Please explain this theory of yours, I use a plastic shoe tree for a my C&J in case you are wondering what is C&J its Crockett & jones.

Plastic shoe tree works fine if you get a proper one of course I would not argue that a wood shoe tree is better. It all balls down to how much you want to spend on a piece of accessory.

Might be a good idea to try Thomas Chan and his custom shoes. Is he at BSC or Great Eastern Mall? 

He still has a pair of Kurt Geiger in size 7UK if anyone is interested



http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=186452

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Added on July 12, 2010, 9:50 pm
I offered him USD 210 *shipped* and he accepted. It worked out to RM688 for everything. Shoes coming in from Singapore.

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Added on July 12, 2010, 10:53 pmIf you guys treat me nicely I might even do you the favour of letting you lick my Church's at the next iGent meetup.

The trick is to apply dark polish only after a significant buildup of same-colour polish. Without the buildup, the leather is thirsty and polish will soak into the leather, making the leather appear splotchy and unevenly-coloured. But with dark polish applied as the last few coats of water polishing, there is no danger of this because it sits on top of the lighter polish and is easily removed. (However, scuffs will remove the patina).

Besides black polish, "artificial" patina is also achievable through the use of cordovan polish. Although, I would advice you to try that on shoes with good quality leather as I remember reading elsewhere about a gent who 'murdered' his brown Gucci shoes after trying black polish on them to create some patina.

The trick is to apply dark polish only after a significant buildup of same-colour polish. Without the buildup, the leather is thirsty and polish will soak into the leather, making the leather appear splotchy and unevenly-coloured. But with dark polish applied as the last few coats of water polishing, there is no danger of this because it sits on top of the lighter polish and is easily removed. (However, scuffs will remove the patina).

As I've said: Wear better shoes.

The Continental Corso half-sole I put on my Bally Scribe No. 1 two years ago and worn brutally has only minor wear. I had the same put on my Loake 1880.

The original leather soles are also impervious to abrasion by mere plastic. It is asphalt that kills them.

I bought the Scribes on eBay for some 15 Euros (described merely as old Balys) when I was a starving student in Europe. Now I'm a starving employee in Malaysia. The factory will never see this pair.

Gentlemen, two questions.

a) Can I polish my light brown shoes with dark brown shoe polish? What will happen to my shoes?

b) Where can I get nice cedar wood shoe trees, size 9.5 (euro 44/45), the ones with the nice heels with knobs, in KL tomorrow?

Thanks!

Hmm, so would it be inadvisable to use dark brown leather on these shoes?

SHOE REPORT



Late last year I decided to get some Kulitkraf brogues. These were Goodyear-welted corrected grain. I was quite happy with them.

Being obsessed with specifications, I asked if they could do a custom. These guys do batches of 500 but their product head said OK maybe in between batches if you're willing to wait a few months.

So I asked for the following:
- Base design OLG 560 but fullgrain leather instead of patent leather
- Add perforated pattern to edging of toecap (as per some Church's pic I found on the net)
- Tan leather insole and half-lining as per some expensive shoes, replacing synthetic material

After receiving the shoes 2 months later I broke them in, scuffing the leather sole a bit and added Vibram soles.

Quality
- Don't expect fine stitching as per Loakes/C&J/Churches. Kulitkraf is a military/govt. contract supplier.
- Goodyear-welt stitching is not fine.
- Leather soles are cut in a hurry, jagged raggedy edges, etc.
- This is cow hide, so it wrinkles deep.

Cost
- Base shoe: RM110
- Mods: RM50 (or 60? I forgot)
- Vibram sole: RM50
Grand total: RM210

Delivery
- Approximately 2 months

Impressions/Comments
- "Looks like real leather" was one comment
- After polishing, shoes get looks from folks in the elevator

Yeah, L'ababy made me remove the link. He said do it or else... I was afraid he'd commit suicide so I complied.

Eh, I've already posted pics of my Church's. Right now they are out of balance because the heel is too tall due to a stuck-on aftermarket heel. I will bring them to cobbler this week to have them removed. I tried doing it myself just now but the glue was strong, my knife expensive, and I was hungry for dinner so gonna outsource that task.

