Typhoid_Jones wrote:

Hello.  I'm usually active on the TI side of this forum, but I've run into a sartorial situation that I think would be better answered on The Wardrobe.  I enjoy going to thrift stores and charity shops and I recently came upon this pair of Silvano Lattanzi split toe, Norvegese shoes in brown shell cordovan.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g43 … 040417.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g43 … 040418.jpg

I am a US 10 1/2 C (slightly narrow) and these shoes seem about right lengthwise, but a little wide resulting in heel slippage.  The question that I would like to pose here is whether I should "make" them fit using tongue pads, heel pads, heel liners, etc. or should I pass them on to someone who might be able to wear them well without the hassles.  Also, if I should pass on them for myself, how much do you think that a reasonable price would be considering the original retail price for these shoes was at least $1600.00 USD (but I also read online that RTW shoes START at $3170.00 USD at the SL store in NYC)?  Is 20% - 30% of full retail price fair?  I would like to thank anyone who responds to this beforehand for their opinions / advice.  Thank you, -M-

Unless they are very wide just use a tongue pad or inner liner/Tacco insert or both ...problem solved.

Last edited by meister (2012-01-25 16:35:54)

^^  That's EXACTLY what I was thinking in the back of my mind re: tongue pads and heel liners!  All of my other shoes fit without all the accoutrements needed to force fit a shoe meant for a different foot.  (Don't get me wrong, none of my other shoes are really on the same level as Lattanzis, but they would be respectable in any situation.  I'm going to clean them up according to the instructions on that Alden of Carmel / Cordovan Care online site and put them up on eBay.  Thanks for the push in the right direction Shooman.  -M-

I have a similar pair of Silvano Lattanzi shoes from Louis. They are indeed wide and roomy, which is just what I wanted for summer shoes. However, the construction leaves much to be desired. I know glues have come a long way, but some special artisanal glue must have been used on the soles, because they started to detach themselves after just a few months of wear, and I had to get the cobbler to put new soles put. Now, just a few years later, the uppers are starting to go, and while all the fancy stitching is intact, the leather used for the lining is starting to give. Yes, it does git me that old aristocratic feeling of wearing really expensive shoes that are now falling apart, but you expect that after wearing a pair for a quarter century, not a three years. These are clearly not shoes made for wearing, but for a collector. The cobbler said they were great shoes, but the materials used were clearly "not what they used to be" as firms skimp and sell to unsuspecting customers.

Last edited by Noble Savage (2012-01-26 13:36:41)

Noble Savage wrote:

I have a similar pair of Silvano Lattanzi shoes from Louis. They are indeed wide and roomy, which is just what I wanted for summer shoes. However, the construction leaves much to be desired. I know glues have come a long way, but some special artisanal glue must have been used on the soles, because they started to detach themselves after just a few months of wear

Did you have any metal taps nailed onto the tips of the shoes?

Now, just a few years later, the uppers are starting to go, and while all the fancy stitching is intact, the leather used for the lining is starting to give.

How are the uppers starting to go, what is wrong with them, or are you only talking about the lining?

The cobbler said they were great shoes, but the materials used were clearly "not what they used to be" as firms skimp and sell to unsuspecting customers.

Whoa.

The_Shooman wrote:

Did you have any metal taps nailed onto the tips of the shoes?

No, no metal taps or anything. The originals had thin rubber soles glued on. I had new ones put on.

How are the uppers starting to go, what is wrong with them, or are you only talking about the lining?

The leather that folds over the back of the heel, has now cracked and torn.

Last edited by Noble Savage (2012-01-26 16:37:40)

One last question: Can any of you tell me what size these are based on the handwritten information on the interior of the heel?  I can make out all of it except for the last series of markings on the third line of text.  Thanks everybody!  -M-



Silvano Lattanzi
Espressamente per
LOUIS BOSTON
mod. SINGAPORE [???] < What is that?