Here's something I posted on FB for friends.



My Goodyear-welted leather sole, topgrain Oxford brogues. The working man's classic.

The rules are, don't step into a puddle and try not to get them wet. Moisture seeps through the leather and makes the insides moist and stinky. Polish at least once a week or if it gets scuffed. After polishing with mink oil enriched black shoe polish, leather soles have to be cleaned (I use STP Tuff Stuff multi-purpose foam cleaner) and mink oil/wax applied to the soles to prevent moisture ingress.

Cedar shoe trees (Nico Schmid seen here) are a must for this sort of shoe. After a days use the shoe has to 'rest' for 24 hours and dry out. The shoe tree is placed inside a shoe to preserve its shape, stop it from developing creases, thereby extending the life of the shoe.

Nice-smelling cedar helps control odor and absorb moisture. Higher quality shoe trees are often made with two or three pieces of solid wood with a solid metal stem inserted between the heel piece and the single or double toe piece/s which have a spring action so the trees fit more snugly into the shoes. They often have handles or brass knobs at the heel piece for the fingers to grasp and pull out the trees from the shoe when removing them.

Lastly, use a shoehorn. Every time you jam your heel into a shoe, an old English cobbler dies.

REFERENCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_shoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welt_(shoe)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_polish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink_oil

Some specs:

- Topgrain leather (corrected grain)
- Rubber heel (more practical for those who do a lot of standing on their feet)

I got this pair, brand new for RM119.90 in PJ.

Here it is!

Kulitkraf. Malaysian Govt. supplier. These are used by Malaysian military, etc. For topgrain (corrected grain) cowskin (not calfskin) Goodyear welted brogue Oxfords this is a good price. The sole stitching is a bit rough but these are military shoes we're talking about here.

Well just about any ex Kadet Polis member like me, or ex Govt. employee knows Kulitkraf.

The ones I got are the best. Topgrain cowskin (calfskin is finer), but it's corrected grain meaning they take cowskin which has marks from barbed wire and insect bites and hot-stamp it to 'correct' it. That's why it's cheaper, but as strong and as good. Stitching is rougher than the more expensive makes. It's for military use. If you hang around the beryani shops near MINDEF/PULAPOL you'll see a lot of officer types using these shoes.

From eye level/1 metre away most people would easily confuse these with an RM2680 pair of Church's! Hahahaha!

The inner sole is some synthetic material.

Kulitkraf is a factory and they mainly do HUGE orders for Govt. By right they shouldn't be bothered with retail but they have a small showroom and can even handle credit card orders. Good customer service.

Don't expect Loake style finishing. The stitching is a bit rougher and the inner lining is synth. The rubber heel is actually better for Malaysian conditions IMHO compared to a stacked leather heel.

Can't argue with 119.90! A good shoe to beat around, it looks near enough, good enough and you can let your Loakes/Churches/etc. dry out for 24 hours and wear the Kulitkraf one. The model I got is OLG1010.

I don't keep secrets. Did a lot of research and the Kulitkraf Goodyear-welted Oxford brogues at RM119.90 is the cheapest in Malaysia!

I think I got those at Isetan, KLCC for about RM85 or 90.

Do they have the brass knobs on em?

Tomorrow I'm wearing

- Black sports jacket (I've got no other)
- White shirt
- Deep navy blue trousers (Only other alternative is grey)
- Black or Dark brown belt
- Brown patent leather shoes

What do you think? OK?

Oops sorry basically I'm trying to see what goes with my new BROWN PATENT LEATHER shoes. Sorry bout that.

These are my shoes, gentlemen.

Goodyear-welted brown patent leather shoes. I believe the style of leather cut is called a 'wholecut' unless I'm mistaken. The thing I like about it is that it's Goodyear-welted, but has rubber soles factory-fitted. Perhaps these guys knew that the shoes will get heavy use in a tropical environment.



Sorry it's just a phone pic.

Hmmm maybe you're right. The shoelace area is a separate piece. Rest of shoe goes around 1-piece to the back where I presume it's stitched together and a covering tab goes over it.

First time wearing it to work today. It's a bit stiff so I'm walking a bit weird.

M&S = Marks & Spencer? Nah these are Indonesian made shoes - "Mario Minardi". RM320 after discount at Isetan. Actual price RM450+ I think.

The Tomaz stuff is bicast leather. This entry from Yahoo Answers answers it best:

Judy B gives a good description of how the product is made; but in several countries, and the number is growing, it is illegal to sell bicast as Leather- it must be sold as a synthetic. In some cases the substrate "leather" is even made from a fibrous mat of leather fibre from a deeply split leather compressed until smooth, and the top synthetic layer has the grain and color in it- I have seen it delaminate in sheets; leaving a colored grained film in one hand and grey/black smooth "leather" underneath.

The epidermal layer is where all the strength is- thats why the most expensive leather pieces are normally ones where the epidermis is intact because they were high quality hides with little or no markings. The more markings, the more processing is generally needed to be done to make the leather aesthetically "pleasing" To the point where leather is lacking any epidermis and is stamped with an artificial grain an urethane coated as a split-hide (inbetween but closer in quality to split-hide is a "corrected-top grain" where the top layer; the epidermis, is shaved,sanded, etc to minimise markings).

Split-hides generally have a servicable life of approx 5yrs if used with any regularity. Bi-cast is the same or less in lifespan generally- they huge brands etc that required the leather to be split and shaved and then graded down to bi-cast processing are weak areas where the leather frequently splits through- and because the leather doesnt have cohesive strength with the lack of epidermal tissue it simply keeps on tearing until it hits a seam- we have seen hundreds and hundreds of Bi-cast pieces do this.

So...in short...Bi-cast is awful stuff that is frequently misrepresented as to what it is, and it does not have a long service life at all- but because it "looks" like the expensive pull-up type leathers it is often still sold for quite a bit...

Dont Buy it

Source(s):
11years as a Leather Restorer with http://www.advleather.com and witness to hundress of failed Bi-casts and devastated people who thought they bought durable leather.

Hmm what's your budget? For RM119.90 you can get Goodyear-welted, corrected grain Oxford brogues at Kulitkraf. OLG1010 I think. I posted this earlier but BOHICA -

This is classic British elegance. Military specs so this model is popular around MINDEF.

Their address is:

Kulitkraf Sdn. Bhd.,
No. 5, Jalan 19/1,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Tel: 603 - 7957 4633
Fax: 603 - 7957 7480

Around section 14 PJ behind the Toyota place, same row.

Anytime! It's actually a factory but there's a little shop in there with all sorts of mostly military shoes.

OLG1010 is a good buy. Don't expect fine workmanship though. These are high-volume MILITARY contract shoes.

However, from about 1metre+ away, once polished up they look not to far off much more expensive examples.

I've since added a Vibram sole to the front. The thinner ones seem to work better. Cost me RM50 at KLCC.

Alamak! Shy lah. I'll try next week. Waist-down shot?