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Added on July 19, 2010, 10:45 pmHot babe: Hey nice shoes. Where did you get them?

kotmj: Oh thanks. They belonged to my grandfather. He gave them to me before he ...

Hot babe: ...sorry to interrupt, I am in a hurry, but do you want to have dinner with me later?

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Added on July 19, 2010, 10:52 pm
i still have trouble believing it's him.

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Added on July 19, 2010, 11:04 pmTo get this poor thread back on track, let me perhaps explain why I jumped to buy this pair of shoes.

Firstly RM688 is a lot of money to pay for shoes. However, I was actually looking for one at P.Lal the other day but came away disappointed. The new Loake 1880's are made differently! In my pair from 2004, the insole is a thick piece of leather. In the new ones, not only is the leather a bit plasticky, but the insole is made of a strange white suede-like material. There was just no way I was plonking down RM800 for those.

Buying used shoes on eBay has also been frustrating. Most people do not know how to care for their shoes and most are in bad shape. Prices are also surprisingly high.

So when a SF member and shoe fanatic (you know he is when he has a Berluti) sells moderately used, well-kept shoes at below Loake 1880 prices, I jumped.

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Added on July 19, 2010, 11:53 pmooohhh, i found jind's pic.

Here's a side view.

Thanks will give it a shot. Having lunch at a beryani joint near MINDEF I noticed a few Army types having similar shoes but I think they messed theirs up with some sort of liquid gloss.

So far the looks at the shoes in the elevator have been from 2 males. Not what I was looking for. Most folks around here wear loafers.

The corrected grain OLG 1010 brogues which I sometimes wear are nice. RM119.90 and RM25 for a cheaper rubber sole. Bang for buck. I soaked the exposed leather part of the sole with Kiwi Camp Dry. They look much better after polishing.

The wingtips are off-the-shelf Kulitkraf shoes. I asked but they are limited to the tooling they have. They don't do wholecut I think. Have to check their website. Also, no half sizes.

My mad idea is to import cigar shell cordovan and get them to do a pair of OLG 1010s for me!!

(Maniacal laughter).

wonder can get this service from our local cobbler 

Kindly wear them again tomorrow and every day after. I would like to know how a pair of Church's holds up without any rest. Preferably, do not even use the shoetree.

He's just bitter

Like what Cheenoo said.

Anyway, I wonder who is going to take hst's $1,400 Berluti:

Very nice Lobbs. Certainly a win.

Hello gentlemen

I am a lowly student in London Town who has a penchant for suits, shoes, whisky, wine and most other indulgences that one may be able to think of. Being Malaysian, I am pleasantly surprised by a few threads in this forum. At some point in my life, I will probably return to Malaysia and I hope to get to know more about the sartorial (I'm almost gagging at the thought of myself actually using this word) scene there. My collection of note-worthy articles of clothing remain limited at the moment but I would like to share some of them here. I will try my best to contribute to the forum and perhaps use my current location to provide updates on the latest exploits in Northampton and Jermyn Street. Savile Row remains out of reach.

Before I become a bore, here are some of my shoes for your amusement. Pardon me for the bad photo quality.

Loake, Oxfords



Loake (L1, made in India line), full brogues



Church's, Custom grade full brogues



Kurt Geiger, blake-stitched patent leather dress shoes

As much I like goodyear welted shoes, I do draw the line at dress shoes



Reiss, chestnut (or is it closer to ox-blood) "I-don't-know-what-to-call-them" shoes. The leather isn't fantastic and cracked heavily after half a year. It's currently three years old. The only reason why they're not with Oxfam is because I quite like the patina it has developed. Perhaps it's not very visible in the pictures, but this pair's ability to age rather gracefully makes it a joy to polish.



That's all for know. I shall post in the suiting thread very soon. My suits are not spectacular though. Just some heavily altered ready-to-wear ones.

