Put This On

What I Take Long Walks In

With the exception of running shoes, the most comfortable shoes I’ve worn have always been built on Plantation crepe. Crepe refers to a sort of soft rubber - usually slightly yellow-ish in color - that comes in large sheets. Shoe manufacturers take these sheets, cut them down to the size and shape necessary, and then layer them to form a sole. The result is something that’s very, very comfortable. They make you feel like you’re walking on soft clouds, or more realistically, like those big rubber pads that toddlers play on. 

The upside to crepe is that they’re comfortable, particularly on hard concrete, and look suitably stylish for spring through fall wear. The downside is that they might not last as long as a pair of hard-bottom leather soles. Still, they can still be replaced by an experienced cobbler when the time comes. I’ve also read that crepe can get rigid and crack. I don’t know if this is because of harsh weather conditions or just plain age, but for what it’s worth, that’s never happened to any of my crepe soled shoes. 

There are a number of shoe styles that are commonly made with Plantation crepe - boots, plain toe derbys, moccasins, etc. My favorites are perhaps brown suede chukkas, which I think look particularly nice with cotton trousers, casual shirts, and even the occasional soft-shouldered odd jacket. The pairing of suede and crepe makes for a particularly stylish casual combination, and you can find suede, crepe soled chukkas at a pretty wide range of price points. On the high end, A Suitable Wardrobe has my favorites - a really handsome model that looks sleek enough to be worn with grey wool trousers. For something more casual and affordable, consider Church’s Sahara, Loake’s Gobi, or Clarks’ desert boots. The third retails for about $120, but it’s not hard to find them for under $100. Just Google around or check eBay. 

Camp Mocs

In the last 100 years or so, Americans have invented some of the most classic slip-on shoe styles for men, but they usually start with an idea borrowed from somewhere else. G.H. Bass, for example, invented the classic American penny loafer, but they came up with the idea after having seen moccasin style shoes made and worn by farmers in Norway. Alden, similarly, came up with the tassel loafer when actor Paul Lukas asked if they could make something similar to a pair of tasseled oxfords he picked up in Europe.

Yet another example is the camp moc, which was invented by LL Bean’s founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, in 1936. He came up with a slip on shoe that could be worn out in the wilderness by taking some ideas from Native American moccasins. Like many of his company’s clothes in the mid-century, LL Bean’s camp mocs eventually made their way to college campuses. At that time, many students liked to repurpose outdoor clothes such as parkas, trail mocs, and camp mocs for everyday use. 

LL Bean still makes their camp moc, but I’m afraid it’s not what it used to be. It’s a decent shoe, to be sure, and probably the most affordable one out there at $79. However, the leather quality leaves a lot to be desired.

If you can afford them, you can find better camp mocs from Oak Street Bootmakers, Rancourt, and Quoddy. Rancourt’s has the advantage in being fully made-to-order, so you can customize them however you’d like. Alden also makes a model through their Cape Cod Collection. It’s typically built on a less than ideal driving sole, but Harrison seems to have it available on a leather sole with a stacked heel (less traditional, but nice looking). I also like the ones from Russell Moccasin (Sid Mashburn has better photos) and Eastland’s Made in Maine. Eastland’s Made in Maine collection is significantly better than their mainline (which also has a camp moc), but to be honest, I find them a bit overpriced for their quality. On the upside, they’ve somehow escaped internet hype, so it’s easier to find them on sale and (occasionally) eBay at heavily discounted prices. Their camp moc is a pretty good value if you can find them half off or so, but note that they’re a bit low on the instep.

Two other good makers are Arrow Moccasins and Town View Leather. They’re both small, family-owned operations that make fully handsewn moccasin style shoes. I like them a lot, especially at their modest price point. They give you the option of making your moccasins with a crepe or double leather sole. I have a pair of double leather sole moccasins from Arrow, and like them for short walks and use around the house. Jesse has also taken his for longer walks. The leathers these guys use is thick and supple, and nicely conform to your feet after a few months worth of use. 

At their core, however, camp mocs are meant to be abused and worn down to the ground. Many of the aforementioned brands make camp mocs from higher-quality leathers, which means they’ll last a bit longer and look better with age. However, even the LL Bean ones have a certain charm as they’re falling apart. Buy ones that are right for your budget and feel free to put some hard use into them.

(Photos via Reddit)

Handmade huaraches from Jocotepec by nullboy on Flickr.

