Croatian Bespoke Shoes -- Strugar

In the past, one may have never known all of the possibilities he/she may have had when it came to the world of bespoke shoemaking, but thanks to the internet, this all over. Even me, I must admit, would have never thought about going to learn bespoke shoemaking in Croatia, Poland, Hungary or any other country outside of England, France, Italy and Japan, before my entrance into the world bespoke shoes. I guess being in America (especially in the NW far corner), where sometimes knowledge can be limited by naivety, due to it's vastness and detachment from the rest of the world, this is the perception that you get. But having started this blog, learning how to makes shoes, and simply being in Europe, you begin to understand, that the world of bespoke shoemaking is a lot bigger than you may think. And that brings us to Croatian bespoke shoemaker, Neno Strugar from Strugar. From what I gather, it seems to be that Strugar is a family run operation, where Nino might be the son of the founder. But nonetheless, he is making lovely shoes out of Croatia, doing bespoke, as well as made-to-order. And while I can't say that I am a fan of every toe shape, I believe that the combination of leathers, coloring and patinas are simply wonderful!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a long post about my trip to Paris.

-Justin, "The Shoe Snob"

Shoes Of The Week - Alden Collaborations

While I have lots to write about for my trip to Paris, it needs to be organized and the posts are going to be longer ones, so bear with me on these things. For the meantime, I wanted to talk about Alden and how they seem to be such busy bees with their collaborations with other brands. As I have stated in many earlier posts, I believe that this idea of collaborating is the way of the future in the shoe industry. While it has always been about, it seems that it has really taken off, since 2010. Obviously, as most of the world went into recession a few years back, companies had to start thinking about alternative channels of distribution, and it seemed that collaboration gave the best of both worlds, for all parties involved. It gave the designers/shoe brands something new to create and an alternative way of making money, it gave the collaborating brand something different from their usual, and maybe stale collection and all-in-all the collaboration gave the customer another option, in case they were not liking anything at that present moment. That being, I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the new saddle shoe models that Alden has been producing for the likes of Unionmade (pictured above & below) as well as Blackbird (very bottom), which is a very popular boutique located in the neighborhood where I grew up, Ballard, Wa. And while I feel that Alden has done a good job of going relatively outside of the box with the likes of these color combo's, I am hoping that the next time I see this shoe, it might be in green or red or some other non-traditional color. We shall see...

Enjoy your Friday and check back soon for my trip to Paris posts....

-Justin, "The Shoe Snob"

My Shoes #19 - Septieme Largeur

I just received my very first pair of Septieme Largeur shoes and I could not be more pleased. The funny thing was, even though my favorite color is blue, I did not own one pair of blue dress shoes. I used to in the past, but have since got rid of them and was seriously lacking in that color department. So when I first saw these I was instantly hooked and knew that I had to get a pair. For 295 Euros (245 + 50 for blue patina), I have to say that these shoes are well worth their price and even more.


With my sick love for shoes, I unfortunately fall in to the category of suffering through pain in order to wear the shoes that I want. Now, that is not to say that I will buy uncomfortable shoes, but it's just that I have such jacked up feet that most shoes really don't feel good at the end of the day, with the exception of a few. But I can truly say (or I would not be typing it) that these shoes did not kill my feet. That feat is no easy come by. I will say, that when I got home I was eager to put my slippers on but I managed to make it through a full day (on the first day of wearing them) without any pain, plasters (band-aids) or regrets!

As I was so eager to wear them, and had the perfect tie for them, I decided to give them my Michael Douglas (Wall Street) look, which is a favorite of mine right now due to the pleasant accessibility of braces (suspenders) in England, specifically on Savile Row. And while wearing them it occurred to me that no one particularly said 'oh, you are wearing blue shoes,' which made wonder why more people don't wear navy shoes in the work space. I mean, seriously, outside of my lavender laces, a navy pair of shoes is not ostentatious, on the other hand, it is quite conservative. It is a dark color and would go great with gray, brown and even khaki suits. Yet so many people are afraid to wear them..... Anyway, I normally don't say "buy this brand or that", but at 245 Euros, for great styles and relative comfort, Septieme Largeur is a no-brainer for shoe lovers!  

Today's Favorites - Markowski

Can I just say: DAMN!!! I love these shoes by Markowski, all of them! But I especially love the top pair and I will have to have it! I know, I know, I have been bombarding you with French shoemakers for quite awhile now but I just can't get enough of them. I mean, when it comes to color, they are not afraid to use it and that speaks to my heart! Especially when it is my favorite color: blue. So when I saw these, I just had to show them, immediately! Can you blame me?? I know that all of you are not fans of crazy colored shoes but bare with me a little, I can't help myself. I will put up some brown shoes soon, I promise. But anyway, in case anyone was wondering, these shoes sum me up to a "T" and I am happy to see that someone is out there making exactly what I would want to see on the shelves of shoe stores. It's just too bad that it is hard to find these outside of France. But with as cool as they are, I feel that soon they will grow and will have more stockists around the world, cross your fingers!