Proper leather shoes

I've got four pairs of Cheaneys, I think they're all quite subtle.

You've bought from the wrong range Neil....

These tickle your fancy Neil?

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Or you could express your support for brexit with these numbers...

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And finally these gems...

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Their normal shoes are lovely, but their contemporary range are almost trickers level of lairyness.

These are one pair - only took one pic. They looked like the pretty standard range

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Shoe trees half price in MUJI

Anyone want some Barker Gatwicks in 10.5 for £35 (preferably collected from central London, plus £5 for posted). They're in pretty good shape, new laces and recently cleaned and polished. Soles had rubber put on - they'll need resoling at some point but fine for now. Shoe trees not included, sorry.

Grim.

Yeah but thought I'd post in case they were someone's vibe

Aye, different strokes an all.

Right, I fancy some oxblood long wing derby brogues. Loake Royal seem classic and reasonably priced. Ther are some lovely lightly pre-owned Paul Smith on eBay but not sure I wanna pay 120 smackers for someone else's shoes.

Loakes

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Paul Smith.
Any other contenders?

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My Dolce&Gabbana are similar, and quite long. Not sure if you can find a pair cheap like I did, though.

Cheers. Any opinions on quality of Paul smith Italian range?

I can't remember the last time I saw a pair to play with, you're probably better finding a store with the stock to handle first. I do like the few Paul Smith Italian made shirts and jackets I've had though, quality was quite okay.

Egg sucking tips along the lines of manipulating the leather with your hands and seeing what happens. It's going on your feet and on the ground, so any store that doesn't want you handling shoes like this is selling for show not for wear...

A good leather will hold its shape and resist flexing, but depending on its thickness will still move about. Shit leather will crinkle under your finger as you press into it. Press into it, and pull (like scratching an itch, but without your nail). The shoe needs to give, not fall apart.

Flex the upper along the ankle area, lacing, and vamp, don't push hard on top of the toe but give it a squeeze on the sides. Most shoes betray their quality between vamp and toe, where you always get those creases. If there's a welt pull it away from the upper a little, squeezing back the upper and make sure it's well connected.

Check the heel blocks, push your nail into them somewhere inconspicuous, ideally on the inside beside the midsole, they shouldn't feel like cheese. Pull the shoe in the motion like stepping to feel how thick the sole is. Put your thumb on the midsole and pull the shoe the wrong way like going upstairs with your heel dropped, should be limited or no flex. Bend the sole like the extent of a long stride and see how much flex there is in the upper and sole. Push your thumb bang in the middle of the largest area of the sole, where you experience the most wear and make sure there is no noticeable give.

All that takes seconds to check like you probably know. Someone else here may disagree with me, I probably made a mistake somewhere there.

That it really helpful, for me its not egg sucking at all. Thanks for taking the time to write it :)

https://www.meermin.es/articulo.php?idArt=4635#

Oh they look nice! But I've got something about Oxblood right now...

I always drool over the Meermin site but sizing worries have always stopped me from ordering.

Yeah I realised they weren't oxblood but thought it might be worth tempting you 😎

What size feet are you?

I've found their sizing to be accurate

12.

I'm sure they are but I'd like to try on a pair of shoes before dropping £200+

Is returning them easy?