When smooth leather or embossed grain leathers and similar are bent it will crease, it’s the nature of this material. And this creasing can’t be removed, despite what many out there say. Here I explain the logical physics behind why shoes crease and why you can’t remove them more than temporarily.
Bridlen is one of those brands that never stand still, but continues to develop their offerings year after year. For their updated top range called Founders 25 they’ve refined a lot of things, for example heels built with ten thin leather heel stacks, slim wood pegged waists, 10 spi fudged sole stitching, up to 20 spi upper stitching and so on. All at an impressive price point.
The amount of brands doing classic shoes have grown significantly in recent years, after several decades of decline. This means that also more niche types get more and more options. Brands doing retro styled stuff with spade soles, double rows of stitching, and things like that. Now enthusiasts who like these styles have much more to choose from than finding old original vintage shoes.
The biggest sales period of the year is here. Well, nowadays it starts earlier and earlier, more of a Black Month than a Friday with the following weekend, but nonetheless it’s first today that everyone who do a sale this period has opened up theirs. And there’s plenty of good ones for shoe lovers, here’s a list of some of them.
My latest pair are these Alden split toe derbies made back in 1977, still unused in their original box. It was part of their Foot Balance range made on the orthotic TruBalance last with a very long heel stiffener, which fits me really well. Here’s a closer look with lots of photos of this lovely pair.
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A common shoe care advice is to brush off your shoes when one come home, to remove any surface dirt. Most think this is solely due to appearance, but that’s only one part of it. The more important thing is that doing this can significantly prolong the lifespan of your leather shoes. Here I explain why.
There’s no secret that Japan is the leading country in the world when it comes to shoe shining. It’s also evident in their domestic shoe shine contest, which has been growing each year since it’s first edition a few years ago. This weekend the final rounds took place in Osaka, with Ryu Niita being crowned the new Japanese champion. Also a mention of an event on the world championships of shoemaking at Isetan Men’s in Tokyo Friday November 15.
More or less all sports shoes today are various versions of sneakers. It makes sense, they have been for a long time, and when it comes to function and performance it’s suitable. With golf shoes, it’s a different thing though, it’s essentially walking shoes. Yet almost all golf shoes today are made similarly to other sports shoes, instead of how they were made up until the 80’s or so with proper Goodyear welted constructions. There are exceptions though, luckily.
Wataru Shimamoto, the masterful Japanese shoemaker behind the brand Orma Shoemaker, is an inspiring figure in the world of bespoke footwear. With a background at Il Micio in Italy, he’s now back in Japan since some years carving out a niche for himself in the competitive landscape of shoemaking, culminating in his victory at the World Championships of Shoemaking in 2022.
One of the classic British online stores for quality men’s shoes is back in business. Two year’s ago they closed to store and sold of all the stock. One thought that was it. But now Pediwear has re-opened, with quite a large stock from several brands like Carlos Santos, Carmina, Tricker’s, Sanders and so on.
