cameosis

k shoe oxfords in action before, during and after the job interview, accompanied by my reliable 1990s corduroy (law) suit.

red wing shoes’ »0213« model, cow, oxblood, na size 09,0, limited edition, 2010

been looking for these for 13 years, found a pair in my size on poshmark and now awaiting delivery to germany.

k (kendal) shoe’s »british army parade oxfords« model, calf, brown, uk size 08,0, 1980s

https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/a-z-of-industries/footwear/k-shoes/

bataille’s »m-1945« model, roughout, nature/tan, eu size 42,0, made for the french army (unissued stock), 1952

https://www.societe.com/etablissement/bataille-et-cie-60192003600014.html

another batch of vintage purchases after i’ve been quiet for a few years:

tricker’s »tramper« model, pebble grain, whiskey/tan, uk size 08,5 (veldtschoen construction), made for westmorland, 1980s

The artful, erotic and still misunderstood funk of Betty Davis

rest in power, queen.

Betty Davis, funk pioneer and fashion icon, dies at 77

she deserves a tribute thread for putting the funk into miles davis, a jazz musician best known for having been married to her shortly.

They Say I’m Different (documentary)

They Say I’m Different (symposium)

pair of tan walk•over custom grade oxfords with cap toes.

1940s-1950s, so if anybody could help date them or even identify the model, i'd be much obliged. bought them sometime before or in early 2018 from a british seller, total with shipping was close to 50 € (good times).

what really hooked me was the slightly chiseled toe, i've never seen anything like it with shoes of such vintage. slight cracking around the vamp area, but nothing lasts forever, they're still in ace condition for their age and the way i rocked them at a wedding, even with original soles.

no size indicator from what i can see. there is a 7 stamped on the soles, inside length is 28 cm wall to wall, my feet are 26,5 cm so mostly eu 42 / uk 8 / na 9. awesome fit, snug but comfortable, soft leather. simply admire this pair.

On 1/17/2022 at 9:58 AM, beautiful_FrEaK said:

Thinking about a pair of these Indonesian made shoes...we will see
The leather is from Hashimoto (Tochigi leather)

 

these are tasty, who’s the maker?

46 minutes ago, julzkind said:

Bumping this thread w a pic of myself. Even tho I found out I’m more Semite than Arab and even some Mizrahi Jew. 

not going to clutter this up with too much text. let me just say this: yes. very yes.

boots from my first post on the forum:
german boots

vintage german boots from the 1930s / 1940s -- no cracked leather, rips or loose stitching, which is outstanding (not only for 80-90 year old boots). the lining (water resistant) is also in excellent condition.

they received a resoling (double leather sole with protective rubber sole) with polishing in 2013, and that was it (shoe trees, conditioning with leather balm and wiping off with a damp cloth every once in a while notwithstanding).

after regular wear (pics from today, january 2022):

On 5/24/2019 at 5:33 PM, kameidaclub said:

^I'm with ALB.

Once I have also asked to Shinki and Horween (They were the only two cordovan suppliers AFAIK) and they both said over $100 sq.ft depending on the grade (Better cordovan costs x1.5).

http://vegtan.blogspot.com/2015/08/horween-part4.html

This blog is about the price of cordovan. (Sorry it's in Japanese)

The graph says 2 sq.ft costs $202 in Jun 2014 and I'm very sure the current price is higher.

So I am also very curious about which tannery sells at 40 euro.

Is it really retail price? Have you seen the leather itself?  Are there any pictures? Which maker uses that cordovan?

that's fine if you don't believe it, all good -- i don't have an obligation to prove anything and since we're online, everything should be taken with reservation (my posts included).
i do find your questions a bit strange, however ... this isn't an interrogation, and as i said before, i certainly won't disclose any info regarding an active business contact of my former boss, すまん. 

i also don't know if you are familiar with how visits to a tannery or a leather wholesaler work -- i worked for a different branch in leather processing, as i wrote above in my post -- since i was responsible for quality control of the hides that go into production, of course i had to check and see every single one of them.

when you go to a tannery to talk about leather that you use for production, you also check it out, because you want improvements or changes regarding the tanning process of the hides.

