fritzl, your English is a million times better than my German, but respectfully, I think what you are trying to say is getting lost in translation.

Not trying to be rude, I'm just trying to understand what you're saying.

Last edited by Patrick Bateman (2007-04-26 15:59:25)

Vass probably hasn't sold enough shoes in the U.S. to care, may never need to care and probably doesn't care, but they made several mistakes in the U.S.

It's a small world. A maker loses sales when goods are not priced comparably from country to country, taking duty and shipping into account. Given that 90% of the men who would consider a Vass shoe in the first place also knew what they cost in Budapest, Bergdorf's prices were far too high. If that was caused by Vass's pricing rather than Bergdorf's need for margin, Vass made an error. They might have minimized the error if they'd offered the more modern lasts and special designs in the U.S. and Japan but not in Budapest at those low (by Western standards) prices. They didn't.

Further, Vass had manufacturing problems despite the quality of the shoes. To build an international shoe business today you have to be able to take an order from a customer without fitting him each time. Vass shoes are inconsistent in size from last to last (when Sky Valet had them they were even inconsistent in size from one pair of 43s to the next on the same last), which adds greatly to the retailer's returns and costs. There's no comparison between their shoes and G&G's for example, from the standpoint that all of the G&G lasts fit the same. I can send G&G an email asking for one of such and such with reasonable confidence that the shoe will fit.

The best way to buy the shoes was to go to Budapest and that's still true.

I went to Budapest two years ago, was measured by Eva, and shoes made over two months. They required relasting but were subsequently perfect. I wear something in the neighborhood of 7C in Allen Edmonds, 5E of 5 1/2 D in EG, if you can find them (which of course you can't). I have no idea what I wear in Edward Green because even with a span of almost two years, three tries,  a trip to London, and two 'encounters' with Mrs. Edward Green (as I call her), I have a pair of 5E in 202 last that are almost unwearable. Only to take pity on the Sky Valet Bros. did I accept the last EG try, as Mrs. Green invoiced them for two orders when in fact there has been only one unsatisfactory pair in my closet. I asked her if perhaps she wanted to give the first try to a homeless person, as I could not wear them.
But I digress...

Mr. Will, it's too soon to know if G&G will replicate well: I have every hope and confidence that will be the case, as my G&G 5E fit as well as my Vass, which fit very well indeed. The only consistency I have found with EG is that they don't fit me, and I am not historically a difficult person to fit with shoes (I still have my Bass Weejuns in 7C and Allen Edmonds 7C in #5 last with no complaints whatsoever).

I can say that my 3 pair of Vass (the original Budapest Norweiger made to order trial) and two subsequent mail order shoes, one of their stock styles, the other the LL chukka emulated by Vass (see LL posting for photos) for me MTO fit consistently just fine, thanks. I am not a shoe guy, I don' really know much about them, but if you know what you like, and go to Budapest, study the line, it is a very good buy, and I think a very fine shoe.

You do not get hand holding in Budapest, nor a trunk shoe with scruffy shoe shine guys, sales rep. ringers, etc., with Vass. Perhaps it helped me to navigate at Vass in that my wife speaks Hungarian: a dubious legacy of her family's deportation from Hungary by 'rail' to points North.

I think the pricing was aggressive at Bergdorf's. My guess is that the 'brand' is too esoteric for your average BG customer who is very brand driven. Keep in mind that neither EG nor G&G are exactly mainstream Dept. store brands either. In some respects Vass was more daring. If it failed at BG so be it, but it's not really the fault of the shoes per se, in my opinion.

Vass's experiment at that shoe store in Washinton D.C. didn't plan out that well either, resulting in a "liquidation sale".

Of course, one might take a macro view and ask, Are any of the original CSF "artisans" intact?

"Don't talk about the War. I did, but I think I got away with it." (John Cleese, Python skit)

How can ebay be declasse?

People are overthinking this.

If you can buy a multimillion dollar condo in Marco Island on ebay, and if you can purchase an Aston Martin DB9 on ebay, and if you can purchase a 1 of 1 Audemars Piguet Tourbillon on ebay, I don't think Vass being hawked on ebay is going to kill the image that Vass is a spectacular shoe.

The Germany incident seems like an anomaly.  I'm sure the rep was acting up in other ways (as is standard for sales reps).