Trash or Treasure?
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”
This is very true in the world of Menswear Thrifters, most of the time.
Occasionally however, One man’s trash is indeed just trash, nothing more.
Who wants to take home someone else’s trash? That is to say to take home garments that have reached the end of their life cycle. No one, right?
You want to make sure that they still have lots of life in them, or at least have the potential to be revived.
I have paid my fair share of “tuition fee”, bought many shoes that had only last breath in them, which was both money wasting and upsetting.
In this post I will share with you some thoughts and tips on how to thrift shoes, so that you will make less regretful purchase than you have to.
Are Shoes Important for Men?
Some say that the best way to know if a man has a good taste in general, is by looking down to check what shoes He wears.
According to HUFFPOST, Allen Edmonds did a survey of 1,000 American men and women, and they found that women judge men’s shoes twice as much as men judge women’s.
64 percent of women judge a man’s fashion sense based on his shoes;
52 percent of women say they judge a man’s personality by his shoes;
36 percent say they use shoes to determine a man’s financial position;
and 54 percent say men’s shoes reflect a guy’s attention to detail (or lack thereof).
So I guess we can all agree that shoes are very important for men now?
A brand new quality pair of shoes however, could easily set you back £300-£500.Although they may perhaps last you for years to come, it is still a lot of money to be part with.
What’s the solution?
Thrifting of course!
The purpose of thrifting for me is very clear: To get the best quality shoes, in the best possible condition, for the best possible price.
So just how exactly do you thrift quality shoes? Here are my tips:
Labels
To determine what quality/league the shoes are, the labels are the quickest way.
Mainstream shoemakers such as John Lobb(London), Edward Green, Gaziano&Girling, Fosters&Son, Crockett&Jones, etc make really fine shoes, the label alone in my opinion is enough to determine the quality.
Other labels such as Church’s ( Since they were acquired by Prada) , Santoni, and frankly speaking most Italian Shoe Makers in my experience, are generally hit and miss which require further examination.
Hugo Jacomet’s Parisian Gentleman blog has a comprehensive shoe review, you will find all the names of the best shoe makers there.
Construction
One very important factor to look at is the shoes’ construction.
Skip the glued ones straight away! They are usually cheaply made and can not be resoled(But they are be glued back on :/ )
Unless they tick one of of my ‘criteria box’.
Let’s say if it is a pair of Loro Piana Walk Shoes, I would consider them due to the resell value, and for the ‘hipster vibe’.
For more details about my thrifting criteria, please refer to my other article “How to thrift quality, not junk?”
Of course if you are into trainers/sneakers, that’s a different story.
Those type of shoes are all glued, no matter how expensive they are.
One of the pros of glued shoes is the softness and flexibility it offers. That’s why you don’t see athletes ever compete in Goodyear welted shoes.
On the other extreme, if I found a pair with beveled waist or a Norwegian sole, I probably wouldn’t even check the price at all, straight to the counter and pay!
Shoes with Goodyear welted and Blake stitched constructions can be resoled, so they are good investment because of the low cost-per-wear in the long run.
I know some say that Blake Stitched shoes can’t be resoled, they are wrong! I can tell you for sure they can, I know this because I have seen it done. And I have talked to cobblers who have confirmed this.
The only difference is that they can be resoled perhaps 2 or 3 times, not as many times as the goodyear welted.
According to Simon Crompton from <Permanent Style> Blog, a Blake Stitch Machine is not usually available at most cobblers, therefore they charge more if they did have one.
In my experience with ‘Michael’s Shoe Repairs’ in west London, the price to change soles for Blake stitch shoes is £70, same as goodyear welted.
Life of the Soles
Once you determined the construction of the shoes, lets say they are a pair of goodyear welted. You need to check how much life is left in the soles.
This is done by pressing down the soles hard to feel the thickness/thinness , and by examine the channel stitching to see whether they are very worn out.
