Today's Shoes

Day

GJ Cleverley bespoke side-elastic shoes with twin-needle stitching on the apron in dark burgundy calfskin with single leather soles.

Evening

Gravati three-eyelet half-brogue bluchers with a modified U-throat in antiqued tan calfskin (Gravati calls it Betis -- it's aniline-dyed calfskin treated with alcohol to strip the finish off partially to make it susceptible to neutral creme, which, when worked in, darkens the leather) with double leather soles with a central rubber plug (16407, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Alden high-lace wingtip blucher boots in dark brown (cigar) shell cordovan with double leather soles (Plaza last). These boots were special make-ups LeatherSoul in Hawaii. Cigar shell cordovan apparently has gotten very difficult to find, and Alden merchants are reporting wait times of many, many months or longer for their cigar make-ups. The good news is that LeatherSoul has been reordering these in Color #8.

Evening

Gravati four-eyelet plain-toe bluchers in dark brown grained (Lama) calf with combination leather/rubber soles (16532, 640 last)

Today's Shoes

Gravati plain-toe monkstrap in dark brown peccary with a combination leather/rubber sole (16371, 640 last). It was supposed to be rainy all day today, and the rubber sole seemed appropriate for the weather.

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati cap-toe bals in medium brown grained calfskin (Lama, color Larice) with single leather soles (16592, 500 last).

Evening

Gravati wingtip bals in walnut brown waterproof suede with thick combination leather/rubber soles (15902, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati split-toe monkstrap in caramel-colored Radica 03 calfskin with a combination leather/rubber soles (17194, 697 last). The principal complaint that I have with Gravati is the way they do their sockliners. They're longer to hit the foot just behind the ball, and they're glued down with glue that's not perfectly suited for the task. The result is that the sockliner can sometimes peel back partially and ball up underneath the arch of the foot, making walking unpleasant. The only solution to this problem is to cut out the curled-up portion of the liner with an X-acto knife. This happened to these shoes, and it's the reason why I get all of my Gravati special orders with a full-length sockliner.

Evening

Gravati four-eyelet plain-toe bluchers in dark brown grained (Lama) calfskin with combination leather/rubber soles (16532, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati punch-cap high-lace bal boots in dark brown calfskin with single leather soles (10278, 683 last).

Evening

Gravati plain-toe monkstraps in dark brown peccary with combination leather/rubber soles (16371, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

GJ Cleverley bespoke split toe bluchers with handsewn apron and toe seams in dark tan Russian reindeer with double leather soles. It's been a while since I've worn these last; and when I first put them on, there was an odd squeaking when I flexed my foot. I think that the felt that fills the void formed by raising the feather (this is a cork amalgam in factory-made shoes, but not with bespoke shoes) had lost its adhesion to the insole. With wear through the day, the glue softened up or something, but the squeaking went away. This has actually happened with both of my Cleverley Russian reindeer pairs of shoes. I don't exactly like it, but I doubt that tearing the shoes apart to fix the problem would be in the long-term best interests of my shoes.

Evening

Gravati plain-toe monkstraps in dark brown peccary with combination leather/rubber soles (16371, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati plain-toe side-zip ankle boots in dark brown kangaroo with single leather soles (16821, 683 last). One of the things that makes Gravati the best value of the mid-level Italian makers is their attention to detail that most of their competition misses. Moreschi, another mid-level Italian maker, also has a side-zip ankle boot. In their side-zip ankle boot, the back side of the zipper rubs against the ankle and lower calf. That's not very comfortable, and it's hell on socks. Gravati solves this problem by having a narrow strip of leather covering the underside of the leather. It's a very small design feature that probably added virtually nothing to the cost of materials or the time it took to make the boots. But it makes a world of difference to how useful and wearable the boots are.

Evening

Gravati plain-toe saddle bals in medium brown (Nicotina) peccary with combination leather/rubber soles (15578, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati three-eyelet wholecut bal in burgundy grained calfskin (Lama) with single leather soles (14391, 683 last).

Evening

Gravati cap-toe bals in navy blue grained calfskin (Lama) with double leather soles (15537, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Gravati four eyelet plain-toe bluchers in dark brown grained calfskin (ebano lama) with a combination leather/rubber sole (16532, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Vass Theresianer high-lace punch-cap blucher boots with a rows of broguing along the edge of the quarters and behind the eyelets in tobacco suede with single leather soles (F last). The boots pictured above are made in identical suede and on the same last as mine, but they lack the broguing that my boots have. I would very much like to have the same sort of boot in an identical suede only as a balmoral boot instead of a blucher.

