The Custom Made Shoe Thread

The Modern Gentleman

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Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

Just out of curiosity, what do other modern gentlemen in Singapore think about custom made shoes?

Custom made shoes are shoes that are made-to-order; they sew it from scratch to fit your individual feet and the design you want. Not to be confused with bespoke shoes which are similar but are more expensive.

Simply put, custom made shoes are the middle ground between mass-manufactured shoes and bespoke shoes.

Comments are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.
 

All in a Day

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Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

Just out of curiosity, what do other modern gentlemen in Singapore think about custom made shoes?

Custom made shoes are shoes that are made-to-order; they sew it from scratch to fit your individual feet and the design you want. Not to be confused with bespoke shoes which are similar but are more expensive.

Simply put, custom made shoes are the middle ground between mass-manufactured shoes and bespoke shoes.

Comments are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.

Pls share more details on what type of designs, materials, shoe construction and other customisable options are available, expected prices and pictures of finished samples or at least prototypes. Thanks
 

The Modern Gentleman

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Pls share more details on what type of designs, materials, shoe construction and other customisable options are available, expected prices and pictures of finished samples or at least prototypes. Thanks

Greetings All in a Day,

Thank you for your comment.

As it is a custom made shoe, almost any design is possible. It is up to your preference and creativity. I'm a huge fan of custom made shoes myself and most of the shoes i wear are custom made. Its a lot more comfortable.

From my personal experience, i looked through and print pictures of shoe design from online shops and forums and just pass it to the team of cobblers. From there, i could specify further what color of leather i prefer or what further details i prefer on my shoe. Think of the picture as just a basic template. Or you could just ask them to replicate that design. Its as simple as that.

Materials used are often cow, pig or suede leather. There are other options like snakeskin or patent leather (shinier leather) but they are usually more expensive. You could choose what leather you want and color.

Think of custom made shoes as designing your very own shoes to fit your very own individual feet. From color(s), material, design, height of heels are all decided by you. The cobblers do not design the shoes, they only hand make them. Similar to tailored made shirts.
Its a very personalized service and a different shopping experience from the typical mass-manufactured shoe shopping experience.

Prices should be below $200, depending on material and design. (dual color leather shoes require 2 different leathers to be sewn and stitched together, hence will be more expensive)

I'm afraid i'm not allowed to post images as i'm just a new member. If you're interested in seeing images of the custom made shoes i designed and made, you could PM me or something.

I hope I've answered your questions well. Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman
 
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All in a Day

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Suggest to take the discussion to the shoe thread. You have a prospective customer in cbs over there. Cheers
 

The Modern Gentleman

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Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

Yes, while some custom shoes are not goodyear welted, the ones that i made for myself are goodyear welted. I personally went to their factory where they made those shoes and saw the process in which custom shoes are made.

In short, a team of 8 cobblers are needed just to hand craft one pair of custom shoes.

I hope i have answered your questions well.

Sincerely
The Modern Gentleman.
 

kazuki666

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I think nothing beats pictures. It will be best you can show us pictures of the products you have made.
 

xtwis7

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I'll be more than willing to help you embed the photos.
 

The Modern Gentleman

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Where are the shop of custom made shoes? I am interested.

Greetings Inzaghi009,

Thank you for your question.

The factory that i went is not in Singapore, but in Vietnam. I spent slightly more than a week in Vietnam with the cobblers to learn all i can about the art of shoe making and the process behind each custom made shoe.

It was a fun experience with lots of coffee drinking and idle chit-chat with the locals and cobblers.

If you're interested, i will PM you more details about custom made shoes.

I hope this answers your question well.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.
 

prosindragon

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Greetings Inzaghi009,

Thank you for your question.

The factory that i went is not in Singapore, but in Vietnam. I spent slightly more than a week in Vietnam with the cobblers to learn all i can about the art of shoe making and the process behind each custom made shoe.

It was a fun experience with lots of coffee drinking and idle chit-chat with the locals and cobblers.

If you're interested, i will PM you more details about custom made shoes.

I hope this answers your question well.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.

