Zee's Leatherware & Shoe Co.

this is very interesting, i have been visiting peter lee and never notice this shop. I am actually considering buying a pair of church's or C&J oxford for work, should i give Zee a shot? how is the quality/price compared to those british brands, are Zee's the better bang for the buck? i have never tried bespoke shoes... any advice appreciated

Originally Posted by wizards11

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this is very interesting, i have been visiting peter lee and never notice this shop. I am actually considering buying a pair of church's or C&J oxford for work, should i give Zee a shot? how is the quality/price compared to those british brands, are Zee's the better bang for the buck? i have never tried bespoke shoes... any advice appreciated

The really nice thing about Zee's is that he will tailor a shoe to your foot and that it is relatively inexpensive in comparison to other higher end brands. I have a difficult foot to fit (I have a wide toe box and most of the lasts just dont work on the shoes I like). The leather that Zee's uses isn't quite as nice as whay you may find from the higher end shoemakers, but they look and feel great and he is extremely flexible with his shoe designs. Personally, I had him put a little more padding around my left ankle due to surgery that I had there a few years back and alter one of the medallion designs on the samples. I bought 2 pairs of shoes, 2 shoe trees and 2 belts made with the same leather as my shoes for $500 US. I think the shoes themselves were around $185 per pair.

Originally Posted by Carbonless

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Nice shoes!

I bought a couple of pairs from Zee's last week and love them. I just emailed him about whether he could reproduce the Barker Black Archdale. He said that he could, but after seeing your pick of the Medallion I am thinking that he may not want to replicate it too precise or else be guilty of forging BB material. Did he show you the correct BB medallion when he did yours? If so, I'm wondering why he didn't come a little closer to the design.

Thanks!

I'm not sure if it's matter of him not wanting to be forge BB material or simply not being able to. I didn't have to show him a BB medallion cause he had a pair of BB Archdales in the shop when I was in! Someone must have left his shoe there to replicate. Well, I must say my medallion looks nothing like the BB medallion - doesn't look like a skull at all too me. Can't describe what it looks like but still love 'em. If you do go ahead, let me know if his BB medallion skills have improved!

Originally Posted by wizards11

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this is very interesting, i have been visiting peter lee and never notice this shop. I am actually considering buying a pair of church's or C&J oxford for work, should i give Zee a shot? how is the quality/price compared to those british brands, are Zee's the better bang for the buck? i have never tried bespoke shoes... any advice appreciated

Yes. Go for it. But I suggest doing extensive research and knowing what you want before going to Zee's. I took the advice of the members here and brought pictures. If not, you could always use his EG catalogue

Originally Posted by wizards11

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this is very interesting, i have been visiting peter lee and never notice this shop. I am actually considering buying a pair of church's or C&J oxford for work, should i give Zee a shot? how is the quality/price compared to those british brands, are Zee's the better bang for the buck? i have never tried bespoke shoes... any advice appreciated
If you're a fundamental investment manager, one of the stock screening is P/E, or Price-to-earnings ratio. The lower the price, the cheaper, or more value the stock. Zee's has a very low P/E ratio... its value for money. If you don't like his EG, you can also look at some Japanese LAST magazine shoes... its more 'out there' fashionable. Lots of limitations at zees though, no wholecut? no dainite soles...

Originally Posted by ginlimetonic

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If you're a fundamental investment manager, one of the stock screening is P/E, or Price-to-earnings ratio. The lower the price, the cheaper, or more value the stock.

Zee's has a very low P/E ratio... its value for money. If you don't like his EG, you can also look at some Japanese LAST magazine shoes... its more 'out there' fashionable.

Lots of limitations at zees though, no wholecut? no dainite soles...

They do wholecut, just not "seamless" wholecut.
No dainite sole? Easy, just bring your own dainite sole to them.

nvmd

Originally Posted by Fishball

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They do wholecut, just not "seamless" wholecut.
No dainite sole? Easy, just bring your own dainite sole to them.

where is one able to source 1 or 2 dainite soles - i.e. not wholesale order??

I couldn't agree more. I had 2 pairs made last year. They are fairly good value 'beater' shoes, but I quickly found for myself that once you get used to the comfort of brands such as C & J or Grenson, the Zee's shoes tend to feel pretty 'hard' on the feet.

I would say Zee's is an option if you have something definite in mind and want to experiment with a particular design that cannot be found on the market. Like other posters have mentioned, the Zee brothers (particularly the younger one who is more comfortable in English) are generally willing to work with customers on what they want, within limits. Never hurts to bring lots of pictures though, or better yet, an actual shoe sample.

Originally Posted by ginlimetonic

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If you're a fundamental investment manager, one of the stock screening is P/E, or Price-to-earnings ratio. The lower the price, the cheaper, or more value the stock.

Zee's has a very low P/E ratio... its value for money. If you don't like his EG, you can also look at some Japanese LAST magazine shoes... its more 'out there' fashionable.

Lots of limitations at zees though, no wholecut? no dainite soles...

Originally Posted by rickimky

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Wearing my new Zees to work.

They ended up too squarish for my liking. Would've preferred them to be more elongated with a sharper/sleeker look. Guess it's my fault as I got everything ordered in a rush (in and out of the store in 10 minutes).

Medallion is Zee's take on the Barker Black Medallion

He had a BB Spec lying around in the shop and asked me if I wanted to copy that. I thought, why not?

But overall good experience with Zee's. Was quite amused when Zee asked if I wanted to see pictures. I was expecting photos of shoes previously made. But instead, he passed me the Edward Green catalogue.

These look good. They don't look too squarish to me.

Originally Posted by neyus

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These look good. They don't look too squarish to me.

Thanks neyus.

I'm enjoying them but they're starting to feel a tad too snug. but then I like to wiggle my toes too so I probably should've asked for a roomier toe box. thinking of emailing zee to make a pair but still can't decide what.

Originally Posted by rickimky

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Thanks neyus.

I'm enjoying them but they're starting to feel a tad too snug. but then I like to wiggle my toes too so I probably should've asked for a roomier toe box. thinking of emailing zee to make a pair but still can't decide what.

Perhaps try and avoid that mythical 'box toe' last, and go with elongating the front of the shoe, so that you have more space in your toe area as well as tapering to a nice rounded last shape.

stopped by the shop and found out that one of the brothers passed away recently. Anyone know anything about this?

Originally Posted by ginlimetonic

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Perhaps try and avoid that mythical 'box toe' last, and go with elongating the front of the shoe, so that you have more space in your toe area as well as tapering to a nice rounded last shape.

Ah yes that's exactly what I'll be asking for. I probably didn't even know what I meant when I said roomier toebox

and I certainly hope the rumour isn't true

I've had two pairs made at Zees.
The first were a pair of brogues that needed to be taken back and stretched and softened. They were very hard on the feet. They are better but still not what I would call comfortable.

The second were a pair of 'Gucci' type slip ons in chocolate suede. Lovely looking things but give me terrible blisters if I need to do any real walking. This was fine on holidays recently when I jumped out of cars and walked to restaurants etc but back in HK and walking from mid levels to the ferry I had blisters forming after about 10 minutes. I've tried my orthotics but they wont fit so these look like going back to Zees too.

No doubt Mr Zee will happily remedy the problem but the whole point of made to measure shoes is the comfort/good fit. My experience has been that Zees don't use anywhere near enough padding and thus the awful discomfort. Has anybody else encountered these problems with Zees?