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The overall quality of classic shoes were very high a number of decades back, and the styles in general works well still today, which means that there’s a lot of interest in vintage men’s shoes. In this episode we dig into the topic together with Takashi “Gucci” Horiguchi who runs one of the most acclaimed vintage shoe stores in the world: Super 8 Shoes in Tokyo.
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A. Marchesan is Scandinavia’s most renowned vintage menswear store, and after a long time in the making they now finally launched their online store, making their impressively well curated selection of vintage goods available worldwide. A bunch of great vintage shoes are part of the inventory.
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.
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.
The word “handmade” and what it means when it comes to footwear has been through quite a journey the past hundred years or so. From referring only to expensive often hand welted shoes that are built more or less without any machines involved back in the days, to now be used for relatively cheap shoes that have all main parts made by large machines, hands solely guide the shoes through them. Here’s the history of how handmade has been devaluated through the years.
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During the course of time various trends have come and gone also within the world of classic shoes. Often these are more special stuff which is seen as cool and beautiful during some time, but then reaction comes and the opposite opinion becomes the ruling opinion. Spade soles are a good example of this. Also briefly about a new online calendar gathering shoe and clothing trunk shows around the world.
One of the main players of second hand welted footwear in Europe, Abbot’s Shoes from the UK, has introduced their Archive Sale section. Here all shoes that’s been with them for over a year will end up, with a 10% discount on the previous pricing. Hundreds of shoes are part now, and new will be added weekly.
New podcast episode with the British-based bespoke shoemaker William Efe Laborde, in a talk where we focus on connecting historic shoemaking, materials and tools with today’s. Among many things you’ll learn which area of shoemaking that he thinks is at an all time high now in present time, why the tools never can be made as good as they were before the World War II again, and much more.
Sole stitching done well is something that looks lovely, even more so if contrasting, so of course two rows of nice contrasting sole stitching looks marvellous. No wonder this became a thing on the posh spade sole shoes during the first half of the 1900’s. As often is the case though, the reason this type of construction appeared was from the beginning solely practical.
An institution online for all those interested in men’s vintage shoes. The website Classic Shoes for Men collects and sell quality vintage and antique shoes, both used and new, and the library with over 2,500 shoes is a goldmine to dig through.
