G & G Finishing Imperfections: Acceptable?

[cdmoore1855]



I heard some nasty things today from someone who is in the business and who I consider to be in the know .

spill the beans, nasty stuff about whom.

 

[ShayaEXQT]

Quote:

I find it weird that people will pay a premium for things made by hand, and then complain when the handmade items have the types of inconsistencies and imperfections that are.... generally found on things made by hand

also if it can't only be seen when squinting your eyes or on 12x zoom on your camera is it really that big of a deal? as long as the shoes isn't going to fall apart!!!

 

[Cravate_Noire]

I heard some nasty things today from someone who is in the business and who I consider to be in the know .

care to divulge? Otherwise, my response is.....yay? We're glad to know that you know something? It seems like you're implying some disparaging situation that G&G wouldn't like to be shared. Imagine if you walked into a real conversation and said this without elaborating. Kind of bratty/douchey no?

Sorry, I was still travelling.
The first batches of G&G that were delivered to him had, besides the issues Will had mentioned, merely cosmetic fiddleback waists that were a construction catastrophy.
Instead of shaping the waists upwards to the natural waost of the foot they were just like an additive at the bottom of the soles to get the fiddleback effect.
Therefore the fiddle was scratching at the ground where the sole and waist were meeting what caused physical damage to the waist/fiddle and could result in a breaking waist in the worst case after long time wear.
Also that guy was present at a trunkshow where a bespoke measirement was rather based on the fit of EG lasts than on actual, individual measurements (it was rather like "202, E width, etc.).
I consider this particular info as irrelevant though, as I cant imagine that this is normal procedure and had a particular reason (and I think that the G&G bespoke clients here can confirm that).
However, the other issues last, I also had a first close look at current rtw shoes 2 days ago and found that there were finish issues a la scratches etc. but the problem with the waist/fiddleback was resolved (though I dont consider this to be a "real" fiddleback you see on some bespome shoes.
The overall judgement of my man in the know was that a lteast in the beginning they wanted far too much at once and didnt take their time to develop the production so that it would work perfectly (possibly to get quickly a ROI as they may have been under pressure).
Also the hype on the internet seems to have created high expectactions that were not fullfilled ( in an interview one of the G&G guys said that without the internet it would have taken several years longer to get the sale volumes they have, IIRC).

 

[cdmoore1855]

We need to remember the first RTW and MTO's were produced by Alfred Sargent and were the first attempt to make production shoes like this at this price point. There were some issues and they decided to produce in their own atelier instead and they are continually trying to improve things.

As for the bespoke being more a tweak of a RTW last, Its possible that the customer mentioned that particular last fitted him so well that Tony opted to use that a base for adjustments. It would of course be good to know how satisfied he was with the fit, if he was satisfied then perhaps Tony's route to get there was justified.