The London Lounge

I saw both of them this week. Ron Ryder at Martegani has such a huge selection of lasts that he can get a very good fit without having custom-at the same time, he can make almost any design on any last. I ordered a pair of perforated midnight blue shoes laceups for summer. The shoes seem well made although some his leather seems a bit too Italian and flimsy to me. The other leathers he uses are good, one in particular can be nicely antiqued. To me, he is a good option to custom and you can get much more intersting design then one can from Alden. I do not know how his shoes wear. I got navy blue suede penny loafers with contrasting stitching from him and have worn them a lot.
Merrion has the biggest shoulders in the history of the world. No wonder he likes a soft shoulder, if he put anything in his jackets to make them bigger he wouldn't get through a door.
He makes a really soft jacket with what I guess is a rolliono shoulder and likes a long two button label. He makes really big pants which I like and I am looking forward to seeing his final work.

In what context did you see Rider and his wears? That sounds like an impressive service. I have special-orders from Martegani, and the leather is quite robust, but I have found for some reason it does not breathe and is uncomfortable on the hottest days. I cannot say this would be true for any of his leathers, though.

I went to see him when he was doing a show at a local showroom, he had the samples in his hotely room and then took them to the showroom. The heavy leather might be a bit too much for the summer, that is why I had mine perforated . He also has a leather that is very waxy that he uses for sports shoes and that would definitely not breathe well.