I’ve been searching for someone who makes huaraches in Los Angeles, but I haven’t found anyone yet. I figure there must be some cobbler here who makes them in his spare time. The sad truth is that my feet are too narrow for the off-the-shelf version, and I don’t have any trips to Mexico in my immediate future. While I was searching, I came across this gorgeous pair from Jocotepec, in Jalisco. If only I was headed there sometime soon…

A Different Boat Shoe

I’ve finally admitted to myself that my broken-in and beloved pair of boat shoes needs to be retired. For about $60, I wore them almost daily the first summer I had them. And they only felt better after vacationing with them, wearing them into the ocean. I wouldn’t recommend doing that with most shoes, but give it a try with your boat shoes. 

Now that the heels of my shoes have worn down, I’m looking for a new pair. I was going to go back and just re-purchase a pair of Sperry’s, but then I saw this photo of Errol Flynn on a boat, who has a very interesting boat shoe. 

It appears to be a hybrid of between the traditional boat shoe (take a look at the rubber white soles) and a tassel loafer. The wrap-around lacing can be made out along with a longer vamp and no eyelets to tighten the laces. 

Of course, I’ve spent entirely too much time looking for such a shoe that may not even exist. But if you’re looking for a cheap, casual shoe for summer that you don’t have to worry if it gets wrecked at the beach, then consider buying a boat shoe. 

-Kiyoshi

It’s On Sale: Allen Edmonds Wingtips

It’s probably just my personal preferences, but I don’t think all wingtips look great with a suit. I tend to favor wingtips with closed lacing, like the Allen Edmonds McAllister above, just because the lines look a bit sleeker when paired with a suit that’s business appropriate. While not as formal as a plain captoe, it would still look good in any environment where a jacket and tie is required. 

Allen Edmonds is currently having a sale on select models, offering 15%-30% off. The McAllister is on sale for $249, down from $345 with free shipping. Sale ends Monday, April 29th.

-Kiyoshi

Q & Answer: What Shoes Should I Bring On Vacation?

Ben writes: This May, my wife and I are honeymooning in Europe for two weeks. I know that I will be doing a heavy amount of walking. Do you have any suggestions for footwear that will allow me to keep pace with my wife without looking like the ugly American?

Packing shoes for a trip - especially one that requires more than one level of formality - is always tough. When I travel, I fight not to bring more than two pairs of shoes, with one of those pairs on my feet. I don’t always win the fight.

I’ve got plenty of dress shoes that are perfectly comfortable, but none that I’d want to walk miles in. So if I’m bringing a pair of dress shoes to make a big presentation or what-have-you, I’m usually looking to compliment them with a “walking shoe.”

Depending on the season and context, that usually boils down to one of two things: a simple sneaker, or a comfortable boot.

I actually own the Grenson chukka boots pictured above, in a slightly darker brown. I find they work great with jeans or khakis, though I obviously wouldn’t wear them with shorts were I headed somewhere hot. In fact, they’re sort of a three-season shoe - fine anytime but summer. Sometimes I’ll substitute the chunkier, hardier Alden Indy Boot for these. Most importantly, I can put in a few miles on these, and be happy to see them the next day.

I also frequently bring sneakers on trips that will involve walking. As usual, I’d say the simpler the better. Above are a classic, the Adidas Samba. I usually wear Common Projects, which are great but expensive. I’m hoping Kent Wang gets in a full size run of his plain white sneaks soon. And of course if it’s summer, there’s stuff like Jack Purcells and Supergas, among others.

Traveling’s really an exercise in building a capsule wardrobe. You want to carry as few pieces as possible, and have as much interchangability as possible. So: keep it simple, and you’ll be fine.

It’s On Sales: Warm-Weather Shoes

Bloomingdale’s is having their Friends & Family Sale right now, where you can get 20% off almost all items with code FRIENDS. It’s worth looking over their Polo Ralph Lauren, Billy Reid, Barbour and other sections, but I thought I’d point out two somewhat cheap warm-weather casual shoe options. 

This pair of boat shoes from Sperry Top-Sider comes to $68 with the discount (down from $85). I bought a pair of these several years ago and they lasted me about two summers of constant, near-daily wear. The sole is pretty much destroyed at this point at the heel, but it has yet to come unstitched and the leather laces haven’t broken. I’ve been pretty pleased with the value I extracted from them. 

