in either Vienna or Budapest.)

Yup... but you'll have to wait patiently with me to find out what i bit. The truth will be out in only a couple of weeks!!

That's a lot of bespoke shoemakers.

Is shoemaking a big industry in Vienna/Budapest?

Is Vass at the top of the heap among shoemakers there?

Wonderful thread. Any info on Kielman's pricing?

Originally Posted by gshen

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Next, Abba schuhe, apparently made in Budapest(?), which also stocks Vass:

I'll take the middle pair on the top, or the suede in the second photo. Thanks.

I've bought some shoes from that Abba shop before. Decent prices on Vass, but they don't carry the U or F lasts. They do have great shoe trees though.

Originally Posted by von Rothbart

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Any info on Kielman's pricing?

You'll find a pricelist on their website:
http://www.kielman.pl/en/index.php

The period of completing the order is 3 to 6 weeks. Should the need arise, we can shorten the period without additional charges. Prices of custom-made brogues of best Polish calfskin start at PLN 1,900. Calfskins imported from Italy, Austria, Germany and France require an extra charge of PLN 200 - 300, Cordovan - PLN 1,200, ostrich - PLN 700, alligator - PLN 2,400, shark and ray - PLN 900, snakes PLN - 400. Shoe soles made of the Rendenbach butt - PLN 200. Oak shoe trees - PLN 150, cedar wood shoe trees - PLN 190. Courier mail shipment in Poland - PLN 50, in Europe - PLN 150, other countries PLN - 200.

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At today's exchange rate 1,000 PLN = 345 USD

Did you finish the full wiener schnitzel at Figlmueller? Hope you walked down the street to Plachutta too

Originally Posted by JohnGalt

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Did you finish the full wiener schnitzel at Figlmueller?

Yes, and he was still hungry. Then he had the Currywurst!