November 19, 2019
I like monkstraps as dress shoes, but after seeing this sneaker variation by Santoni, I am questioning if I actually like them better as a plim sole smart shoe. When I saw these Santoni’s I was blown away. Everything about them, for me, was perfect. I love black suede. I love the leather piping instead of stitching on the apron. I love that they are all black, suede and sole. And I love that they […]
July 30, 2019
There is another new shoe brand on the scene, offering welted shoes out of Spain with rubber soles and lasted shoe trees. All packaged nicely together at around $360-$385. That comes with free worldwide shipping. And their name is Amblier. Amblier is the house brand from the online shoe retail, The Sabot. And the Sabot was created by two gentlemen, one silent partner and one very recognizable @Erikged from Instagram. They came on the scene […]
July 23, 2019
Suit Supply has shared with me their Final Sale Outlet link as a sneak preview before it goes live. Here are some of the shoes that caught my eye that I wanted to share with all of you. Of course there are more than just shoes there and some great prices so here is to happy shopping!!! Unfortunately this is currently limited to the US so sorry for all of you that are outside. Use […]
July 4, 2019
Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July and the long weekend to follow! I hope that everyone enjoys themselves this weekend and takes some time to relax and enjoy the beauty of Summer! And since, I was writing a lot of strong words about dressing overly casual recently, I thought that I would back up what I say by showing what I wear in the tropics when it is 90F (32C) and 70% humidity. Not […]
June 20, 2019
It is a myth that suede is not good for rain. This statement is only true when your suede is not of good quality. So clearly the person that created this worldwide myth was wearing poor quality shoes because the reality of it is that suede is THE BEST option to wear on rainy days. Allow me to explain why: Good suede doesn’t leave an indication that has it rained. I.e. it doesn’t leave water […]
April 26, 2019
Blog Readers, The last two years have been a good learning experience and a classic case of small business growing pains. Most of you won’t feel or know this but around a year and a half ago the market seemed to drastically change overnight. It would appear that you all realized that you had too many shoes or wanted to start dressing more casually or a combination of both. So the sales for the upper […]
April 9, 2019
When I first started the JF line, one blog reader used to tell me, ‘Justin when you add a black crepe sole to a pair of dress shoes, I will be the first to buy them and you can name them after me.’ I always thought it would be a cool idea but not really the easiest material to source and on top of that not the easiest to market to more than this customer […]
March 8, 2019
I don’t really dress as bold as I used to. Not sure if it’s laziness, that I am getting older and just don’t care anymore about much other than making my thought process less stressful so just resort to simple colors or the fact that my tastes are actually changing. I think the latter is probably the least likely as I still appreciate seeing men go bold, like our good friend Sanjay here of @windowstomysole […]
February 1, 2019
While I am on the subject of impressive makers, one of my favorite Italian shoemakers that has gone under the radar for far too long, is Ducal Firenze. I remember discovering them at Pitti Uomo Summer of 2014 (crazy how time flies as that feels like yesterday that I was there!) and being blown away by this shoemaker in an unassuming stall amongst the masses found at this trade show. I wrote a post about […]
January 14, 2019
There is new-ish, young Italian brand doing some very bold and interesting things. And their name is Edhen Milano. What first caught my eye was their take on the double monk loafer, as popularized by Santoni some years back. Then what got me really looking was their take on the Butterfly loafer, as seen above. I liked the pairing between suede and leather and even more so the burnishing on the brogueing bits which I […]
