The Loake Spectator / Co-respondent shoes you see here are from Loake Shoe's 1880 line. These are the top of the range shoes when it comes to buying Loake. Now Loake is considered the most affordable way to acquire proper dress shoes. They are actually reasonable price with a decent set of quality controls in place. I should know as I own a couple of pairs and so did my father before me.
Most of the time we get Loake over at well known PLAL store located along Jalan Gasing in Petaling Jaya. PLal is and has always been a place for Malaysian men throughout the years to head over to if they wanted to buy proper shoes. It brings joy and happiness to me when I head over there. Anyway, the 1880s are actually very well made. Most Loakes are well made to an extent. These 1880s are the best that they can offer and would cost you approximately RM900 here in Malaysia. You get a Goodyear Welted Sole, a stacked leather heel, Calf leather used throughout (no bookbinder or corrected grain leather in the 1880s series). Such quality of leather also increases the cost over normal bread and butter dress shoes.
Now here is a RM2,000 or thereabout derby shoe by Italian shoemaker Sutor Mantellassi. This is something more indulgent and supposedly better than the Loake 1880s. It is also Goodyear Welted, has a stacked leather heel, also uses calf leather. So what makes it more expensive than the highest entry level shoe?
Both use the study Goodyear welted method which means an investment to buy a Goodyear welting machine. That has to be taken into account during production costing. But even though they use the same method of construction, they are different in terms of the sole. The Loake has a channel where you can see the welt stitch. But you can see that the channels for the stitching is closed in the Mantellassi. Usually what this means is that the channel is cut, and the welt is then stitched to the sole and then covered up with filler and glue (you see, GYW does not mean glue free. Note the stacked heels is also glued together before nails are used sometimes). So there is extra work done here by someone in order to make it neater and nicer to look at. Not that you'd need to look at the sole of a shoe in the first place.
Then someone spent some time painting the leather sole of the shoe blue. You know it is painted as there are visible brush strokes. Compare this with the standard tan coloured sole that you'd see on most shoes. Also note the nails added to the front of the sole and the heel. Extra time spent there too.
And then you also notice the slightly better quality control. Note the welt of the shoe at the outside counter (above the heel) is neater on the Mantellassi than on the Loake (right above). This is also where time and effort is put.
There is also a lot more hand finishing on the Mantellassi on the leather uppers. The 1880s is very standard. There is no patina effect whatsoever. On the Italian shoe you get very subtle colouring or patina effect on it. Someone spent some time with cloth and dye to get that effect.
And whilst both are proper calf leather, the one on the Mantellassi is more supple. Not thinner, just more supple. And there is more depth to the colour and shine. It could be better leather is used to make this pair of shoes.
And you also pay for the elegant last of the shoe. Or the shape of the shoe. Which must have meant more effort in order to get the shape correct.
So what does all of this mean?
My personal observation is that on the more expensive dress shoe, there is actually more man hours spent on the shoe. Both have the same construction and whilst it is true the materials used may be slightly better, the main difference is in the quality of finishing and also the time put into it. You also need to amortise the time spent on finishing into the cost price of a product. Time is also money and therefore additional cost. You have to pay artisans to do wonders to the shoes. This is what makes a difference. It is as simple as that.
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