Footwear to go with our jackets

zebedee said:

It is funny that I'll spend a considerable sum of money on jackets but am not willing to do so on watches, footwear, jeans or anything else, really. A bit like going to the supermarket and spending 15 quid on red wine and 60p on a loaf of bread. Not for breakfast, obviously.

Click to expand...

I don't even spend much money on jackets either and let alone anything else. Not much in a way that I always make sure to have sold one or another for enough to cover the next purchase but having a collection of pricey jackets just hanging in a wardrobe, waiting for a day I'll feel like wearing it... That's the stuff nightmares are made of. No thanks. Pricey stuff is scary.

Monitor said:

I don't even spend much money on jackets either and let alone anything else. Not much in a way that I always make sure to have sold one or another for enough to cover the next purchase but having a collection of pricey jackets just hanging in a wardrobe, waiting for a day I'll feel like wearing it... That's the stuff nightmares are made of. No thanks. Pricey stuff is scary.

Click to expand...

I still have a fair few Aeros in the cupboard, but most other things I've sold or cut down numbers of. I've curtailed spending a lot, but I'll need to keep that up when Shanghai comes around again. Years ago I lived in South Korea and at first I wore old clothing. My boss made a point of asking me why I didn't buy new clothes and then politely instructed me that I should dress smartly for people. I've wanted to go back there for years- it was quite a thing to have to be tactical in how I dressed for others and to be surrounded by people, who, as they were on display to each other all the time in a small place, put maximum effort into appearance. Tailoring there was easily affordable and usually good - amusingly, people preferred very expensive branding, and that it be visible on the sleeve.

Just out of curiosity, how is a good sneaker supposed to be made? What are the feature to look for? And what is the top of the range?

I don't even spend much money on jackets either and let alone anything else. Not much in a way that I always make sure to have sold one or another for enough to cover the next purchase but having a collection of pricey jackets just hanging in a wardrobe, waiting for a day I'll feel like wearing it... That's the stuff nightmares are made of. No thanks. Pricey stuff is scary.

What is the definition of "Pricey"...that is the $64,000 dollar question ?

Downunder G Man said:

I don't even spend much money on jackets either and let alone anything else. Not much in a way that I always make sure to have sold one or another for enough to cover the next purchase but having a collection of pricey jackets just hanging in a wardrobe, waiting for a day I'll feel like wearing it... That's the stuff nightmares are made of. No thanks. Pricey stuff is scary.

What is the definition of "Pricey"...that is the $64,000 dollar question ?

Click to expand...

Pricey depends on your personal value system and sometimes on your income. I'm an aspiring minimalist and I have always found that material possessions actually own you.

zebedee said:

Years ago I lived in South Korea and at first I wore old clothing. My boss made a point of asking me why I didn't buy new clothes and then politely instructed me that I should dress smartly for people. I've wanted to go back there for years- it was quite a thing to have to be tactical in how I dressed for others and to be surrounded by people, who, as they were on display to each other all the time in a small place, put maximum effort into appearance. Tailoring there was easily affordable and usually good - amusingly, people preferred very expensive branding, and that it be visible on the sleeve.

Click to expand...

That sounds abominable.

Seb Lucas said:

That sounds abominable.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the sleeve thing was gauche. Most people also kept super-fit.

zebedee said:

It is funny that I'll spend a considerable sum of money on jackets but am not willing to do so on watches, footwear, jeans or anything else, really. A bit like going to the supermarket and spending 15 quid on red wine and 60p on a loaf of bread. Not for breakfast, obviously.

Click to expand...

I will definitely drop serious dough on a nice pair of boots but I draw the line when it comes to jeans. I always seem to either put a stain or a hole in every pair of pants I own sooner or later and I just can’t see spending $400 for something I know I will ruin. That said, I do have plenty of jeans that cost well over $100...

^and a shirt or 2

Picked these up for little on eBay. HH. An custom outfit based in San Francisco called Al's Attic. Perhaps some of the good folks here have heard of them, I sure hadn't. I really like the boots. Solid and the soles are made of of tire tread. Pretty comfy actually. Already scuffed from riding in them.

Does anyone have experience with the sizing from Rancourt & Co.? Do they tend to run true to size? I am eyeballing a pair of their chukkas.

Feraud said:

Does anyone have experience with the sizing from Rancourt & Co.? Do they tend to run true to size? I am eyeballing a pair of their chukkas.

Click to expand...

I had a pair i think was similar to the blake boot. I found it closer in size to a shoe or sneaker as compared to RW, whites, wesco, etc I generally sizing down a 1/2 size from sneaker/shoe for a good fit. so I think when they say TTS that is what they mean

thanks!

