Buyer’s guide – Oct. Tenth

One of the more established players that has emerged on the Chinese scene of men’s shoes in recent years is Oct. Tenth, the house brand of what’s known to many as the Xibao workshop. With the move to a new workshop location, a new website, and a new factory manager, they now enter the era of Oct. Tenth 2.0. Here’s a buyer’s guide to the brand, with a pair of Made to Measure derbies I have made as a base.

About the company

Oct. Tenth is one of the more well-known Chinese premium brands of welted men’s footwear. It’s based in Shanghai, and was founded by the couple Yao “Xibao” Zhang  and Jiahao Chu. The brand was founded as late as 2020, but the workshop’s history goes back longer. Jiahao is a high positioned banker with a big shoe interest, and a bunch of years ago he took over a clients shoe workshop. He trained shoemaking himself in evenings and weekends, worked with the staff and developed it into a more high-end shoemaking business. His partner Xibao became the manager of the company, since Jiahao still work as a banker, and has since been the heart of the business.

Oct. Tenth split toe derby in dark brown suede.

The workshop mainly did private label for other brands, first domestically but later more and more internationally. Through the Taobao Store TGC they started selling direct to customers in China, and then through Xibao’s Instagram account they also started selling directly to international customers. They saw the potential, and decided that they wanted to launch a brand for the international market. They didn’t feel they had all the knowledge needed, so they reached out to the Belgian Tom Brone and asked if he was interested in working together with them. Tom was many years ago a sort of agent for the Hungarian company Vass Shoes, and run the midrange brand Sons of Henrey.

Nice ridge fiddle back waist.

Together with Tom Xibao and Jiahao developed a range of new lasts suitable for the international market, they were aligned with the general UK sizing, new models were made, and the brand was named Oct. Tenth after the birthday of Xibao. They launched a separate page on Sons of Henrey’s website, and also took orders through their own Instagram. Nowadays the brand has its own website at Octtenth.com. For Chinese customers a lot of sales still goes through the TaoBao store, which is now rebranded to Oct. Tenth, and in Shanghai one can also find Oct. Tenth RTW at the store Roiluxe.

Last year they left the original workshop (which is still operating with smaller staff for the brand Blazing Wonder Shoes) and opened up a new, larger workshop, where they also hired Oliver Tang (previously at Yim Shoemaker and workshop manager for Acme). They have since further enhanced the finishing and other details of the shoes, and developed a few more new lasts, and named their top line (which is the only one available internationally) Metropolitan.

Offerings and prices

All Oct. Tenth shoes are Made to Order, with relatively short delivery time of 8-10 weeks. On their new websitenew website you have a good overview of all the options that are available. You go into the model you are interested in, and once you select leather type all the other options open up. You get to choose: leather, last, size, width, instep height, welt, sole edge, sole shape, heel shape, waist and if you want lasted shoe trees. For some options, like if you change the width or the instep from standard or add metal toe taps, an extra cost is applied, but this is clearly stated.

On the site one find all options directly on the product page.

Not all options are made visible with images on the product page, but they have more in-depth guides going through the various lasts and the different types of construction options and add-ons. The price starts a bit over €700 including VAT, which surely is a good price for shoes that are hand lasted, hand welted and with hand stitched waists, and a relatively advanced level of finishing. This goes for the Metropolitan range, which is the only one available on the international page.

One can also select fully handmade sole stitch at an upcharge, and one can do more traditional Made to Measure orders, even with test shoes (at an upcharge). For for this price varies depending on what modifications are needed, one contact Oct. Tenth via e-mail to manage this.

Guide on their various lasts (not fully up to date, still miss the newer ones). Pictures above: Oct. Tenth

Order process

Workshop manager Oliver Tang reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in trying a pair from them, on their newest last shapes and with their improved finishing. For me, given that I have some half-tricky feet in some regards, it was given to opt for a Made to Measure. We also did it with a fitting shoe, to be certain to get it right.

The fitting shoes.

The model I went for was their five eyelet derby OT50, on the new classic round toe last Jing. For the sizing I sent in my feet measurements and a bunch of fit info, and they started from UK11 which is my regular RTW size in most cases. The fitting pair came after about 1,5 month, a classic type of fitting shoe in scrap leather and cemented basic soles. They had some issues, mainly tight at the pinky toes and outer ball, and the instep was too high so laces closed completely. As I always do with remote orders, I then summarise the feedback in text, images and video, and then Oct. Tenth went on to work with the final pair, delivered a couple of months later.

An old photo of a shoe lasted in the Oct. Tenth workshop. Photo: Zhuanlan.zhihu.com

For most customers of the brand, who only do a regular MTO order, the process will of course be different. Then you select and go through all the details of the shoes on the website, and place the order there. You’ll get an order confirmation, and the company will then get in touch with you again when the shoes are finished.

Final result

The shoes were delivered in a regular green shoe box, neatly placed inside two dust bags. The OT50 is a derby with a whole piece going all around the shoe, with a seamless heel, instead the seam is at the inside counter. Makes for a cleaner appearance. I chose to make it Haas Utah Calf, which is very similar to Horween’s more well-known Hatch Grain, a sort of copy of the grain pattern of the old Russian reindeer found on the bottom of the ocean, but in the cases of Horween and Haas and others used now it’s of course embossed. Unlike Horween’s hatch grain which is larger cowhides, which also means it generally creases more, Haas only do calf, and I haven’t tested it before (although I’ve had other leathers from them) so I was keen to see how it is in reality.

MTM version of the OT50 derby.

Round toe last Jing as base.

The leather is as always from Haas rather thin, soft and supple. It makes for really comfortable shoes, although the thin character also means it creases more than thicker calf it does so in a rather neat way. The uppers are quite well-polished out of the box, while the soles have a really nice high gloss black finish. They are single leather soles, with a round bevelled waist. As mentioned before, Oct. Tenth’s shoes are hand welted, where the sole stitch is done by hand at the waist so it’s a proper blind welted bevelled one, while front part is done by machine. It’s a good way to get the look and sleekness of a fully handmade shoe but lower cost with the quicker machine stitched front part.

High gloss sole finish.

Round bevelled waist.

The heels are very closely cut, there’s a notch between the heel and the waist, and the edges finished really smoothly. Overall the feeling is definitely higher than the price they have. They aren’t perfect though, not comparable to for example good full bespoke shoes or such, which one certainly can’t expect though at this price point. Markings on the welt is a bit uneven, slightly wobbly inside top heel on one shoe, etc, if you are nitpicking.

On the feet.

The final fit is good. Maybe a tad too roomy over the ball now, but rather that than pinched pinky toes, and their also still a bit roomy at the instep so lacing closes too much on the left foot especially (very easily solved with tongue pads though). Other than this they hug the heels well, have great arch support and have been comfortable to wear basically from the get go.

Oct. Tenth aim to offer a lot of bang-for-the-buck, and they sure succeed in this. It’s an excellent option for those who are after the look and feel of the absolute best shoes out there, but can’t afford to pay the high prices this would incur.

Haas Utah calf is a really nice leather.

The heels are cut very close.

Welt.

Beautiful bottoms.

Profile.

Finish with some more pics.