Dear Andrew,
Tony's shoes are remarkable works of craftsmanship and Tony is involved directly in many steps of the shoemaking process. He carves the lasts, the foundation of the whole process, and also executes the clicking, and, in many occasions, the closing. In addition, he does the antiquing and polishing -- an Edward Green specialty.
The fit of his shoes is excellent. I was really impressed by how Tony manages to render the outline and measurements set of information into a 3-D last, that not only reflects those measurements, but also the customer's foot intricacies, such as the shape of the heels, not captured by the numbers and outlines. As an example, expert lastmaking results in a shoe that literally hugs the customer's heels. This is one of the traits that separate a well-fitting bespoke shoe from other shoes: there's no slip at the heel as the customer walks.
Among the many new things I learned is that soles of the finest shoes are not pressed into their final thickness by the supplier. Rather, soles are extensively compressed over the actual shoe, by the artisan, with the aid of a hammer --a painstaking operation. This method allows the maker to mold the soles as closely as possible against the last. The benefits of this method are better fit, lighter weight, and more intricate shapes (e.g. extreme beveling and fiddle-back shape) of the soles, in comparison to soles built from leather that is completely rolled by suppliers such as Rendenbach.
Next time we see Tony in San Francisco, chapter members will witness one of his extreme antiquing jobs, the canvass of which is a crust Italian calf in pale tan, and a finished brown Kudu leather, a skin that has not been tanned in a long time and that is very rare, mainly due to wildlife protection programs in Africa. It has a most distinctive grain, not as flamboyant as other exotics, but rather, tastefully understated.
Best regards,
Miguel
