Shoes

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And I thought audio was a deep enough rabbit hole. Here is another pair of shoes made for me by Oblum Shoes, Hyderabad.

After getting into the bespoke shoe "hobby" ;) (thanks to Moktan), I came to know of a very highly sought after leather type called Shell Cordovan. Google is your friend for those who would like to know more. In short it is the tissue that is located under the horse rump that is used in making a variety of items - shoes and wallets being some. There are a few leather manufacturers that specialize in shell cordovan. One of the oldest and widely respected is Horween Leather Co. in Chicago.

I was in Downtown Chicago in September. The Tannery Row in West Chicago is the exclusive outlet for Horween Leather Co. operating almost as an extension of Horween but also has a wide variety of offerings from other tanneries. They were located about 15 mins from my hotel in Chicago. I picked up some Shell Cordovan in what is known as Color 4 which is a brown color shell. Shell Cordovan is an entire subject by itself and I will leave it at that. But will be happy to share more if there is interest.

Back home in Hyderabad, I went over to meet Tarun Oblum to make a pair of shoes for me and I asked for them to made in what is known as a Long Wing Derby or Blucher. Enclosing pictures of my brand new pair of Shell Cordovan Long Wing Derbys.


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Welcome to the cordovan club….my Carmina , Bridlen and Alden Cordovan shoes…the Bridlen cordovan is from Shiniki while the other two are from Horoween…..
 
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Welcome to the cordovan club….my Carmina , Bridlen and Alden Cordovan shoes…the Bridlen cordovan is from Shiniki while the other two are from Horoween…..

Thanks Moktan. If it wasn't for this thread I would probably never have come to know of bespoke shoemaking.
Bridlen, Carmina and Alden ... wow! Did not know that you had those in your collection.


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What an awesome thread, love it…. Thanks to @moktan …. I’ll come to the shoes in a bit, but right now I desperately need a leather cleaner for my new sofa. Everyone in Bombay knows how dusty it can get…. Calling all leather connoisseurs to help me out with this issue. Can the “Meguiars Gold class” leather cleaner/conditioner (used by car owners for their leather seats).
 
What an awesome thread, love it…. Thanks to @moktan …. I’ll come to the shoes in a bit, but right now I desperately need a leather cleaner for my new sofa. Everyone in Bombay knows how dusty it can get…. Calling all leather connoisseurs to help me out with this issue. Can the “Meguiars Gold class” leather cleaner/conditioner (used by car owners for their leather seats).
That or this .. https://amzn.in/d/9FFawA2
 
I am usually extremely weary of following my wife into the mall as I have often bought things that I did not need but yesterday, I let my guard down. The destination was "Metro" to exchange my son's shoes.

Once inside the store, I made the first mistake of asking for the price of a shoe I thought suited me. The owner of the store was immediately at my side extolling the virtues of the shoe. I was reminded of our Members reviews of their favourite audio purchase. Finding the price reasonable and the shoe fitting my tastes, I gave him the go ahead for the purchase. He then brings out another shoe, almost like magic, out of thin air and presents it before me. Again, a simple shoe which suited my taste and was pretty comfortable to wear, soft leather and all, i asked for the price. He evasively said that the price was on the Box. I did not give it a second thought thinking that it would be in the same price range as the one I had already selected and having like the comfort of the shoe, I told him to pack that as well.

On to the billing counter, I was desperately trying to get a peek at the computer to see the final amount of the bill and I saw an amount of 22,000/- on the screen. Must be someone else's bill I told myself and boldly handed over the card for payment. When the device grandly announced the receipt of 22,000/-, I was stunned. I desperately asked the owner of the store for the bill and there was the culprit. The second soft ordinary looking shoe was 12,000/- odd rupees. My voice audibly shaking, I told the owner that it was not fair on his part to bill me the shoe without having informed me of it's price first. I had the option to remove the shoe from the bill but by that time I had already fallen in love with it's soft leather. The owner reassured me that this was a very durable shoe and that I could use it for rough use as well. Although I could not see myself wearing them for the next football practice with my son, he was right. I could easily wear this shoe to my next visit to the supermarket without it attracting any attention.

But as I was walking out the store, i could not shake the nagging feeling at the back of my head that I had just bought the 'Bose' of shoes, 'DaVinchi' by Metro.
 
Sorry to hear that ssf but shoes need not be an expensive exercise. I also buy shoes from "seconds" shops that flog very good shoes at very reasonable prices. The shoes I buy from these shops are in the range of Rs 1,200 - Rs 1,800 and they are extremely decent value.

Here is an example of a brogue pair that I picked up for about Rs. 1,800 a few months ago.

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Sorry to hear that ssf but shoes need not be an expensive exercise. I also buy shoes from "seconds" shops that flog very good shoes at very reasonable prices. The shoes I buy from these shops are in the range of Rs 1,200 - Rs 1,800 and they are extremely decent value.

Here is an example of a brogue pair that I picked up for about Rs. 1,800 a few months ago.
Lovely shoes, Nikil. My intention in the post was not to complain. I found the owner of the shop to be a very clever businessman who accommodates all his clients requests including return of purchases without any reservations. This attitude of his has made it my wife's favourite go to place.

I was however surprised that an ordinary looking shoe although of good quality could cost so much. Thanks again for the heads up on "seconds".
 
BlkBrd Rudiger in Horween Chromexcel, Natural colorway on Royce-B last and sized UK10, EEE (+ a few adjustments specific to the shape of my feet). It is an MTO pair and the customization include Storm Welted Construction, Vibram Fighter Rubber Outsoles and Gusseted tongue.