Evening

Gravati three-eyelet half-brogue blucher with modified U throat in antiqued tan calfskin with a thick combination leather/rubber sole (16407, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Gravati five-eyelet plain-toe blucher boots in antiqued tan calfskin with a rubber lug soles (15950, 640).

Today's Shoes

Day

Stuart's Choice four-eyelet plain-toe bals with floating medallions and a chevron-shaped throat in dark brown calf with single leather soles. Quality in shoes does not vary linearly with price. By that, I mean that an $800 pair of shoes isn't likely to be twice as good as a $400 pair of shoes. A 100% increase in price may only yield a 10% or 20% increase in quality of make. Stuart's Choice shoes, made by Grenson, are maybe 20% to 30% lower in price than Edward Green shoes, but they are nearly Edward Green's equal in quality (my principal objection is the quality of sole leather used -- EG's soles are like iron, while Grenson's are not). And yet, I would still rather have EG shoes, as evidenced by the fact that I usually war these when the forecast calls for rain.

Evening

Gravati plain-toe monkstraps in dark brown peccary with combination leather/rubber soles (16371, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Vass cap-toe bals in burgundy calfskin with beveled single leather soles (P2 last). The shoes above are the same model (Vass calls it Alt Englisch) in a different color leather, last (Peter), and waist treatment. Unusual for a cap-toe bal, this shoe has a heel counter. Notice also the throat -- those small swoosh-like pieces of leather there are also unusual on this style of shoe.

Evening

Gravati four-eyelet plain-toe bluchers in dark brown grained (Lama) calf with combination leather/rubber soles (16532, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Gravati cap-toe bluchers in navy blue grained calfskin (Lama) with thick single leather soles (15537, 640 last). I say that the soles are thick, single leather ones, but that's a bit incomplete. They're normal single thickness around the waist but thicker around the balls of the feet. The waist is also beveled and close-cut, so the thinning of the sole from ball to waist has the effect of making the waist look even trimmer. It's a nice effect.

Today's Shoes

Gravati three-eyelet half-brogue bluchers with modified U throat in dark brown waterproof suede with a rubber lug sole (16407, 640 last). Another rainy day, another rain-appropriate shoe.

Today's Shoes

Gravati five-eyelet plain-toe blucher boots in dark brown peccary with an extended storm welt and a combination leather/rubber (Beverly) sole (15950, 640 last). This is my boot of choice for tromping around in the rain, which is what I did today. Well, not the rain. More like the wet after the rain.

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati cap-toe bals with reversed seams in Radica 033 calf with single leather soles (16496, 500 last).

Evening

Gravati plain-toe five-eyelet blucher boots in antiqued tan calfskin with a rubber lug sole (15950, 640 last). Gravati calls this calfskin Betis, and it's a third approach to antiquing. (For reference, the other two are the use of unfinished crust leather into which coloring waxes have been worked and sponged leather, which is sponged while the dye is still wet to give the leather a variegated appearance.) It's regular aniline-dyed leather that has been treated with a chemical like alcohol or acetone to disrupt the finished surface. Coloring waxes are then worked into the leather using buffing wheels. The finish is a bit unstable -- creases tend to lighten, which can look strange on darker shades. However, everything works perfectly with the tan color.

Johnny Comes Through

Johnny Mykoff, the manager of the shoe department at Harold's in the Heights, was kind enough to send me a few of the pictures he took on Saturday of the same model of Gravati shoe (15477 -- a long-vamp penny loafer with twin-needle stitching on the apron) on three different lasts (640, 701, and 500). You will recall that I picked up this model as a special order on the new 701 last in a dark red-brown grained calf, that Harold's has this same model on two other lasts (640 and 500), and that Johnny, who is an excellent photographer, took advantage of the opportunity to get a comparison shot of the three shoes. In the picture above, the shoe on the left is on 640 last in a tan soft, grained calf that Gravati calls Rodeo; my shoe is the one in the middle; and the shoe on the right is on 500 last in smooth black calf. As you can see, the toe on the 701 is elongated and narrower in comparison to the other two. 640 is a standard square-toe last that has been a Gravati mainstay for several years. 500 is a traditional round-toe last that has been in the repertoire for even longer. The contrast between the three is not quite as dramatic in the picture as it is in real life, probably in part due to the angle and in part due to the fact that Johnny didn't have the time to set up a light box; but I hope that it can still be seen.

Incidentally, Johnny took the picture with a professional-quality SLR digital camera on the 10 megapixel setting, and he has the equipment necessary to print the picture on a 7 foot by 3 foot canvas. I don't know about you, but I think that that would make perfect wall art. Thanks, Johnny.

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).