How to recognize a well made shoe?

[Charley]

Quote:

(RJMan @ May 05 2005,12:30) If it says "Kenneth Cole" on the inside, it's not a well-made shoe.
Is the Kenneth Cole label blake stitched or welted on there?
I also look for the heel widest part to be wider than the final toe ending.

 

[LabelKing]

It seems higher quality shoes have a distinct coloration of the leather which shows a high end product.

 

[alchimiste]

What kind of coloration? Do you have a picture?

 

[A Harris]

Don't think I'm ignoring you alchimiste, it's just that 'how to recognize a quality shoe' is a simple matter with the shoes in front of you to demonstrate, but extremely difficult to express in words. The exact differences are subtle, but add up to far more than the sum of their parts...

I'll think on it, and perhaps will hit on a way to explain it in the future.

 

[alchimiste]

Can't you ask Vass to make bad shoes and post pix to compare to the good Vass?

 

[johnapril]

Johnapril, did the stitches BREAK or did they start to fray?  Shoe stitching rope is pretty heavy duty stuff -- if it really broke ALL THE WAY through, that's a DEFECT.  If it just started to fray (maybe a few broken threads), that's pretty normal for an exposed stitching shoe.

I took a look at that shoe again. It appears that three of the stitches did as you said: they frayed. It alarmed me when it happened because I had never owned a pair of shoes like this before, and I didn't know what to expect. When I saw the stray threads peeking out from underneath the shoe, I thought:

1) My arch is so screwed up that I can ruin a perfectly good pair of shoes in a wearing.

2) Alden ain't all dat.

3) This is a defect.

But if you say fraying of exposed stitches is normal, OK. Still, wouldn't a shoe with a channel and concealed stitching be a better/more durable option?

 

[dah328]

It seems higher quality shoes have a distinct coloration of the leather which shows a high end product.

Would you describe that as the difference between full grain and corrected grain leather or is it something else?

dan

 

[Alexis]

Quote:

(LabelKing @ May 06 2005,01:10) It seems higher quality shoes have a distinct coloration of the leather which shows a high end product.
Would you describe that as the difference between full grain and corrected grain leather or is it something else? dan
subconsiously, perhaps

 

[Manton]

Quote:

(LabelKing @ May 06 2005,01:10) It seems higher quality shoes have a distinct coloration of the leather which shows a high end product.
Would you describe that as the difference between full grain and corrected grain leather or is it something else?
Corrected grain leather is a skin that has been scraped (or sanded) down to be free of "impurities" or irregularities. Rod Rider recently posted that a lot of these leathers are also chemically treated after the scraping process. The result is a very uniform looking skin that is also somewhat (in my opinion) fake and plastic looking. I believe the color variation on finer leathers is the product more of polishing techiniques, e.g., "antiquing."