Of course not to forget to check the heels too, they can also be worn out and get uneven which result in discomfort.
It is worth to mention that some people when they see no visible stitching on the bottom of the soles, they automatically assume they are not Goodyear Welted.
That’s not always the case as with high-end shoes.
closed channel stitching is often used so that the shoes appear more elegant.
In fact they are not exclusive to high end shoes. Shoe makers such as Meermin, offer many of their shoes with closed channel stitching, at a very reasonable price point, similar to Loake’s.
If the soles are really thin which indicates little life is left, then you need to weigh up if it’s worth the money to buy them and get them resoled.
For instance if they are a pair of Loakes, I would not buy them if the soles are bad(it’s another story if they were the Export line), simply because the cost to resole is more than half the cost of a new pair of shoes. However if they were a pair of Edward Green, I would not hesitate at all.
Leather Quality
If the shoes are well constructed, then I will go on to check the leather quality and condition.
In terms of quality I will try to determine if the leather is full grain, top grain/corrected grain or genuine leather.
Beware of the term ‘Genuine leather’, do not be deceived by the name, which misleadingly make you think that it is simply stating the leather is genuine as apposed to synthetic.
However it is in fact a term for the lowest leather grade(maybe second lowest, a bit better than bonded leather).
Genuine leather is hard, and not as durable as full grain. Worst of all, it is likely to wrinkle or crack, and age badly.
There are plenty of good videos on Youtube teaching you about leather quality, so I will not elaborate more in this post But just a quick tip:
Bend the shoe just below the laces- this is where the shoes bend when you walk. Look at how it creases. If the crease lines are fine lines, it’s generally a sign of high quality , Whereas coarser and larger creases indicate a lower grade of material.
Leather Condition
In terms in leather condition, you want to see if there is any deep creases-This is an indication of either the shoes are made from inferior quality leather , or poorly looked after. Perhaps shoe trees are not used after each wear, cream are not applied to moisturize the leather on a regular basis etc.
If you know that the shoes are made from top grain leather, then even with deep creases, you should be able to revive them using proper shoe care and techniques.
I recommend ‘Bespoke Addict’s Youtube channel. He demonstrates different techniques involving refurbishing badly shaped shoes.
Also check out ‘the Elegant Oxford’ s Youtube channel for polishing, shoe dyeing techniques and shoe care product knowledge.
The worst condition to the leather is probably cracks.
In the past I would pass shoes with cracks, even minor ones straight away, no matter what makes the shoes are, because for me cracks meant permanent damage that could not be revived.
That was until I learnt that in fact, some cracks appear on the leather are actually surface cracks, due to years of shoe polish built up!
I learned that you are supposed to strip off the old polish once a while so that the shoe cream can penetrate the leather. The built up of old polish will sometimes appear cracked,the easiest way is to use product to strip it all off , so that you will get to the real leather.
Of course other times the cracks actually are on the actual leather, this is again usually either a sign of bad leather quality, or because of bad shoe care/storage.
You may think that’s the end of a pair of shoes, but if you love a pair of shoes enough, you will find a way so save them, just like everything else in life!
If the cracks are not very deep, you can actually sand it down. You heard it right! Sand it down with sand paper and then reapply the color.
I did it with this pair of Church’s Hand Grade Oxford.
As you can see below that the leather has a cracked area, I sanded the shoes with different grit sizes, started from smooth and worked my way up to coarse gradually and carefully.
Applied a few layers of black polish afterwards( not shoe dye as I didn’t have any at that time).
The end result was satisfactory, for a first attempt. Not perfect of course but it is a learning curve !
This is all from me for now about shoe thrifting.
I hope this post has been helpful for you. I trust you will build yourself with more knowledge, and thrift like a pro!
Please do feel free to comment below or drop me an email to share your experience and tips.
Thrifting is like a box of chocolate. You never know what you’re gonna get.
-Menswear Nerd