Cleverley

[leiter]

I decided to try Cleverley for my first pair of bespoke shoes and received the results recently. It was about 3 months between order and fitting and then again 3 months between fitting and delivery.

My ready-to-wear shoes are from Alden or Allen-Edmonds. The Cleverley shoes are unexpectedly light and noticeably slimmer and more elegant than my Aldens or Allen-Edmonds, but they don't shout their bespoke origin like some of the French companies. The inner sole is hard but feels perfectly comfortable -- there is no sacrifice there relative to the A and AE padded inner soles. The fit across the top is very nice, the lacing region (I don't know what the technical term for this is) closes completely, which is not the case for me with A or AE. Also the toebox is the right size, eliminating some slight pinching there I get with any width that fits of A or AE and there is no slippage at all inside the shoe. When I first put them on there was some pinching from the vamp in the middle of steps and some pinching at the heel at the end of steps, but that disappeared within 10 minutes of wearing them. I think there might be some refinements left to make (one side is a bit looser than the other, up-and-down wise).

On the whole, I am pleased; if these hold up over a few weeks of wearing them, I will become a regular customer.

[rcl]

May I ask what style shoe you ordered? I am planning to order a pair from Cleverley this spring. I am torn between a simple cap toe or a plain toe oxford. I would hope that Cleverley would be markedly different than Alden and Allen Edmonds. Otherwise how can you justify the cost?