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These are not my first pair from BlkBrd. My first were Dixon Cap-Toe Derbies in Horween Waxed Flesh, Tan, which I ordered last year. Starting from placing that order to using the Dixons for a year, it had been a roller coaster experience. When I approached BlkBrd last year, I wanted a pair of rugged, water resistant, welted boots. The Waxed Flesh leather was recommended by BlkBrd. Though I had requested BlkBrd to send a pic of the leather, it didn't happen and I forgot to follow-up too. As tan is a rare color for Waxed Flesh, most of the images which show up in Google are for the natural colorway. I liked the leather in natural color, assumed that the tan would be similar and decided to go ahead with the order. Another mistake from my side was the sizing. I placed the original order for UK9, EE. While waiting for the trial pair, I decided to go through the tedious process of measuring my feet. The recommended method is to take several measurements (both length and width) with socks on, spread across several days, at various times of the day, in both seated and standing positions and then average the results. My findings were surprising. While my right foot is about UK9, the left is bigger at UK9.5. The left is also wider than the right. Brands like Bata, Woodland don't have half sizes at all and brands like Clark's which do rarely stock them. Their outlets have convinced me that I am UK9. As expected, when the first BlkBrd trial pair arrived, my feet barely went inside. I got back to BlkBrd regarding the size and was shocked to learn that they had already cut the leather assuming UK9 sizing. They however promised me that they'll have enough margin to go up by half a size. I was also surprised when they told me that they don't have true half sized lasts. To get to say UK9.5, they start with a UK9 and perform a few adjustments to get to UK9.5. This wasn't confidence inspiring. Anyway, they sent me another trial pair - UK9.5, EE fitting. This time my feet could go in, but they were still tight. I also realized that the Royce-B last on which many of their flagship designs are based is relatively narrow compared to similar sized lasts from say Tricker's - the 4497s. BlkBrd recommended to go for UK 9.5, EEE size with a few adjustments to the toe box to make them roomier.

Finally, when the boots arrived, the first shock was the color. The tan colorway is basically a color #8. Though it is actually one of the most popular colorways from house Horween, the burgundy undertones look repulsive to me. I am a brown man. The next shock was when I realized that BlkBrd had missed the gusseted tongue - a necessity during heavy downpours while I am commuting on a two wheeler. I can recall the fit to be fine though. I got back to BlkBrd and they agreed their mistake. They persuaded me to keep the pair and offered me a discount for the next order. When I refused, they offered to attach the tongues to the existing boots or build another pair by scavenging parts from the current one. I wasn't sure about the quality of the resulting boots, so I stood my ground and told them that I'll be shipping the boots back to them. It would be up to them to refund my money but the boots would be useless to me without the water resistance. Finally, they went ahead and made me a new pair. The Dixons have been good to wear except for some discomfort in the toebox, which gets prominent after a full day of wear. I suspect that BlkBrd's method of starting with a UK 9 and getting to 9.5 by making some adjustments is the reason behind this.

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After all this, why did I go back to BlkBrd? After an year with the Dixons, I have started to appreciate their build quality. Heavy Bangalore downpours, muddy roads, footpaths piled with debris from the metro construction, the Dixons have seen it all. But for their color and cramped toebox, they would have been the perfect boots for me. In the meantime, I had also been on the lookout for an easy to maintain, causal looking, water and scratch resistant leather for my next pair of boots. The answer I got is pull-up leather. When it comes to pull-up, very few can beat Horween Chromexcel. The tannery has been producing this leather for over 100 years and owing to its popularity and large volumes at which the leather gets sold, Chromexcel is relatively cheap too. As the leather darkens with age, I feel that the natural colorway which starts out as light brown is the best. For maintenance, Horween only recommends regular application of the Venetian Shoe Cream. A cost no bar service boots in natural Chromexcel would be the ones made by Viberg. Retailing at over 1000$ a pair, they are way beyond my budget. I would say, a close second (in terms of looks) that sells in our own backyard at less than one third the price is Rudiger from BlkBrd.

An year is apparently long enough to heal old wounds and I decided to pull the trigger. This time though, things turned out fine and I am happy with the comfort, fit and finish of the Rudigers. As I have a first hand experience of what could go wrong with BlkBrd, I was proactive in following up about this order. I would recommend BlkBrd to anyone provided they are ready to do the same. Things to keep in mind while ordering from BlkBrd,

1. If the boots are based on the Royce-B, keep in mind that this is a narrow last
2. If they recommend any special leather, request them to share pics on WhatsApp before confirming the order.
3. Request them to ship a trail pair and not just a trial boot! They ship only one boot for the right foot by default
4. Request them to account for the cost of shipping 2-3 trial pairs while quoting the price. If you have asymmetric or wide feet like me, you'll likely need to try more than one pair to get the sizing right!
5. While placing the order, ask them not to mark or cut the leather until the size is confirmed after wearing the trial pairs
6. For MTO boots, keep following up on the customization. Request them for pics at various stages of construction. Sometimes, they don't respond to WhatsApp messages by end of the day. Keep chasing them until they do

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Also, special thanks to @moktan who has been giving me sound advice on boots for more than a year. He has been patient enough to read and respond to my evolving thoughts about boots. He saved me once from spending thousands on Cordovan boots which were meant for use in wet weather. He has a kind of figured out my taste in boots and have generously recommended me options from across the world...
 
BlkBrd Rudiger in Horween Chromexcel, Natural colorway on Royce-B last and sized UK10, EEE (+ a few adjustments specific to the shape of my feet). It is an MTO pair and the customization include Storm Welted Construction, Vibram Fighter Rubber Outsoles and Gusseted tongue.

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I had a customized boot done by them using Norwegian welt 2 years back. I chose the Lauren but using something called inverted leather.
they monogrammed my initials on the sole for me :D
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