April 8, 2020
Shoe Care might actually be the biggest and most popular subject in the shoe industry. Back when I used to post a lot more about it, as I was a ‘professional’ shoe shiner in London, the vast majority of my emails were about polishing one’s shoes and how to either do it well or how to reverse things that had gone wrong. In fact, I got so many emails on the subject that I simply […]
December 10, 2019
It is not a coincidence that Instagram, YouTube and the rest of the web for that matter is riddled with people taking photos of their shiny shoes next to Saphir products. I can guarantee they are not all paid advertising. Sure a couple might be. But the majority are just normal shoe enthusiasts showing that a great product can give you the results you want with a little know-how and patience. And you can see […]
August 21, 2019
The 2nd hand market is booming these days. I imagine that in the heyday of social media and international clothing access at the edge of one’s fingertips, lots of people bought lots of stuff and then one day woke up realizing they didn’t really need most of it. Hence the amount of ‘buy and sell’s’ there are across many platforms and forums. But selling 2nd hand stuff is not so easy for several reasons that […]
May 3, 2019
I am not going to say that Allen Edmonds is my favorite brand but I have always liked the way they do their brogued oxfords. Something about them always stood out for me. Trying to thinking about it now, it would appear that there are a couple of things that I notice that differentiate them from others: 1. They use double stitching around the brogueing. This feature here is probably the one that really helps […]
March 13, 2019
One thing I have always liked about Allen Edmonds was their boldness to do a lot of braided-leather shoes. From loafers to oxfords and even derbys, they always had braided options in ‘ol catalog. And even better still, they continue offering them to this day and that is what thing I love about this classic American company. The model above is apparently one of their new options added to one of their older models, the Strand. I […]
August 26, 2016
I had a good question from a reader not too long ago and it was all about fit and how big the gap should be between your shoe laces on the facing. I like this question as I feel that there is a lot of misconception about fit and how things should be. Too many people often think that there is a rule and that if the shoes do not fit (no pun intended) […]
August 4, 2016
***Figures have changed since post was originally written*** In the safe world we live in, the black cap toe rules as the ultimate shoe for business wear. It’s usually the first shoe you get when you are a teenager, the one that your parents buy you as your first pair of smart shoes that you will have for special occasions (and then probably never wear). Then again it will most likely be the shoe that […]
June 30, 2013
August 6, 2012
Picture Courtesy of: Style Forum Just over 8 years ago marked my entrance into the shoe industry, a day that I will never forget and will forever be grateful to the people that hired me, giving me a chance to discover what would soon be my future passion: shoes. I never would I have really guessed (the day that I was hired) that I would be where I am today within this industry and seeing […]
June 11, 2012
Goodyear welted Santoni – retailed at $975 5 years ago I used to think that I knew so much about shoes, back when I was just a salesman at Nordstrom and had yet to embark on my European adventures. I won’t hesitate to say though that due to my passion for shoes, I did know more than my co-workers, which ultimately is quite sad when I think about it because looking back it at now […]