Lucchese Classic Ropers in Cognac/ Whiskey "smooth steerhide" for today's northbound Harley ride.
$240 USD delivered to me in Australia ( admittedly 12 years ago !). Re-heeled twice since , resoled once.
I have these styles in Ostrich , Hippo , steer and Goat. All Roper low heels. Some of them for 30 years+
Maintained by a traditional old fashioned cobbler/bootmaker here in Perth WA. The only one I trust !
Cool start today , but to be 27C by mid afternoon.
Indian Ocean backdrop , perhaps out of sight 15 fully laden oil tankers hove to and anchored.
The main WA refinery is perhaps 120 K's south of this photo spot.
Full oil tankers all over the world apparently. Perth fuel price down to 87c/ litre. Lowest for way over 10 years.
BECAUSE you can't drive anywhere of distance AND all the working from home scenario.
Phone camera shot of course , apologies for the quality , but you get the idea.

RW 875 from 07/04

RW 2911, Engineers, brown

Crafrite, Engineers, HH black

RMC, Buco Engineers, HH black

Superfluous said:

The notion that sneakers should be built like work boots is nonsensical.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the direct comparison rather struck me as odd. I haven't bought a pair of sneakers since, I think, about 2006; I stopped wearing them altogether around 2007. I'm just more comfortable in a good leather boot or brogue. I also came to dislike footwear that is effectively 'disposable' - can't be reheeled or resoled. All subjective preferences, of course. But criticising a sneaker for not having the same construction as a workboot is like criticising a dog for not being a cat.

zebedee said:

It is funny that I'll spend a considerable sum of money on jackets but am not willing to do so on watches, footwear, jeans or anything else, really. A bit like going to the supermarket and spending 15 quid on red wine and 60p on a loaf of bread. Not for breakfast, obviously.

Click to expand...

What it comes down to is that for those of us for whom money is not unlimited but who yet are fortunately enough to have some level of disposable income to spend on things which are not purely utilitarian, there will be choices to be made on where and how we direct that finite supply of disposable income. For me, it's certain types of clothing because what I want to wear simpyl can't be found on the high street. I'll spend more on jeans than just buying supermarkert pairs becasue it's the only way to be able to find what I want to wear, in the fit and look I want. Ditto shoes and leather jackets, less so shirts and underwear because I can fidn what I'm happy with affordably. Money no object, I can imagine being tempted to havesome jeans made in Savile Row, just out of curiosity...

zebedee said:

I was really good at frugality when I was earning a great salary in Hong Kong. As soon as I returned to the UK, a smaller salary somehow made me spend too much. Minimalism is a good way to live, but the catch is that most people I know (including me) have owned a lot of stuff before being able to buy the one or two durable, expensive things that don't require rapid replacement. Whether or not this will be the case in the future I don't know, but I've been able to to throw away cheap things and buy the hardier, permanent things- what made minimalism possible was that I didn't have to depend on cheaper stuff. It was a sort of regressive hypocrisy!

Click to expand...

Are you familiar with the Captain Vimes theory of economics? I think that has a lot to do with these things.

zebedee said:

Yeah, the sleeve thing was gauche.

Click to expand...

It's one of those absurd fashions like keeping the shop tags on your baseball cap to show off that it's 'legit' and not a copy / fake. Those tags are there for the benefit of the salesman when he lifts a suit off the for you to try, and are supposed to be rmeoved after purchase. People who are hung up on labels kept them on so other people would know what they are wearing.... I'm sure I'm the sort of old fart who isn't supposed to get it, but fashion always seemed to me to be acting out some sort of insecurity. The label thing.... not buyin a label's product because you like it or they are offering what you want to buy, but buiying *a label* because that's like a seal of approval - it's afashionable label, so it's ok to wear that..... Why not just wear what you like?

Edward said:

It's one of those absurd fashions like keeping the shop tags on your baseball cap to show off that it's 'legit' and not a copy / fake. Those tags are there for the benefit of the salesman when he lifts a suit off the for you to try, and are supposed to be rmeoved after purchase. People who are hung up on labels kept them on so other people would know what they are wearing.... I'm sure I'm the sort of old fart who isn't supposed to get it, but fashion always seemed to me to be acting out some sort of insecurity. The label thing.... not buyin a label's product because you like it or they are offering what you want to buy, but buiying *a label* because that's like a seal of approval - it's afashionable label, so it's ok to wear that..... Why not just wear what you like?

Click to expand...

It's the show-off attitude, back in the 80s or 90s - not sure when exactly - expensive fashion brands were asked to make their logo bigger by a substantial part of their clientele...