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American-Japanese bespoke shoemaker Seiji McCarthy has achieved great success with his merge of classic American style with precise, skilled Japanese craftsmanship. He offers MTO, MTM and bespoke at exceptional quality. Here’s a buyer’s guide to the brand with a pair of bespoke longwings I ordered as base.
There’s no question that the biggest manufacturers of “workwear”, or “heritage”, boots comes from North America, where the largest customer base also is, and many new ones are based in Asia. But with Europe still being the world’s center for quality footwear manufacturing and quality leathers, there’s also a large amount of great boot companies based here. In this guide a bunch of European brands offering solid workwear boots are gathered, several of them likely unknown to many.
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.
Calzoleria Carlino is an Italian maker who slowly but steadily started to make a name of itself domestically and internationally in recent years. An old-school, traditional Italian style enhanced by the extensive use of some amazing vintage leathers, combined with a good price tag, makes them highly interesting. Here’s a buyer’s guide to the brand, with a pair of remote bespoke lazyman oxfords in vintage pigskin they’ve made for me as a base.
Zonkey Boot has been around for over a decade, yet still remains a bit of a hidden gem for many. It’s kind of a mystery to me, since it’s a brand with a distinct own character not really found from any other brand, making hand welted and Norvegese stitched shoes of excellent quality. Here’s a substantial review of a seriously cool green wholecut derby boot.
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The amount of good quality shoe care brands available are more than in a long time, and a lot of them are more accessible than ever with the growing e-commerce. Here’s a summary of all the brands you need to know off and info on where you can purchase them.
If you are in the fortunate situation to be on the verge of ordering a first pair of bespoke shoes, there’s a lot of things that can help you in your way to achieve a good result. In this post I guide you through what to think about, both for traditional full bespoke and Made to Measure orders, but also if you do it over distance, which is increasingly common.
Traditionally constructed good quality shoes have a long lifespan, which means that it’s a product that are commonly sold second hand. Looking for used classic shoes can lead to awesome bargains, but also expensive mistakes. Here’s a guide on what to think about when buying used shoes, and where to find them.
One of the most interesting new brands that’s been introduced lately is Acme Shoemaker. Based in Beijing, they are a serious contender to making the finest RTW shoes in the world, and also offer MTO, MTM and full bespoke, all at very competitive prices. Here’s a substantial buyer’s guide to the brand, with an MTM order I’ve done as base.
Here’s an updated version of one of the most popular articles on Shoegazing. A comprehensive list with quality shoes for under €300 / $340, now with current prices almost 60 brands of mainly welted shoes from all over the world.
