Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati split-toe monkstrap in caramel-colored Radica 03 calfskin with a combination leather/rubber sole (17194, 697 last). Gravati actually has a couple of different leather/rubber soles. One, called the Beverly, has a leather toe and forward part of the heel, with everything else contoured rubber. This rubber is glued onto a leather midsole; so, except for the soles, the shoes are made like any other Blake or Blake/Rapid footwear. Gravati calls the other Centrogomma (my spelling may be off), which, as you Italian experts will recognize, means something along the lines of "center rubber". These soles are mostly leather, but the center of the sole is cut out and a plug of rubber is sewn in. This provides more traction than a regular leather sole, but it also has another benefit: it allows for thick soles to be very flexible. That's the principal reason why Jim Pierce at Harold's in the Heights has taken to ordering most of his Gravati stock with this sole: he can get a beefy-looking sole when the style of the shoe calls for it without it feeling like a beefy sole, which helps him sell shoes. And it mostly benefits those that he sells the shoes to, too.

Evening

Gravati austerity brogue bal in red-brown (Larice) Lama calf with double leather soles (14953, 640 last).