Maftei Shoes - Vienna - Bespoke, MTO , RTW

[dan'l]

@minimalko, nice first post and welcome to the forum!

Would you like to share some photos of your shoes with us?

 

[stephenaf2003]



I am fortunate enough to live very close to Vienna. Past years, I have been a loyal Carmina and Vass costumer. Then I found Maftei and there is no way of going back to the RTW shoes market.

Lucien Maftei, the last maker is a very nice and humble person, who really knows feet and shoes. The very first pair he made needed no adjustments at all.

While having closet full of handwelted RTW shoes, Mafteis are basicaly the only shoes I wear now. The shoes fit like leather socks. At  price of 900 EUR for a pair, I think there is no competition.

Now I only wish I would have realized earlier that it is much better to have one pair of more expensive perfectly fitting quality shoes instead of 2 pairs of less expensive quality shoes that fit just ok.    

Matej

You summed up my experience as well. I own several models of EG, Carmina, Bonafe, Vass, Zonkey, St. Crisp, but none of them come close to my Maftei in terms of fit. When price is factored in it is a Maftei slam dunk.

 

[minimalko]

@minimalko , nice first post and welcome to the forum!

Would you like to share some photos of your shoes with us?

Sure, Here is a picture of my black plain captoes (old english) for example as I am wearing them this very moment.

 

[minimalko]

Here are two pictures of my second pair of Maftei shoes. This time I went for brown half brogue oxfords. I asked Lucian to alter the last for this pair so the shoes are a bit longer and rounder than the black shoes. No natural light here at the moment, so the pictures were taken under a table lamp. Sorry about that.





I asked Lucian for the hollow shoe trees. They fill every inch of the shoe since they are in fact a handcarved copy of the last used for making these shoes. The trees are just awesome! Maftei also offers a hand carved three piece shoe trees which are very old world in a beautifiul way. For my next pair, which is currently work in progress, I am deffinitely going to go for these shoe trees.

Matej

 

[stephenaf2003]



Here are two pictures of my second pair of Maftei shoes. This time I went for brown half brogue oxfords. I asked Lucian to alter the last for this pair so the shoes are a bit longer and rounder than the black shoes. No natural light here at the moment, so the pictures were taken under a table lamp. Sorry about that. I asked Lucian for the hollow shoe trees. They fill every inch of the shoe since they are in fact a handcarved copy of the last used for making these shoes. The trees are just awesome! Maftei also offers a hand carved three piece shoe trees which are very old world in a beautifiul way. For my next pair, which is currently work in progress, I am deffinitely going to go for these shoe trees. Matej

I'm curious what others experience is with that style of shoe tree. After three wearings of the shoe, mine has become very loose on one of the trees and loose on the other. I'm going to try the old world style tree the next time.

 

[minimalko]



I'm curious what others experience is with that style of shoe tree.

After three wearings of the shoe, mine has become very loose on one of the trees and loose on the other. I'm going to try the old world style tree the next time.

Are you sure you got the handcarved trees? They cost extra, by default the shoes come with more basic trees, that are a little loose here as well.

 

[stephenaf2003]

Yes, quite sure.

 

[ThinkDerm]

love this!

 

[Mike147]



Yes, quite sure.

Do the shoes still fit your feet?

I don't think shoe trees need to fit your shoes like a glove in order to be functional. Hopefully they 'work' well which is most critical. I'd like to try the 3-piece trees next time as well.

 

[justsayno]

Wish maftei visited SF

 

[stephenaf2003]



Do the shoes still fit your feet?

I don't think shoe trees need to fit your shoes like a glove in order to be functional. Hopefully they 'work' well which is most critical. I'd like to try the 3-piece trees next time as well.

Yes, they are my second best fitting pair. True, shoe trees don't need to fit like a glove. However, one of the important functions of a shoe tree is to help maintain the shape of the shoe. With the one tree though, it's lost it's ability to help in that way.

 

[Mike147]



Yes, they are my second best fitting pair. True, shoe trees don't need to fit like a glove. However, one of the important functions of a shoe tree is to help maintain the shape of the shoe. With the one tree though, it's lost it's ability to help in that way.

I'm sure that Maftei will make you another pair of trees. If you are concerned about it, shoot them an email. The 3-piece trees that Gerd has posted pictures of on a few threads look awesome. The standard trees I have for my shoes are great.

 

[ericgereghty]

I am fortunate enough to live very close to Vienna. Past years, I have been a loyal Carmina and Vass costumer. Then I found Maftei and there is no way of going back to the RTW shoes market.

Lucien Maftei, the last maker is a very nice and humble person, who really knows feet and shoes. The very first pair he made needed no adjustments at all.

While having closet full of handwelted RTW shoes, Mafteis are basicaly the only shoes I wear now. The shoes fit like leather socks. At price of 900 EUR for a pair, I think there is no competition.

Now I only wish I would have realized earlier that it is much better to have one pair of more expensive perfectly fitting quality shoes instead of 2 pairs of less expensive quality shoes that fit just ok.

Matej

Is this pricing list still up to date? Pretty excellent deal at 1100 Euros w/a personalized last.

 

[minimalko]

Yes, I just picked up new pair last week. I paid 950 including the three piece handcarved shoe trees.

 

[ericgereghty]

Yes, I just picked up new pair last week. I paid 950 including the three piece handcarved shoe trees.

This may be a dumb question, but do you know if there listed prices are inclusive or exclusive of VAT? Based on the already low-ish prices, my bet would be they are exclusive?