even though my interest in shoes and shoe leather is purely private, i had a look at the hides the same way i used to inspect leather that i worked with, so it's odd to ask if i had seen the leather. it was a visit to a german tannery and a quote from 2012.

add-on: have you asked any other tanneries apart from shinki and horween or have you visited one in person -- how many tanneries do you know? i'm curious now, because if you are only familiar with the ones mentioned, that would explain why you only know about their pricing alone. on another note, i can't talk about horse leather from the 1950s (the wolverine advertisement), so let's stick to leather from the 2000s, everything else is irrelevant. in the same advertisement, wolverine praises pigskin shoes and claims it's high quality leather (it is good leather, but not for leisure or dress shoes), i can't take the text there too seriously, i'm afraid.

but let's go through the べじたん blog entry (interesting blog about leather with a lot of devotion put into it -- i enjoyed skimming through the posts) that you linked step by step:

point a)
the newspaper article claiming that horween and shinki are the only remaining cordovan suppliers in the world is from 1991, from a chicago tribune freelance contributor, is false.

the majority of the horse hides are imported from europe to asia (japan) and north america (usa). the tanning knowledge originated in europe (asia and africa, too -- but for the purpose of this topic, i'll stick to europe), and you can find in spain, italy, france and germany (and very likely in a number of other european countries as well) at least one tannery that is capable of processing horse hides to obtain shell cordovan.

point b)
japanese pricing is generally higher, no offense. i have lived in japan and speak japanese, and basically everything is either twice the price or significantly more expensive than elswhere.

sieck international in germany (which is not a business contact, so no problem posting here) sells cordovan horse hides for € 105 a piece (ranging from one to 1½ square meters). sieck is a reseller:
cordovan culatten

the links in the べじたん blog reference mostly u.s. sources or links with connections to shoe manufacturers/retailers in some way or another. shell cordovan has become a brand name, first and foremost, which is predominantly associated with horween in chicago and this is based on their successful marketing and close ties to the shoe industry in north america. nothing wrong with that, but again, i rather turn to sources that have no vested interest when they share information about something.

why would a tannery publicly say that there are other tanneries (read competitors) who could do their job? you wouldn't believe how coveted these pieces of information are.

do not forget that there are other languages besides english, and thus non-english notions for cordovan.

another link (in german only) on how horse hides have to be tanned differently depending on their sections:
rossoberleder

point c)
the vast (as in up to 95 %) majority of customers of tanneries and distributors are enterprises. retail prices are for end customers. but contacting a tannery and buying directly from one as a private individual works of course, and there you can save significant sums of money, depending on the amount you purchase.

i have never been involved with the shoe industry apart from being a customer. i have been out of the leather processing industry for several years now, and this is my final say on the issue regarding shell cordovan.

you have every right to disagree, that's perfectly legitimate -- but don't insinuate that i haven't spoken truthfully, just because you made other experiences or don't have the info that i received. i know what i had asked the tanner and i know what he had told me and which leather i had seen, thanks.

from what i see, clayton has been in administration and had to lay off the majority of its employees.

it remains to be seen if the revival effort will be successful:

https://www.drapersonline.com/news/latest-news/british-leather-manufacturer-bought-out-of-administration/7032690.article

10 hours ago, ALB said:

Well, I mean I curious as to how you could be able to procure cordovan at 40 euros then since other leather workers have tried and the quotes they're given for the various grades is much much higher. Almost seems too good to be true. Likewise, what was the tannery? There's apparently few who can tan cordovan and the process for it is supposedly more laborious.

i didn't. i inquired about it and got the quote from the tanner at that time.

it's an active business contact of my former boss, so i'm not at liberty to share this kind of information, sorry.

