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Here’s a thorough look at a new pair I received from the Chinese maker Acme Shoemaker, a pair of MTM / semi bespoke split toe derbys with hand braided contrasting stitching. The special thing with Acme is that all their shoes are made to the same standard, from the main RTW range to the full bespoke offerings.
For those who don’t know, every year there’s a big “boot and shoe aging” contest called the Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome, where hundres of footwear lovers wear a pair and cover the aging progression during six months. This year I had a pair of Midas Bootmaker x Skolyx x Dr. Sole moc toe boots in natural semi veg tanned leather, here’s a picture special of how these developed during the past half year.
When one talk about classic men’s shoes it always feel a bit weird to talk about “hyped” styles, given that in most cases the ones that are all the rave at the moment have been around for loads of decades. The latest such, the split toe derby, has been sold as hot cakes for quite a few years now, yet it still seam to just continue to increase in popularity.
2022 comes to an end, and as I’m prepping for this evening’s festivities I snapped this photo and got this post together. This has been a year where much of what was missed from before the pandemic has been back – for example the super trunk shows, meeting folks in person for podcast interviews and travels to Japan, Italy, England etc to gather content. For next year, it will be more about introducing new exciting stuff.
It’s that time of the year again. Christmas is upon us, and in large parts of the world that special, warm holiday feeling does its best to keep our spirits up when it’s dark almost the whole days and the troubles of the world are floating around. Suitably, I’m dressed in reddish footwear and green trousers to match the colours of the season.
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With a general move towards dressing more casual, it’s given that we can see more and more brands merging classic dress with more rugged styling. This here by Norman Vilalta is a good example.
It’s not suitable for all shoes, neither practically or aesthetically, but a super slim waist is surely always impressive. This one above is on a new sample by the bespoke shoemaker Catella, alias Daniel Wegan, showcasing terrific craftsmanship.
It’s summer, warm weather in many parts of the world, and one want to be as cool as possible. On ones feet, sandals or similar may not always be suitable, and unlined shoes may still feel a bit warm. So, this solution is not a bad one, unlined shoes with perforations all the way through.
At the London Super Trunk Show back in May we had the second edition of the World Championships of Shoe Patina, where three contestants were to paint a pair of crust leather shoes during the day. These here are the winning shoes from then, painted by Toan Junie who is working for Corthay in France.
There’s many leathers that are durable in various ways, but most fall short to the natural armour, the stingray skin. Here’s a black wholecut which is about to be finished in the Gaziano & Girling factory in Kettering, Northampton. Below a crash course on the properties of this special leather.