While I cannot give any recommendations in Klang Valley, I do believe that the Isetan in KLCC carries a range of Woly and Church's shoe care products. I remember getting a tube of neutral shoe cream from them a year ago. Even then, I can't give my guarantee that they will have polish or creams in the colours that you want. So don't make that special journey!
Well, I believe that Beau is right in this case. For shoes, most good ones are made in Northampton and from what I hear, if one went to the factory stores there, a pair of C&J can be had for around £100. In London itself, I know of a store selling Loakes for £65 for entry level ones to £85 for those in calf skin. They do Barker calf skins for just below £100. The great thing is that the store is easily accessible and the same prices apply all year round. Plus, they're not seconds. There's a Church's outlet store in Bicester where seconds of their custom grade shoes go for £160. If one can afford them, London gives access to the real John Lobb (not the Hermes owned company) and George Cleverly!

I don't really want to talk about shirts and suits here for the fear of being chastised (there is a suiting thread after all), but since I am asked... The average ready to wear shirt here is much better than the average tailored shirt in Malaysia (be it MTM or supposedly bespoke). For around £25, one get purchase shirts of very decent quality from Charles Tyrwhitt, Hawes and Curtis and T.M. Lewin (I include Lewin with trepidation). They come in a large variety of fabrics (twill, herringbone, pindot etc) and styles. Going a few steps higher in the hierachy of shirts, Turnbull and Asser do offer shirts for around £50 during the summer and winter sales.

Suits are quite a different story however. Most MTM or bespoke suits are hideously expensive. Almost all the lower end tailors outsource their work to Thailand, China or Nepal. Like many tailors in Malaysia, they don't actually know the difference between MTM and bespoke. The ready to wear scene is good though. I just bought 2 suits from Charles Tyrwhitt (one of them a 3-piece) for less than £600 with alterations included. They are made from pure wool (I think they are 110s) fabric milled in Yorkshire and are half canvassed (horse and goat hair). Working cuffs too! Having said all of this, most clothes here are too large for me and need alterations which adds up to the cost.

To sum up, I believe that Malaysia may be cheaper if one really takes the extra mile or in some cases miles. On average though, England is probably cheaper given the prevailing exchange rate. Furthermore, sales assistants and shop owners in England tend to be more knowledgeable than their Malaysian counterparts which takes a lot of frustration away. Please forgive me for being very bourgeoisie by mentioning money (£) very often in this post. I mean to cause no offence but only to provide a point for comparison.

Greetings

I'm glad that my initial post has proved to be of interest. Since this thread is for shoes, I shall keep it that way. I will post a more thoughts and rants about the British tailoring scene in the suiting thread. Without a doubt, shoes are cheap in the UK as long as one know where to go. The last thing I want to do is to pay the full RRP for commonly available shoes. Edward Green, Lobb, Berluti and shoes from a few other artisans are the few that I will be willing to pay full price for if I had the money.
That's a pair of semi-brogue oxfords I reckon. Clearly, it has cemented, synthetic soles which is not to my liking. However, I doubt even 1 in 1000 people will notice that, so I'm just being a pain. For most shoes, I prefer to polish them at least once before I wear them. It gives makes them look less crass in my opinion. Trust me, it does wonders especially on lower end shoes. Just a word of caution, while most leather can be polished, avoid polishing patent leather.

I would match your shoes with a pair of jeans. Something that looks a little on the vintage side will be good. Make sure they're not too baggy ! As your shoes look quite contemporary, I would avoid wearing them with anything more formal than jeans, khakis and cords included. If you want to make a little statement, wear them sockless with shorts! In Malaysia's climate, don't forget to powder your feet if you did that.
I've paid them a visit. I don't fit into their RTW and asked about their MTM. The entry price is £350 but I was told that it usually runs to £450 or so. Well, maybe for Christmas.

Before I move on to the suiting thread, I shall leave you folks with a photo of one of my workhorse shoes. For suede, it sure has taken a lot of punishment and has surprisingly held up quite well. Pictured with it is a replica Victorian shoe horn. I like how the handle has a little dog thing on it.

Those Lobbs are very nice.

But these are nicer still.
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