Would like a PM too. Thanks.
 

The Modern Gentleman

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Custom Made Shoes

Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

My humble and deepest apologies to my fellow modern gentlemen.

It seems that i have made a mistake about the goodyear welting of my custom made shoes. My custom shoes are hand stitched and welted using a different technique from goodyear welting.

It seems that it is a technique developed in Vietnam as all the factories and workshops that i visited used similar technique. Think of the welting as the "in-between" of goodyear and blake welting.

Once again, my apologies for my earlier confusion.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.
 

xtwis7

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Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

My humble and deepest apologies to my fellow modern gentlemen.

It seems that i have made a mistake about the goodyear welting of my custom made shoes. My custom shoes are hand stitched and welted using a different technique from goodyear welting.

It seems that it is a technique developed in Vietnam as all the factories and workshops that i visited used similar technique. Think of the welting as the "in-between" of goodyear and blake welting.

Once again, my apologies for my earlier confusion.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.

It seems like you're trying to pull a fast one? I think you already knew but somehow only told us after there was some interest going? I think it'll go downhill from now on, if you would have said that earlier, I might have felt that you were at least more honest. Good luck with how you're trying to get some business here.
 

The Modern Gentleman

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It seems like you're trying to pull a fast one? I think you already knew but somehow only told us after there was some interest going? I think it'll go downhill from now on, if you would have said that earlier, I might have felt that you were at least more honest. Good luck with how you're trying to get some business here.

Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

My apologies. I would like to make it clear that it was never my intention to deceive anyone nor am i trying "to pull a fast one". The moment i discovered my fiasco this morning, i came online to make an apology and corrected my mistake.

It was an honest mistake on my part and I understand if some of you are upset over my mistake. For that, i apologize.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.
 

BallGag

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Greetings from The Modern Gentleman,

My apologies. I would like to make it clear that it was never my intention to deceive anyone nor am i trying "to pull a fast one". The moment i discovered my fiasco this morning, i came online to make an apology and corrected my mistake.

It was an honest mistake on my part and I understand if some of you are upset over my mistake. For that, i apologize.

Sincerely,
The Modern Gentleman.

Here's my advice to you:

Put your business plans on hold, get offline, and go learn more about shoe-making if you're really serious about this. It takes a lot more than a couple of weeks sipping coffee with Vietnamese cobblers to learn jack about shoes. Others have spent years learning from renowned cordwainers before even branching out on their own. There's a lot more to shoemaking than just outsourcing production to a factory; there are nuances to grasp, details to pay attention to, and these are things that come with experience, not a few days of cà phê.

I wouldn't trust someone who can't even tell how his shoes were made with my feet, the same way I wouldn't trust a hawker who can't tell the difference between fried rice and char kway teow. Good on you for owning up to your mistake, but the fact that said mistake was even made is damning.

You need to go back to the drawing board; starting a shoe business(or any business) is much more than just finding a production factory that's willing to work with you. Learn more about the products you are trying to sell, and do this well before you start your business. It is easy to find a factory, I am in contact with shirt factories, trouser factories, heck, even pharmaceutical factories that are willing to work with me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start a business peddling what I don't even know about. Why else do you think there are so few new players in the shoe industry ? Your Vietnamese factory isn't difficult to find, trust me.

You'd also do well to actually come up with a proper marketing and business plan before you go to forums to solicit. Such a display of ignorance is very damaging to your brand, although in your case it's probably insignificant since your brand has barely even begun, so I suggest that you come back with a different name if you choose to persist.

I write this with good intentions. You don't seem to have a clear vision of what you're doing and what you wish to accomplish, define your product properly before you start to sell.
 
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kazuki666

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Not that I don't trust TS, but even if that one week of training in Vietnam was very intensive, I rather wonder how much skills and knowledge can be picked up. Ask any craftsman, he she will tell you they probably spent the first few years doing odd jobs and learn basis of the materials, even before their master allow them to touch the tools. Of course you may be quite talented and have the flair for the trade.

How about some real picture to show us your master pieces. yes?
 
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