sperry topsider -made in brewer maine

In Sperry-speak this is the Authentic Original®. Know to the rest of us as Top-Sider. Sperry have finally jumped in, and now work with Highland Shoe, Co. in Brewer, ME to create this essential item. These are $300, but if you use code FRIEND you can get 25% off (so $225)... I just tried, it works. Sure would wear Arrow Mocs or whatever but grew up in Top-Siders. Question, can you get new soles on these or is that a lost cause, cus I burn through the sole in one summer basically... BTW, incase you wonder, this is a pure "find", Sperry have not contacted me atall.

Yes, you've seen similar factory videos by now but this one worth a look. Happy Friday!

make your socks happy

$5 shoe shine. This guy is a magician. BTW Happy Socks at Marshall's if you go right now.

10e at kaufmann mercantile -why to shine shoes

Had a whiz-bang assignment recently; interview 3 gents about why we shine shoes. Not the how but the physical and chemical, as well as psychological reasons for doing so. I asked a leather guy (Nick Horween), a style guy (Ryan Plett)and a shoe shine guy (local acquaintance Nicolo Timore of the Top Shelf Flea).

Read the result over at Kaufmann Mercantile.

walk-over

Really is mind-blowing living in Massachusetts with the massive amount of shoe-making history that surrounds the state. Walk-Over traces its roots back to colonial times and thus [the naming rights at least -ed.] can lay claim to being the oldest shoemaking business in the States. Fired up to find another storied brand [shoes now made in PA I believe, by HHBrown?]. They are suede, and buck heavy on the site due to some Mark McNairy involvement I believe (see older post at Sartorially Inc with some historical commenting).

Liking these scotch grain brogues above. Available at Orvis. Matt at Men's Threads has some shinier photos. #winter

tretorn -obo gtx shoes

Swedish based Tretorn sent these Öbo GTX waterproofed shoes for a hands on review. Stats: leather upper, waterproof treated and gusseted construction. GORE-TEX® waterproof lining. Textile sockliner of 100% post industrial recycled mesh. EcoOrthoLite® insole. Non-marking Rubber outsole. $170. [update: a little more info on the leather being used here; it is a full grain, aniline water proof leather w/ a slight pull-up. thx @tretorn]


Thoughts: leather definitely has a treated feel, and water runs off. Gore padded lining and cushioned insole suit it for cool weather I would think. Moc-toe aspect appeals. As other Tretorns I have tried these fit true if a hair small. If you planned to wear thick socks (winter) then I would suggest going up a half size -or my M.O. is to remove the liner if wearing thick socks, put it back in when not. Slight duck bill effect, raising front of shoe off the ground. Nostalgic gum rubber sole.

This would seem to sit at a gap in the market if you are looking for a more Scando-option than LLBean boots, or something less utilitarian than Tretorn's pull-on Stråla Vinter Klar (which I happen to like simply for that no frills aspect).

parenting -merrell origins

Attention shoppers, retro geekery ahead. These small person recreations of the 1980s line of Merrell boots are genius. If you are a parent guilty of styling out your kids as timewarp versions of themselves *cough* then look away... $60-$65. They have brought back adult approximations too. Nostalgic fugly colors and some brighter versions. See Merrell Origins for more.

llbean-rubber moccasins

File under essential. Or money well spent. Definition of classic. Here.

shop vid -red wing shoes, amsterdam

This store in Amsterdam is like the Batcave for a heritage Bruce Wayne. The display counters are filled with coal. I don't care why... Red Wing Europe has their own blog Redwing1905 that is the definition of "on-brand", great stuff. We had one of the best meals of our life at an Indonesian place in the 'Dam. "The chef has no restrain with the spices." That was 15 years ago... #memories.

the nylite project

This summer 35 bloggers got sent a pair of Tretorn Nylites. Canvas tennis sneakers. Part of the preppy cannon. You'll recognize a few faces. Jake Davis broke it down ages ago, good stuff. See what happened at The Nylite Project.

timothy fenwick jr

Fenwick spends the whole movie in white canvas plimsolls of some kind, maybe Converse, hard to tell. Last pic from the "football quiz" scene in the rec' room. Don't say you never saw this one...

now THOSE are double leather soles

Over the last 15 years I've tried a few times to resurrect these Chippewa moc toe boots. Mostly just coats of mink oil, but I think now I needed to step up to some kind of bottled oil... The leather began ripping at the outstep and though I love the 3-nail toes, the soles and heels needed to be replaced.


