The London Lounge

Now that most of my very basic needs in shoes have been taken care of (ha! would my wife snort at that), I'd thought to commission a shoe that was good for summer business casual, or weekends. Rather than posh up a country design like the EG Dover, I thought that there might be something to roughening a city design. Sort of like adopting a standard A&S DB cut for a suit, but gradually easing the fabric away from clear-finished worsted and toward a discreet tweed or covert twill.

Anyway, I thought for shoes a useful idea might be to take a standard plain-toe oxford, the kind normally executed in patent leather, and doing it in brown with some sort of grain. It would be light and trim, thus appropriate for summer, but not so glossy that it couldn't take a scuff with equanimity. The type of shoes that one wore in third grade-- generic, durable, universally acceptable. Wear it with khakis in the morning and to a cocktail party in the evening.

The leather I chose was buffalo, which is very soft and has a pleasing pattern. The intent was to aim for comfort, not high gloss. The texture would break up the vast expanse of the toe, otherwise unbroken except for the seam between vamp and quarter. A secondary intent was to see if this idea might work with Russia Calf-- no sense wasting rare leather on an untried concept. I kept a standard city sole, and made no other special requests.

Well, they arrived today. No photos to show for it, but a few preliminary impressions might suffice. One is that the buffalo grain stretches out a lot more than I imagined it would. As a result, the toe is very nearly smooth, and the grain doesn't really look like it did in the swatch book except on the quarters. If I were going to do this again, I'd think about using something else with a really nasty grain.

Another thought would be that one might ask for (or go to a shoemaker who delivers) a seam that sits a little further down on the foot, to break up the large surfaces a little more. For example, Paul Davies pushes that seam down and out more than any other shoemaker I've seen, and he also has some super-nasty waxed cow hide. Such might defeat the summer-use concept, but you never know.

Nevertheless, this pair has promise. I can see why this particular configuration is not a classic, and yet--- the part of the vamp just behind the toe cap is starting to wrinkle and craze as I wear them around the house. Perhaps in a few days I will be able to look at them and see "generic brown shoes" and not "PLAIN-TOED OXFORDS? WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE DOING IN BROWN ALMOST-GRAIN?"

Further reports as they get road-tested.

Concordia wrote:One is that the buffalo grain stretches out a lot more than I imagined it would. As a result, the toe is very nearly smooth, and the grain doesn't really look like it did in the swatch book except on the quarters.

This happens with pin grain/scotch grain/willow, etc. too. Though I haven't seen your result in Buffalo, I generally think it is a nice feature. For what you are describing, I would like to try suede (though I might get a toe cap) for the light touch version or some kind of grained leather on a wholecut derby for the heavier touch.

I have recently seen a plain blucher in a special make-up on Alden's modified last in a walnut calf and that would seem to be a nice variation of what you are looking for. That version uses the cut rather than the leather towards the same end.

Buffalo is tuff as nails. Cape is very thin when finely skivved and bison very thick. A key virtue is that, like deerskin, it does not harden when it get's wet. I suppose that it is more accurate to say that it does not dry hard.

I've not had shoes made of the stuff, but I've had a buffalo dog lead for more than 20 years that spent two years or more under a hay bale in the barn where one of my daughers left it. A little moldy on the surface but none the less for wear.

Moral of the story, if your children loose your shoes in a peat bog, as long as you find them with in a couple of years, everything should be fine.

I think that you only next choice is really hairy suede or rheindeer.

Best,
DDM

Concordia wrote:The leather I chose was buffalo, which is very soft and has a pleasing pattern.

The leather of the American buffalo (animal) is normally called ‘bison’, while ‘buffalo’ (the leather) is usually an embossed calf. (Leaving aside ‘water buffalo’, which I believe is the hide of that particular animal.)

Not sure which this is. Not bison, but may well be water buffalo. It's much comfier than standard calf.

Anyway, it is the first pair of shoes ever to get a favorable comment in the office, on its first day out. I'm not sure that is really an endorsement, as shoes should be seen and not heard in my book. But I'm growing to like the design. If I can't deal with the contradictions, I might end up having a medallion drilled at resoling when that is necessary, a la Lobb Paris. I've always liked what they do with plain-toed oxfords.

Hi Concordia and Bengal,

I'm thinking of having some chukkas made in water buffalo and was wondering if you might have any thoughts to share. I like the look of the skin but am concerned about its long-term performance, since I have no experience w/ it.

Any thoughts from others are more than welcome as well.

If you think you'd like it, try it. Should be a nice complement to the chukka style, even if you end up preferring something else someday.

Have you seen Quoddy shoes and boots? They are handmade in Maine to your specifications. I have never owned a pair, but I'm very tempted to try them. Some of the styles look quite nice, very relaxed, and they score many points in my books for being handmade.

http://www.quoddy.com/

Thank you, Concordia. So you're enjoying your pair?

dkst, I have a pair of LL Bean camp mocs from 1988, when they were made by Quoddy, I believe. They've held up very well over the years.