- Joined
- Saturday August 27, 2011
- Location
- North East Scotland
NOTSHARP said:I decided to treat myself to a new pair of shoes, and found a good offer on line for some Loake brogues.
I received them yesterday.
They looked OK
However, I could not get my feet into them :icon_sad:
Usually, I'm fine with a size 10, G fitting, so I thought that I would just check the size marked inside the shoes to make sure no mistake had been made.
That's when I noticed this :
I could see nothing in the booklet to say that they were not made in England.
I have four other pairs of Loake shoes, all English made.
Is this the way of things now ?
I have returned them, and, in the meantime, crossed Loake off the list :icon_rolleyes:
Steve
NOTSHARP said:Ken,
Try 'before you buy' is not easy up here. To find a stockist with a decent stock would entail a 100 mile round trip. Many folks in Scotland rely on mail order. I don't have a problem with it. The fact that the shoes didn't fit was strange, as my other Loakes' of the same size, do. My concern was that I thought that I had ordered English made shoes.
Certainly, the quality looked OK, and your comments seem to bare that out.
Steve
NOTSHARP said:Ken,
Try 'before you buy' is not easy up here. To find a stockist with a decent stock would entail a 100 mile round trip. Many folks in Scotland rely on mail order. I don't have a problem with it. The fact that the shoes didn't fit was strange, as my other Loakes' of the same size, do. My concern was that I thought that I had ordered English made shoes.
Certainly, the quality looked OK, and your comments seem to bare that out.
Steve
Ken T M said:NOTSHARP said:Ken,
Try 'before you buy' is not easy up here. To find a stockist with a decent stock would entail a 100 mile round trip. Many folks in Scotland rely on mail order. I don't have a problem with it. The fact that the shoes didn't fit was strange, as my other Loakes' of the same size, do. My concern was that I thought that I had ordered English made shoes.
Certainly, the quality looked OK, and your comments seem to bare that out.
Steve
Steve,
I hadn't realised you were so far out. I apologise if I came across a bit brusquely.
I have a very hazy recollection of a man at the discount shoe store on Strutton Ground (Victoria, London) telling me that L1's manufacture to width G as standard, meaning that I can shoe a 10 in L1's, very comfortably (I have slightly hobbity wide feet), but with most other off-the-shelf shoes I wear size 11's, with my toes peering into a vast cavern at the end of the shoe.
Was the shoe too narrow or too short, or something else?
pugh-the-special-one said:NOTSHARP said:Ken,
Try 'before you buy' is not easy up here. To find a stockist with a decent stock would entail a 100 mile round trip. Many folks in Scotland rely on mail order. I don't have a problem with it. The fact that the shoes didn't fit was strange, as my other Loakes' of the same size, do. My concern was that I thought that I had ordered English made shoes.
Certainly, the quality looked OK, and your comments seem to bare that out.
Steve
Hi Steve there are very good shoe and boot makers in Scotland, I purchased a pair of hunting boots from Hoggs of Fife many years ago, here's the link have a look you might be surprised.
http://www.fifecountry.com/hoggs-of-fife-b31
Regards Jamie.
Ken T M said:I don't know enough about shoe manufacture, or have enough comparable experience to express a valid opinion on whether the durability and quality of finish is better in England/India/Italy/Kathmandu, and so I am not predisposed to believe that shoes finished in India are of a lower standard.
Nevertheless, I do know that for a fraction of the cost of most English "name" shoes (Loake, Church, etc.), you can pick up shoes of a much finer grade of leather in Spain, in an excellent finish. This is largely because Spain still has over 100 tanneries, some employing hundreds of people, meaning that leather as a raw material in Spain is a lot cheaper than in England, where there are probably fewer than a dozen tanneries, judging by online presence (although short of contacting the UK Leather Foundation, I can't support this). By it's very nature, however, the finer grade means that these shoes require considerably more care to last as long, so perhaps the trade-off is not that great.
And yes, I am a regular tubthumper for most things Spanish. Except Catalunya, which can snap off and sink into the Med for all I care.
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