These boots have been on 10e before. Paging Chippewa: please bring back some kind of moc toe boot like this. They don't currently offer one. Definitely not one with hex lugnut eyelets... Have never seen them before or since these boots of Pops'.

Arthur in Somerville field-dressed the ripped leather (see below), replaced the heel and double leather sole and put in 3 nails at the toe. Very thick leather upper he says. Not made like that anymore...

alden longwings w/ red brick sole

Special makeup available at FransBoone in the Netherlands. Honestly don't care about the soles as much... just great shots. Hat tip to Mr.Crew.

the mr. men wear trickers

More Mr. Men books.
Trickers footwear.

george boots

"George boots", these black ankle boots (almost threw up a bit writing ankle boots) are standard issue for British military mess dress. As with many other pieces of miltary kit, they are well made, no nonsense and not too expensive. Sanders & Sanders in England produce them, and offer them to civvies for about $200. Other retailers offer the same Sanders boots for less, e.g. MessDress.



Being a British schoolboy with friends and family in various regiments I had a few pairs handed down to me; worked great with jeans for a teeenager. You can get them secondhand for almost nothing if you keep your eyes peeled. The jodhpur strap version mixes it up a bit if you need something less plain, but the George is just a simple, solid, inexpensive boot (with a good backstory). #recommend

dexter hiking boots

Above via SmallEarthVintage. All others eBay





Classic silhouette from these old Dexters. Like the rawhide laces on the set-up below... Not as practical for untying after getting wet though. Looking closer, these aren't leather laces below... Still like them.


The below is paraphrased from wiki so tread lightly, but great backstory, and certainly New England-centric... The current Dexter shoe "barns" are shadows of their 70's, 80's selves...

Harold Alfond (March 6, 1914 – November 16, 2007) was an American businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and established the first factory outlet store.

Alfond was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts, on March 6, 1914, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Simon and Rose Alfond.

After graduating from high school in 1934, Alfond got a job at Kesslen Shoe Company in Kennebunk, Maine, where his father worked. In a short time, he rose from odd shoe boy to factory superintendent. In 1940, Alfond and his father bought a shoe factory in Norridgewock, Maine, and founded Norrwock Shoe Company. They sold the company to Shoe Corp. of America in 1943 and Alfond stayed on as president for 25 years.

In 1956, Alfond left, purchased an old woolen mill in Dexter, Maine and founded Dexter Shoe Company. There, he produced shoes for the private label catalog market, supplying stores such as Sears, JC Penney, Spiegel, and Montgomery Ward & Co.. Although Dexter was successful from the beginning, Alfond tired of being controlled by a few large customers and decided to go into the "branded" business. He developed a line of shoes under the Dexter name, hired a sales force and began selling to independent shoe stores across the country.

Alfond is often credited with the invention of the factory outlet store. Because factories make mistakes, not all shoes come out as first grade. The mistakes are called FDs (factory damaged) [love this stuff -ed.]. The practice in the industry was to sell these FDs to jobbers for about a dollar a pair, who would then resell them for five times their cost. Alfond thought that was a pretty good mark-up so in the 1960s he opened an outlet store at Dexter's Skowhegan factory and started selling his own FDs. Soon, the factories weren't making enough mistakes to supply the store so Harold decided to put in stale inventory (first grade shoes that weren't selling in the wholesale market). This worked so well that Dexter's log cabin style outlet stores started popping up on all the heavily traveled roads throughout New England.

lodger footwear

One of the small missions of Lodger is to bring back the colour oxblood to the modern man's wardrobe. This isn't a fashion colour, and it isn't something for one season. It's a staple. Our full brogue in oxblood is the perfect answer for blue suits that have been bored to death by black shoes. If you're really adventurous, try it with grey.
-via Lodger

Lodger use a 3D laser scan and last builder if you want custom fitted, but in any case all shoes handmade at their English factory. Have seen a few notes about them around but full on data-mining below. Like their note on oxblood above, plus I'm allergic to black shoes with blue suits. Prices between ouch and boing but still, wow...