Me and fxh spent over 4 hours looking at shoos in Melbourne this afternoon and things seem to be looking up on the shoo scene. Men are now more educated than they have ever been about shoos and younger folk are now getting into good footwear because of the internet. Iconic shoe retailer McLoeds said that young folk knew quite a bit about shoes now because they did research online and read the clothing forums that many of us frequent. It is not uncommon to encounter Ask Andy i-gents while at some of these stores…all are embarrassed to admit they frequent the forums, but l usually get it out of them.

I was quite blown away today. For fxh it was probably just another day, but for me…my eyes were lit up like bleedin’ dinner plates mate, l was impressed! The shoo selections are fantastic right now..some of the best selections in a long time in English footwear due to folks reading the internet and looking at shoo-porn and quickly turning into shoo-nerds.

First stop was McLoeds. I love this place…full of well priced (for Oz) English shoos and Melbourne’s best shoe shop. Sure they sell lots of corrected grain, but that’s what many of their customers want. They had some stunning shoos there today..real classic beauties. They had fantastic Loakes in both corrected grain and wholegrain, not ugly stuff, classic stuff!..they even had a Loake longwing. As a matter of fact, in the last few years the internet forums have started a healthy market for both fat-boy longwings and double monks shoos; 5 years ago these were hated in Melbourne and no-one wanted them, but now they are the bees knees mate!..every man and his dog wants a pair.So many longwings around now; designer longwings, Florsheim longwings and many others. Another style of shoe becoming popular is the austerity brogue, McLoeds even have that now for the first time in memory and Harrolds have it [of course] in their stunning Artioli range of shoos.  Other shoos at McLoeds were stunning Alfred Seargent classics including amazing corrected grain tassle loafers in black, Cheaney, Church’s, Magnanni, RMW and others. All good attractive models. As l have always said, this shop survives because of a loyal customer base, and they never have sales, so they are doing something right. I love shops that never have sales.

As usual, Henry Bucks is off putting and offensive with the prices they are asking for their shoos. It’s not a shop for ordinary men, it’s a rich boys club where the public are only there to pick up the scraps. If you want the Edward Green `Dover’ in black, expect to pay at least $2,700 for it. They also stock beautiful Loakes and some Church’s. Yes, Church’s are the holy grail shoo in Melbourne, they are the stuff of legend and the stuff that got me wide eyed as a boy as the old salesmen would tell me stories about them. Occasionally you would hear knowledgable salesmen talking about Trickers, Edward Green and John Lobb, but no-one ever knew what they were, it was only fantasy stories and legends told about these makers and how they had factories in Northampton and some of them even made bespoke shoos…cloud 10 stories when l was a kid…stories that kept  this little boy awake at night with the most wild shoo dreams a boy could ever have….shoo stories that gave little boys big shoo-ambitions…ambitions that made little shoo -boys into full blown big-daddy shoo-men.  Shoo-nerds become big daddy shoomen too quickly these days, it needs to be a journey and taken slowly. The way in which people at Style Forum buy shoos makes me shake my head in disgust (lots of online buying and buying lots and lots of highend shoos in a short space of time  {the HK crowd are alittle different...some of those guys are pure addicts})...most forum guys just don't get it...bleedin' posers!!! Bleedin' Johnny come latelys!!! Those guys have no soul and no style.  You are either born a shoomen (Fritzl, myself and Bengal Stripe) or you aren't. Those big shoo buyers at S.F (johnny come lately blokes) aren't a shooman's arsehole mate. Bleedin' pretenders!

One of the R.M.Williams stores even sold leather sole dog shoos and leather sole baby shoos, along with their $8,800 croc/emu cowboy boot.

Fxh showed me another place `Herringbone’ that l was stunned to see they stocked C&J benchgrade shoos and the odd handgrade model, and plenty of double monks. When l saw those big boy monks my jaw nearly hit the floor because l have been trying for years to snag a good pair locally. They had about 6 or 8 different models, + they sold proper C&J shoo trees (virtually unheard of in Oz for branded trees). Needless to say, l was pretty pumped up about that and l felt like l was walkin’ on water after that…very very exciting. But the best was yet to come.

We checked some of the highend designer boutiques, but they have been really aweful in the last decade, nothing worth buying, just cheap looking ugly stuff. The designer shoos seem to be getting worse and worse.
We also went to Luisa and looked at the Church’s and Trickers, but l have pretty much cleaned that place out. There is a pair of Church’s loafers l could have bought on sale, but l didn’t really want them so l passed.

Then we went to American Tailors. WOW! Now they stock Gaziano & Girling, C&J and Carmina. When l heard they now stocked Carmina l nearly fell over, I’ve been wanting to try a pair for many years but never had the opportunity. But when they told me they are getting in double monks l nearly passed out and my eyes became bigger than the biggest of dinner plates, it was too much too bare and now l feel like a maniac and won’t sleep all night LOL. Tommorrow I’ll have plenty of time so l am going back in to spend a few hours trying on various shoos…l expect to come home with some G&G, my stomach is in knots just thinking about it…terribly exciting!!! I also pick up my bespoke shoos from Mr X tomorrow night, so it will be a HUGE shoo day. Gotta keep under control though…got the big daddy G’s to save for (G&G bespoke), so the Carmina and C&J will have to wait for now. I have finished with Vass now (7 pairs is enough, it’s time to move on to a new adventure)  in future l focus on Carmina rtw and G&G bespoke, but naturally will buy my beloved Church’s from time to time.

The thing l love about McLoeds and American Tailors is that they read the internet and try to keep prices competitive with online these days, they know they have to to keep surviving. 5 years ago these places were never competitive with online prices, but now they are forced to be realistic. Henry Bucks don’t care about prices, nor do Harrolds with there $3,000 blake stitched Artioli shoos and $6,500 sportscoats….Melbourne’s hidden elite look after those shops.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2011-12-22 05:38:11)