Good idea, would be nice to have a shoe care thread but you can post here too.

@SweetPuff Yeah, one have to be so careful especially on the stairs. I'm concerned with brushing it against the chair roller wheels instead.

just saw a John Lobb documentary on BBC4 last night on bespoke shoes. Truly amazing on handcrafted shoes, showing handwelting and stacked leather heels. Probably looking at £4000 upwards.

Was at Gaziano & Gerling store, very impressive workmanship.

Dropped by C&J at Canary Wharf yesterday

On going sale atm



Some customers' shoes being polished





This one is at Jermyn St.

Haha yeah there is. Any guesses?

I don't have any other indulgences hence I could spend a bit more on shoes now. It used to be guitars but I'm happy with the ones I have now and the prices these days are insanely expensive. Furthermore shoes requires less space and relatively much cheaper

Yeah nikfs1881 is correct, it's the summer sale season and much bargains to be had. Cheaney had pretty good bargains on the website, the rest you would have to visit the stores. CJ's sale is ok generally as it's about 10% - 15% off some of the handgrades, Seconds are much cheaper but gotta know where to spot the faults. However I do enjoy having a chat/banter in these shops whenever I'm down in London as they are ever so friendly. EdwardGreen not so much.

@Nik I don't know if EG sale is still on or not. I need to drop by tomorrow for shoe trees. Where are you based? You seemed to travel quite a bit. As CJ, most shops carry almost the same selection however Canary Wharf is quieter which is nice.

This post has been edited by Kelvw: Jul 7 2016, 12:00 AM

I think too many Purple Label already lol.. in fact i just bought one more. Realised how bad it was when the RL guys at Bond St. commented on my shopping habits today . Damn paiseh. I swear I wasnt it just so happened I found what I wanted.

Anyways, dropped by EdwardGreen today. Not much on sale atm. The shoetrees are bloody expensive for what it is compared to CJ Handgrade trees but no choice though. My generic trees doesn't fit as snuggly. May get an Abbeyhorn later as well. Those shoe horns are so nice when slipping the foot in the shoe.

Nik: post it up quick! We could have met up for a cuppa tea if I knew you're at EG today. I thought you went there yesterday. Did you drop by G&G?

Nice one bro! That's an elegant pair of boots. Which lasts are they on?

Yeah I bought the EG shoe trees and it fits perfectly. I'll post a pic in comparison to my generic tree. EG fills up the toe area much better. But I'm still gonna bitch about how expensive it is but at the same time I'm pleased with it.

Will post some pics of the shoe as well.


Meanwhile check this out, the new BBC documentary about bespoke JohnLobbs shoes.



This post has been edited by Kelvw: Jul 8 2016, 10:00 AM

Shoe trees day

I would expect a nicer box rather than a generic plain white one. Or atleast make it worth the £95 ffs.



It is rather nice looking, but I much preferred the pull ring instead



In comparison to my generic tree. Can't see a big difference from the pic but noticeable when placed on top of each other.

and here's the shoe, just realised I haven't posted it up.

Comes with a shoe care guide in a rather nice textured paper. Also as seen in Nik's post. Shoe bags are thick and sturdy although I think CJ Handgrade bags are much more luxurious



I really like EG's use shoe cloth rather than the use paper wrappings



EG Beaulieu in Midnight Antique calf, more like a cross between blue/grey depending on light. It's quite difficult to capture.
The burnishing is rather nice too.



Fits like a glove the first time.





Fiddle waist and closed channel soles



Light green blue insoles







Sorry if it's too many photos

@nikfs1881 you do realise that to resole your EG shoes, it would cost about £200? ouch... I wonder if it's the same for G&G.

Dude! We should have met up! I'm in Birmingham.

C&J Birmingham is one of my fav store, the staff is lovely and I tend to stop by weekly for a chat lol.

A 2nd store is opening soon in a few months time. Was supposedly earlier but someone drove into the shop front whilst it was still being renovated.

Did you get any shoes? There's a nice Handgrade black double monk.

This post has been edited by Kelvw: Jul 12 2016, 07:33 PM

Must be Mark the store Manager and Linda. Nice purchase! Quite a shopping spree for you 😄

@Sweerpuff get it first and then ask for forgiveness later lol

nice score! I need to get some HG trees as well which is so much nicer than EG's for the same price. Personally now having have both EGs and CJ, I would say CJ Handgrades are pretty good value for money and the full leather insoles are so nice. Also the welt stitching is concealed which is rather neat.

I always envy you guys when you get additional 20% off tax free. Makes it even a better buy.

I was going to drop by today but the rain just put me off. How do you like the new station? pretty awesome eh?

Nik: More poison for you if you're still in London tomorrow. I will be checking it out on Friday instead but I'm keeping my expectations down.

@SweetPuff: Can't go wrong with a pair of double monks.


@nikfs1881: Going home already? There're more shoes you haven't picked up yet
I thought you said 2 pairs...where did the 3rd one come from? You gotta show the Trickers.

Bicester is a hit and miss but more miss most of the time. The Cheaney pop up shop was there for a short period of time but only up to Easter I believe. There is Church's though.
You should make a day trip up to Northampton instead, may be easier to get around in a car hopping from one factory to another.

This is what you missed at Beicester, not much really but they do have some nice selections in there and it's not subs.






As for the EdwardGreen sales, not much that I fancy. There were rows and rows of shoes. Most were either old factory stocks or seconds and they weren't cheap either. Old stocks were at £500 and seconds at £400. I did get a pair of ShoeTrees at £35 but they were old stocks, the newer ones were still retailing at £95. They told me the wood was different and they've switched suppliers. I managed to get a matching belt instead which I was pleased.

Here's how it looks like. No crowd yet in the morning. Even when it opened there weren't many people. It started to pick up by midday.





My belt, tree and polish haul.





Decided to head back to Jermyn Street again which wasn't a wise move. I ended with another pair of Edward Green which I shall be picking it up next month after my break

@sweetpuff Bought the belt for £50 reduced from £200 Quite a good bargain.

Hmm, most of Zeve's shoes says Polished Leather which is corrected grain. You may want to check for creasing

Nah, the EG is not MTO. It was a Loughton which I tried in store but decided to sleep over it a day or two. But alas I bit the bullet and called them up instead to be collected when I make a trip down next month.
It's been an expensive month

Did you check out Cheaneys at Jermyn St.? It's a lovely store and friendly staff.

Reckon Zeve shoes are rapid stitched? The threads on the outsole sole don't quite correspond with the welt?

A quick snap in store. Won't be another month before I head back to collect it.

Thanks. Almost the same but lighter shade in grey rather than blue-ish grey. I'm drawn towards EGs unconventional colours except for greens. Shall do a comparison when I collect the shoe.

I notice you have Saphir Sole Oil. I'm considering it, what's your opinion?