On 5/23/2019 at 2:44 AM, ALB said:

You sure it was shell cordovan and not "cordovan" leather i.e. the color or calf leather that mimics the shine of cordovan. I ask only because Horween, Shinki, and Clayton supposedly sells theirs at $100+ sq ft. Likewise, there was also a little mix up that Mike from Epaulet had with his Portuguese supplier (wasn't shell cordovan but calf leather called cordovan).

as i said, i worked with leather for six years, and when i was at the tannery, both i and the tanner talked about horse leather and cordovan, so no calf leather involved there. doesn't get any clearer than this.

not mine, but theme-related web find:

5 hours ago, bartlebyyphonics said:

incredible hobnail boots sir!

glad you enjoying the ig choices, but to put the damaged rw shot in context

the interest of it is that shot is the sense that there may be a possible model of rw 2268 that is teacore aka #browncore

something like this, perhaps?

thanks much about the hobnail boots! the only credit i can take is that i bought them. 

i wasn’t knocking your posts, by the way—my point of criticism was that some people think damaging or destroying the top layer of your leather footwear (of well-made products in particular) is a fashion statement. it’s a waste of resources and disrespectful to the animal that provided it (regardless of how esoteric this may sound).

i was working for a boutique leather shop for several years and was in charge of selecting the hides (quality control)—this could sometimes take an entire day, inspecting them for flaws, cuts, blemishes et al. i do like leather to show scars and the like, but in an organic way, not by such destructive nonsense.

i was involved in: the production of this chair/ottoman set, amongst others

personally, i find the restoration of vintage shoes and boots much more enjoyable as well as sensible (i had posted a few such projects 2-3 years back in this thread, documenting the steps from cleaning  the boots with distilled water · removing dirt and shoe cream/polish by sanding in order to reveal the original color · how to change eyelets yourself · to applying leather grease and finally resoling/cobbler service).

i’ve finally got all my boots in one place and i might be able to take pictures of them by the end of the month to document the state of affairs in 2019.

On 4/27/2019 at 2:02 PM, Iron Horse said:

I have no idea what the zoo-club thing is; my only guess is that ツーブー (tsubu) is some sort of backwards/typo version of ブーツ (butsu) or 'boots'. My Japanese isn't good enough for this mystery!

i’d concur. not following instagram, but it’s either syllable reversal (not uncommon in japanese hipster lingo) or »tube«.

On 4/27/2019 at 12:45 PM, bartlebyyphonics said:

4/4

in thanks to @Iron Horse's post earlier down the thread of japanese boot IG accounts, some favorites, whites sj (?), a nice clinch jodphur boot (not seen here before?) and a range of nicely worn redwings

impressed by the #browncore obsessions on the klondike leather (and am guessing older vintage pairs) of some redwing offerings and of the hem to ankle ratio going on in some of these posts... [also: what is #zooclub / #ツーブー倶楽部 - used a hashtag for boot lovers, but any ideas of the zoo connotations?]

i pains me to see morons who think that damaging or destroying quality footwear is fashionable or »cool« … the other ig pictures are ace, though!

some new vintage bargains (it’s been a minute since i last posted):

tecnic veldtschoen, aldershot model (€ 50 including shipping from britain, € 25(!) for the shoes alone), 1980s, size 42 eu, size 08 uk.
great fit, very comfortable—and some heavy shoes to boot. 

unknown british ankle boots, zug leather (€ 125 including shipping from britain, € 100 for the shoes alone), 1940s-1950s, size 43 eu, size 09 uk.
snug fit, supple leather—the color is wonderful. studded sole, packing a punch.

8 hours ago, mlwdp said:

JUST HOW EXACTLY DID THIS GUY BREAK THESE DOUBLE MIDSOLE SMOKEJUMPERS IN?!?!?

i'd say he didn't -- the boots were resoled to look like truck tires (the soles are brand-new and unworn, whereas the leather is broken in). keep on truckin'.
but he should've been a man and not cut corners. with soles like these, you wear such boots without socks until either your feet or your boots tap out.

13 hours ago, tod said:

^^ though it does say that he oiled them regularly. only so much you can do..

with snake oil, i tell ya! 

11 hours ago, Iron Horse said:

LOL, don't remind me of those. This is what happens when we don't get good submissions. 

what baffles me the most is that these folks think it's cool to "treat" your footwear (or other clothes, for that matter) like that and that it even looks "good" (not knocking different tastes, just for the record).
the fact of the matter is that you can enjoy good boots for decades with minimum care and the occasional resoling, why hasn't anyone filled them in on that, or why don't they realize that you need not waste everything?

i don't know, reviving and then wearing old boots -- as posted before -- personally is much more fulfilling than destroying new ones ... oh well, rant over

he needs to be jailed for assault and battery against his boots.