FUGASHIN SAIGON Ghillie Derby shoe

Ho Chi Minh City is mostly known to Malaysians as a place for women to hunt down cheap fabric, textile based products as well as some handicraft. There are also 24hour tailoring hack jobs that would give you a suit over there too. Like Thailand, but it could be even worse depending on your luck. But this isn't exactly true. There ARE proper tailors there and there are fabulous leatherwork to be found over there. One example is this pair of Fugashin Saigon shoes. I bought these when I was over in Ho Chi Minh recently. 

There are a few proper shoemaking establishments in Ho Chi Minh (or Saigon) City. Fugashin  is one of them. I will elaborate on these four later on but let me just show you some photos (totally unfiltered) of the pair of ghillie derby shoes which are now mine. As well as a short review after the photographs.

A unique pair of shoes. It is a derby which has a very open laced system or ghillie type. This type of lacing was usually applied to Scottish ghillie brogues but in recent years have been adopted by the French shoemakers. I remember browsing pictures of Corthay and Altan shoes utilising this style of lacing for their shoes. 

So the shoe is a plain toe ghillie derby. The sole is Goodyear Welted, Closed Channel stitching. There is also a bevelled (fiddle) waist which is shown clearly especially with the sole painting/patina treatment. The heel is also angled or pitched slightly. Very handmade touches here and there, but the unique thing about most Fugashin Shoes is their liberal use of patina. Do a search online and you can see quite amazing patina work done on their shoes. This pair is no exception. 

I suppose the people at Fugashin (a Vietnamese-Japanese JV - hence the 'Fugashin' brand, and sold in Japan too) are very influenced by what a lot of European shoemakers can offer. Especially those from France - Berluti, Corthay, Altan and the ones by patina artists too. 

The handwork on this pair is subtle compared to some others I have seen at their showroom in Saigon. I chose this because of its design, size (fit) availability and its patina. There were some more outworldly patina work but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) I had to choose this because of the sizing. 

The overall quality is quite high. I believe that the leather used is slightly inferior to the Santoni FAM, Stefanobi and Sutor Mantellassi shoes that I have in my collection. It is less buttery in terms of feel but in terms of patina work, it is close to what you would get if you asked a current parina artist from the French brands mentioned above when they work on their shoes. The soles, which have all the hallmarks of a quality shoe (fiddlewaist, hidden channels, nails on heels etc), have been finished a little bit hurried in my opinion with a little bit excess paint in the heel section.

The toe has a chiseled look to it but the toe spring looks a little excessive though. But when I wore the shoe it looks alright (below) and fits well - both up front and at the heel. It is the shape of the last I suppose. 

And speaking about the overall shape, it has that dainty-ness of a Berluti two eyelet derby. I think Fugashin was aiming for that overall look when they brought this shoe out. 

This shoe represents super value for money. I think that when you add the thick leather, goodyear welted construction, the bevelled waist and other nice touches like the angled heel. And a price that is very reasonable for the amount of work done (7,200,000VND after a small discount) it is a fantastic shoe for the price.

There are other more traditional shapes - chisel toes, round toes and various styles in both Goodyear welted and in Blake stitched. Prices start at 2,250,000VND for Blake, between 4,000,000-8,000,000 for GYW and a cool 15,000,000VND for their MTO two eyelet norvegese welted shoes. (I will write about the brand shortly).