Decline & Fall wrote:

In hindsight, it was inappropriate to call an article about the closing of the Weejun factory more Weejun goodness.

What's good is that you tell the true story.

Brilliant.

Fantastic to see the Buffalo Creek Trader there.

Still got mine.

Edit: And I think Kingstonian had a pair too. I know that back at one point there were only two of us active on the American MBs who knew them. Was it you, Kingy?

Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-03-01 01:32:31)

Classic stuff, with the usual men's mag ignorance well to the fore. I remember this article well and chuckling at the time.

The inclusion of the Jones JM Weston copy and description of its 'nasty stitching' is amusing. That was a lined goodyear welted shoe made by Alfred Sargent and sold by Bowen in Paris at £130 even in those days. Same goes for the Crockett & Jones made Paul Smith loafer - a British trad style in goodyear welt and nothing to do with the weejun inspired mocc loafer.

I must confess that the dodgy looking Cambourne (wrongly attributed to Bally stores in the black version, but actually from Jones) was 'designed' by The Weejun's own Pappy to be exactly what it looked like - a mass market sop to the preppy trend and it sold tens of thousands. Pop never wore them himself of course. Sell to the Masses Eat with the Classes, as they say in the States.

The Buffalo Creek Traders look excellent today, and Weejuns being described as 'good supple leather' - ah the joy.

Am not certain but I believe the Charleston Beefroll II sold by Jones was made by Bostonian, by that time one of the first US companies to turn their heritage in the brown stuff. Bostonian around that time was bought by one of the Clarks shoes family and the damage done by him.

Interesting to see how market positioning changes with time. Weejuns were exotica and priced as such, Bally was at its worst level ever appealing only to the far east and middle east markets and selling their loafers for nearly half the price of Weejuns.

Keep digging out the history!

The Weejun

Last edited by TheWeejun (2009-03-01 03:53:13)

Where was Eastland?

A well made, well priced item from JS back then.

Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-03-01 03:56:28)

Never knew the Cat's name back then ('87). Ian just said that he 'was Bass' in the UK at that time.

Staceyboy thanks for the shoe porn and and Weejun thanks for the lowdown. This kind of stuff is why I come here. I really liked the pics. Thanks a million. 

One thing I find really interesting about the article is that actually bothers to try to differentiate between those shoes and have an opinion. I quit reading GQ a while ago but I don't seem to remember them doing much more than simply showing pics because any sort of opinion on the products, one can imagine, might slight their gravy train.

Decline & Fall wrote:

One thing I find really interesting about the article is that actually bothers to try to differentiate between those shoes and have an opinion.

I understand, but some of those comments are just dumb. The downside of that is that these articles become 'official' history to future fashion scholars. Of course these days we have the folk history of blogs with real people talking about their real experiences.

The other point worth remembering is that article appeared in a magazine that believed it was cutting edge for fashion. Taken literally if you were to look at the real trend for Weejuns that this article bases its comparisons on, 1989 is way off the mark. I'm far from suggesting that it wasn't cool to wear them in 1989 but really 1983-86 in my experience were the years in which people who bought weejuns or similar because of an underground swell of popularity on the street and in clubs, etc were wearing them. Then they moved on. Yet Arena truly was aimed at revealing new 'trends' to the people, but it was usually written by those who were clueless.

To give an example the very inclusion of so many J Simons products suggests to me that Johnny was the instigator in the sense that some plonker went in and bought a pair and John told clued them up as to the product and its history, a little lightbulb would have gone on in the mind of the freelance journo and then an even more clueless editor would have said 'we need comparisons - go and get some'. But Arena would not have paid for the shoes (at Soho Shoes at least 5 journos a week would try to blag some free shoes for 'an article I'm doing') and therefore would have included those from whoever was prepared to give them freebies. And, man some of those comparisons should not have been in that article in 1989 - Bally?? Bally, Jones, Paul Smith et al, all had PR working for them in those days and would have loved getting their product into a mainstream mag.

I know how these articles gestate from my young days working at Soho Shoes, and the journos would always get so many key facts wrong. Natural I suppose as they are not aficionados. Arena however, set itself up as the style bible.

Thankfully these days we have narrow casting (as opposed to broadcasting) and the truth will out!

The Weejun

TheWeejun wrote:

I know how these articles gestate from my young days working at Soho Shoes...

The Weejun

That was you? The young guy, dark hair, polite, knew your stuff?

Wow. You know me & you know Mrs. Street too. It must be XYZ years! No BS. If you're that guy then... Fantastic!

Proof I know you: You kinda walk from the hip, yeah? You don't slouch, but you have a kind of relaxed manner.

Amazing!

Russell_Street wrote:

That was you? The young guy, dark hair, polite, knew your stuff?

Wow. You know me & you know Mrs. Street too. It must be XYZ years! No BS. If you're that guy then... Fantastic!

Proof I know you: You kinda walk from the hip, yeah? You don't slouch, but you have a kind of relaxed manner.

Amazing!

Must have been me as there was never anyone else working there except Paul (with the silver hair) and then John when he bought in to the store, apart from in the 80s there was a strange little troll of a man who looked exactly like that sitcom character Ricky Gervais plays in Extras. He eventually got caught on the fiddle and got sacked. I worked there on and off part time from 86 to about 92. When JR moved to Wimpole St I started my record label in the basement!

The Weejun

Russell_Street wrote:

Natural Sole Brother wrote:

Anyone remember the American Gentleman penny loafer? I bought my first pair from Quincy in Kings Road in about '83. Beautiful and really expensive (in hindsight they must have been shell cordovan). It was a quest to replace them after outgrowing them (I was about sixteen or seventeen then) which took me to J. Simons for the first time.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Kinda high gloss as I recall. I never invested. What was the price back then?

One of the things I liked about Bass was that they were kinda matt in their Cordo manifestation. The Black had more shine, but nothing like now.

I'm struggling to recall the price of the pair from Quincy but they were in the ballpark of £150. The chaps at Quincy pointed me in the direction of J. Simons (and in hindsight through the door to another realm). The replacement pair from Simons were a completely different animal: the lining was far less luxurious and the outer leather completely different which makes me think the first pair were shells and the second a kind of highly shined calf: the first pair were eventually bequeathed to an acquaintance of my brother's from art college. I'd like to think he still has them. Weejuns were a good bet after that and I bought pairs in tan scotchgrain and un-dyed leather with white stitching as well as the standard 'brown'. I've still got and wear the un-dyed pair some twenty odd years later. They've never been polished or had the heels or soles replaced and still look fantastic.

Decline & Fall wrote:

What label?

This one D&F: www.whatmusic.com

I sold it in about 2004 to someone who's done nothing with it since.