Perry Ercolino For J Peterman

Over the years there has been sporadic mention here of the shoemaker Perry Ercolino. immsmc, at least a few satisfied bespoke customers have posted about their (overwhelmingly positive) experiences and the far-too-elusive shoefan once reported snagging a pair of rtw shoes at a Nordstrom Rack. But I had never seen a pair of Ercolino shoes until I stumbled on this pair of NOS a couple of weeks ago:




For a different color perspective here's how they look against vintage pink Gucci (just messin' with some of all y'all, you know who you are):





Looks to be exactly the same shoe as the Inverness model on the Perry Ercolino site: www.perryercolino.com/inverness.php
I've really been wanting a new sturdy country style shoe for fall and these (with their Dainite sole and fudge welt) certainly fit the bill. They are quite nice and I like them quite a bit, but I can't see laying out anything like the money Ercolino seems to be asking for them. Anybody have any idea how much these were at J Peterman? I would put them on perhaps the same level as really nice C&J, so while not the be-all and end-all nothing to sneeze at either. Note the uniform curvature of the uppers, the complete absence of bulges, and the excellent pattern matching on the pebble grain.

I remember going to a Peterman warehouse sale--an actual sale at their warehouse--when I was just out of grad school. There were some nice shoes that I looked at (probably not those Ercolinos), but I knew nothing of fine shoes at the time and had no money. Ah well.

Nice find, as always, pejsek.

If you had said those were Cole Hahn, or Abercrombie & Fitch, or EG, or Alden, or whatever, I'd probably believe you. Why no pictures of the soles?

Originally Posted by Baron

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Why no pictures of the soles?

It's just a plain old Dainite sole--not much to see.
One thing that is a bit interesting (and I had meant to include this in my initial post) is that there is no country of origin designation on the shoes. There are some handwritten numbers presumably referring to last, size, style, etc. but no mention of where the shoe was made. And in fact Ercolino does seem to be just a bit cagey about how and where the shoes are made. On the site he mentions taking the client's measurements and then sending them to England to have a last made. (And I must say I do find it a bit unusual that he wouldn't make the last himself or at least supervise it in-house.) In talking about measuring and shipping he uses the first-person, but all talk about construction is in the passive voice--which leads me to wonder if it might be possible that the shoes are made in the same place as the last. In any case, that seems to be the routine for bespoke. I have no idea what might have been the case with these rtw shoes, but I doubt the shoes for J Peterman were all made in Ercolino's workshop in PA. Strikes me as not implausible that the stock shoes might have been made on standard lasts by the same workshop producing the bespoke shoes.
A bit of a riddle. Just trying to puzzle this out.

I recently saw a pair of Ercolini/Peterman on ebay, when it rains it pours I suppose. On another note, these look like fairly standard English RTW shoes from the country range of one maker or another.

Originally Posted by A Harris

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On another note, these look like fairly standard English RTW shoes from the country range of one maker or another.

I think that's what I've been trying to say in my own long-winded way. Odd, though, that the Peterman shoes aren't at least stamped Made In England. I imagine that would have carried more cachet with the typical Peterman buyer than the name of an obscure (though well-regarded) American cobbler. But what do I know? I've never run a company into bankruptcy.

Another sweet pair of shoes Pejsek - master shoes finder....

Given that Dainite soles are physically incapable of crossing the Atlantic as raw material - no U.S. repairman seems capable of getting any, for example - and that these shoes look generically English, I'm going to guess they're made by Sargent. Any chance you could show us the interior markings?

Here are some pictures of the interior markings. They don't mean anything to me, but I'll bet they'll strike a note with somebody here. I'm curious, well-kept, what makes you guess Sargent?

I think they are Trickers.

Originally Posted by edmorel

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I think they are Trickers.

Wow. So they're $1200+ shoes then.

Ercolino and Peterman seems like strange pairing. Ercolino, I thought, only does bespoke, and it's pricey, even by London standards. I didn't think he had the capabilty to produce higher numbers of RTW shoes at a competitive price. And his name is not well known enough to drive RTW sales if they are simply rebadged shoes. I wonder what explains this.

Originally Posted by AlanC

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Wow. So they're $1200+ shoes then.

Wasn't Ercolino said to be contracting the actual work out to English makers ?