And I would also check out the Tretorn Nylite, now $52 down from $65. I bought a pair last year on clearance in white and wore them this weekend during the warmer weather — sockless, of course. The cushioning is insanely comfortable and the shoe is very light to wear. They look great with casual chinos and a polo or rugby. 

Sale ends Sunday, April 7.

-Kiyoshi

The Single Most Important Shoe Care Tip

I accepted some time ago that few people – including the people I know who are as interested in men’s style as I am – take the time to polish their shoes. Which is a shame because much of the value in good leather shoes is tied into how well you take care of them. The richness and depth of the leather, and the patina that builds over time, are all really brought out with routine polishing. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that a well-taken pair of mid-quality, full-grain leather shoes will always look better than a neglected pair made by some world-class cordwainer.

If you’re not going to polish your shoes, however, then I encourage you to at least take one step: every once in a while, when your shoes start to look a little dry, apply a coat of leather conditioner. Routine application will do more for the health and appearance of your shoes than anything else. It will help bring out the suppleness and richness in the leather, give the color some depth, and most importantly, prevent your uppers from drying out and cracking.

Many shoe enthusiasts prefer to condition their shoes with Saphir Renovateur. Indeed, it’s pretty nice stuff, but also a bit expensive. You’d be perfectly fine, in my opinion, with many of the cheaper options on the market. I prefer Allen Edmonds’ Conditioner and Cleaner, though Lexol is also pretty good (they have it broken up into separate conditioner and cleaner bottles). I’ve used all three and they do the job just fine. The real advantage of Saphir, from what I can tell, is that it smells a bit nicer and comes in a prettier container. Not a totally trivial thing, since it’s nice to make the activity as enjoyable as possible, but if you can’t afford it, don’t sweat it. The most important thing is that you put some conditioner on once every month or two, even if you can’t be bothered to polish.  

(Photo via The William Brown Project)

Width Down, Size Up, That’s the Way We Like To …

… sometimes shop for shoes. That’s because “unusual” sizes are often discounted the most during sale season (or, comparably, end at the lowest prices on eBay). Most people have fairly standard sized feet, but did you know you can fiddle with your shoe size and still find things that fit you? To understand how this works, you have to know something about width measurements.

Shoes come in two measurements – the length and the width. The length is usually a number and the width is an alphabetic letter. My own shoe size, for example, is 9D in the US and 8E in the UK (UK sizes are typically one size down from US sizes). The letters D and E here mean a standard width for someone with a size 9 or 8 length foot.

However, the term “width” is a bit of a misnomer. On face value, it measures the width at the ball of your foot. But this isn’t the only thing that changes when you size up or down in width. As is the nature of “grading” in ready-to-wear, changing the size of one measurement will increase the size of everything else as well, so that proportions are maintained. Just as when you size up on a shirt collar and get a fuller torso and chest, sizing up in width will actually increase the overall volume of the shoe. That is, the overall circumference around the ball of the shoe increases. You can see this demonstrated in these charts. In this way, it’s perhaps most accurate to think of width as “fittings.” Size up a width, and the circumference at the ball of the shoe increases, thus increasing volume. Size down a width, and the circumference shrinks, thus decreasing volume.  

Sometimes, width doesn’t even mean increasing the width at all. It might only mean increasing the circumference and volume. Many, if not most, manufacturers use the same sole pattern for at least two widths. So for the “smaller” width, the last – which is the wooden form that a shoe’s leather is pulled over in order to take a certain shape – gets shallower, not narrower. In these cases, width only measures volume, not actual width.

Knowing this, you can adjust your shoe sizing and still find something that will fit. Size up a width and down a length to get the same volume; or size down a width and up a length to do the same. Last year, for example, I really wanted a certain pair of black oxfords, but my usual size in this model (8E) always sells out during sale season. So, I sized down to a 7.5 and increased the width to an EE (which in the UK is the slightly bigger size than E). Few people are shopping for a size 7.5EE, so I was able to snag a perfectly fitting pair at a good discount. 

I’m reluctant to say this trick will always work, but as of yet, I’ve never found a case where it hasn’t for me. So, if given the opportunity to shop for wider or narrower shoes, sometimes give them a try, and just adjust your length sizing. You might find something on steep discount that still fits you well.

* Many thanks to Rolf Holzapfel for help with this post.