New American-made Bass Weejuns, anybody?

Originally Posted by Sprezzatura2010

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A Bass Weejun at a Weston 180 price? No thank you.

A new place of manufacture does not indicate better construction. See http://nymag.com/guides/everything/shoes/27345/

And those wrong-side up shell ones with the Horween stamp? I'd wear flip flops first!

I think that the Weston loafers are up past $625 now, while I would expect the Bass Weejuns to be less than half of that.

A Quoddy blucher or moc (they don't make pennies) would be in the low $200s, and the Quoddys are indeed, made with better materials (Horween Chromexcel leather) than the generic offshore Bass project.

I'm not sure that anyone knows yet what goes into the new Maine Weejuns, but people will get to compare directly shortly.

- B

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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A Quoddy blucher or moc (they don't make pennies) would be in the low $200s, and the Quoddys are indeed, made with better materials (Horween Chromexcel leather) than the generic offshore Bass project. I'm not sure that anyone knows yet what goes into the new Maine Weejuns, but people will get to compare directly shortly.
Quoddy can make penny loafers with either a boat shoe or camp sole. O'Connell's even has some for sale on their site now. I'm not about to saw any of mine in half to find out, but I'm pretty sure all of these types of shoes are made with just a regular moccasin welt.

Originally Posted by robin

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Quoddy can make penny loafers with either a boat shoe or camp sole. O'Connell's even has some for sale on their site now.

I'm not about to saw any of mine in half to find out, but I'm pretty sure all of these types of shoes are made with just a regular moccasin welt.

Here's the one with the boat sole:



- B

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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I think that the Weston loafers are up past $625 now, while I would expect the Bass Weejuns to be less than half of that.

Tellingly, I think, nothing has been written that the American-made Weejuns will be made to a higher standard than the current ones. Only that they will be stamped "made in the USA." Unless the construction is much, much better than the current ones, the Westons are still a better value even at full price.

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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I'm not sure that anyone knows yet what goes into the new Maine Weejuns, but people will get to compare directly shortly.

At the prices they seem to be expecting to fetch (in this economy, no less) I am not sure many will be interested in comparing them. Maybe I am wrong, though.

Originally Posted by JSC4President

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I like the inside-out Shell Cordovan ones.... those are cool (the loafers to the right of the blue suede)

But these shoes are expensive!


http://acontinuouslean.files.wordpre...ry_bass_18.jpg

I guess the Horween is stamped on the outside of the shoe, rather than the inside.

Originally Posted by JSC4President

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I do not believe the Gilman is made in the USA.

Point? I want to know what tangible qualities make these worth $250++++ more than my Gilmans. I know the Gilmans are made from rather ****** leather, but its not so ****** as to justify paying a ton more for something unless it has substantially better appearance or quality attributes IMO. I'm not seeing any of those here yet...

Originally Posted by The Louche

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Point? I want to know what tangible qualities make these worth $250++++ more than my Gilmans. I know the Gilmans are made from rather ****** leather, but its not so ****** as to justify paying a ton more for something unless it has substantially better appearance or quality attributes IMO. I'm not seeing any of those here yet...

I don't know much about the new Weejuns but, other than construction, what's more important to a shoe's quality than its leather? These days, $300 is the starting price for a pair of Goodyear-welted shoes in decent, ageable leather. I don't know if the new Weejuns have either of those things, but the price would be right if they did.

You might as well complain that a $400 pair of Aldens isn't worth $250 more than a paiir of Rockports because, really, the leather is just nicer.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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I don't know much about the new Weejuns but, other than construction, what's more important to a shoe's quality than its leather? These days, $300 is the starting price for a pair of Goodyear-welted shoes in decent, ageable leather. I don't know if the new Weejuns have either of those things, but the price would be right if they did.

You might as well complain that a $400 pair of Aldens isn't worth $250 more than a paiir of Rockports because, really, the leather is just nicer.

where the hell are you buying $150 rockports?

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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where the hell are you buying $150 rockports?

I pulled that out of ******. They cost about that much back in high school, so I assumed time and inflation had stopped.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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I pulled that out of ******. They cost about that much back in high school, so I assumed time and inflation had stopped.
$150 max, for the nicer ones. $130 They'll probably do you better then a pair of J&M's......but who cares, wearing these is like playing in the minors. Pre style forum i bought a few pair and they were about $80.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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I don't know much about the new Weejuns but, other than construction, what's more important to a shoe's quality than its leather? These days, $300 is the starting price for a pair of Goodyear-welted shoes in decent, ageable leather. I don't know if the new Weejuns have either of those things, but the price would be right if they did.

You might as well complain that a $400 pair of Aldens isn't worth $250 more than a paiir of Rockports because, really, the leather is just nicer.


I guess this is a valid point. Just the same as its valid to spend $150+ in premiums for cordovan...

Polo, Paul Stuart, Bass WeeJun's "Jeffrey" and McNairy "WeeJuns" are made in Bangor/Brewer Maine by Alden's subsidary Highland Shoe. Highland was previously Ansewn. Ansewn made for P.S., Cole-Haan and Polo from the '80s until its demise in about 2003. www.highlandshoe.com Highland has not changed its web page in over two years. They probably have no urgent need to bother. They've more or less a monopoly on their specialty.

The $300 range is what the world market will apparently bear for New England hand-sewn mocs. Japanese footwear fetishists probably account for a large chunk of production. Quoddy apparently doesn't use leather soles and leather/neoprene heels. When enough Japanese discover Russell Mocs a similar situation will ensue. Sebago, Sperry, etc. missed the boat, or were the indirect causes of the current premium on Maine hand-sewns. Demand/supply, simple.

The same quality can be had from www.samello.com.br , but without the perceived panache of genuine Maine hand-sewns.

This too shall pass.