New & Lingwood Shoes

[Dorian271]

Hello,

any sentences about the quality of New & Lingwood Shoes please.
Thanks a lot.

[TVD]

New & Lingwood offers a variety of ranges, from cut-price imports specially ordered for the sales to bespoke. I am not sure who produces their RTW ranges for them. Their shop window specialises in displaying high gloss polished examples, but what comes out of the box looks rather different.

Their bespoke used to be excellent some twenty or thirty years ago, when its principals departed to take over Cleverley. The most recent example I saw was a eight years ago, and I did not like the craftsmanship.

I think better value can be had elsewhere.

[Mark Seitelman]

I believe that its RTW is made by Crockett & Jones. I am not sure if it is offered in either the handgrade level or the next lowest level or both. In NYC they are sold at Dunhill.

[SouthPender]

Until as recently as last summer, the RTW shoes in New & Lingwood's Classic shoe line were made by Crockett & Jones to the quality level of that company's regular grade range (sometimes referred to as their "benchgrade" range). Shoes in N&L's more costly St. James' line, on the other hand, were Grenson Masterpieces, and this appears to still be the case.

A recent perusal of what appears to be a somewhat-expanded Classic line (now with 18 models, as opposed to 12 last summer), however, makes me wonder whether the shoes are all still C&J regular-range production. I believe that in the past N&L has had C&J make shoes for the Classic line to regular-grade standards, but in some styles not seen in the C&J catalog. This may still be the case, although there are some models listed in that line now that appear to be of non-C&J provenance--one example being their "Whole Cut Oxford," which closely resembles a Grenson Masterpiece via Paul Stuart (Stuart's Choice) I saw recently. I was able to get the information about the source of their Classic line shoes from one e-mail I sent to a sales rep last summer--during their summer sale (which featured large mark-downs). Anyone interested could, I imagine, get an update on this line by an e-mail to N&L.

To my eye, both N&L's Classic line and St. James' line shoes are very nice--classic and stylish, and of what appears to be good construction--but in my opinion they are overpriced at their current non-sale prices (Classic-line shoes going for up to 295 GBP; St. James' for 395 GBP). Last summer, however, Classic-line shoes were reduced to something on the order of 185 GBP (about 153 GBP ex VAT for buyers outside the EU), which I consider a good price for this quality.

[Percy.Trimmer]

I was told by the assistant at N and L during the January sales that their rtw shoes were made by Crockett and Jones, Grenson and Alfred Sargent. He was quite happy to tell me who made what as I looked around but I can't remember how this corresponded to particular ranges. The ones I liked seemed to be mainly Grensons.