I had my second fitting with shoemaker Seiji McCarthy last month, and the full-strap loafers are looking good. Loafers are the hardest thing to fit bespoke, but the trial pair I had are almost at that perfect point where I can kick them off my feet, yet the heels don’t slip when I walk.
That description of the perfect fit was Seiji’s, not mine, but it was one I immediately identified with. I once had an argument with a more traditional shoemaker about the fit of loafers that felt too tight – certainly something I couldn’t begin to ‘loaf’ in – and it was refreshing to so readily agree with in the way Seiji talked about shoes.
When I was younger (and newer to bespoke) I think I would have said the other maker’s approach was wrong, or silly, or outdated. Today I realise it’s personal – I prefer my shoes to fit a certain way, and it helps immensely if the maker likes that too. Ideally you want the maker to wear, and even style clothes in the same way you do – just as you would from a brand. It’s not a necessity, but it is safer and easier.
For more on Seiji’s background and style, see the previous article on these shoes, here.
Seiji and I had done a fitting in New York already, using a piece of waste leather to make an upper and insole. He subsequently made me a full trial shoe to walk around in and test out – that’s the black-leather one above.
It’s unusual for him (and indeed any shoemaker) to make two trials in this way, but Seiji likes to do it if there is a significant delay before he will see the customer next – so they have the chance to try something out and really wear it in. This second trial shoe had a sole, but it was only glued on.
There was a long time between our two fittings, both because Seiji doesn’t currently visit London, and because he’s had a run of bad luck with makers and the shoe-last factory in Japan closing. More on the struggles he and Yohei Fukuda have with that kind of thing here.
A good example of Seiji’s focus on style is the different colours of cordovan he uses. He’s aware of the re-dying Alden do on their Color 8, which I and others like so much. It’s why so many non-Alden shoes usually look redder and brighter.
Seiji is now using a Japanese supplier of cordovan and recolouring them by hand, to offer customers a range. He showed me a set of swatches and the differences between each one were really subtle. I didn’t even want the darkest; the second-darkest seemed closest to my Aldens to me.
Now Seiji is not re-dying them, he’s using creams, so the effect won’t be as permanent. But it’s a pretty easy thing to keep up if you’re looking after the shoes anyway, particularly with his guidance (darkening an expensive shoe at home can be a little scary). And even normal cordovan changes colour a little over time (often lightening, though mine haven’t much – one issue with Aldens is the amount they can vary).
The things we changed on the fit of the shoes were quite minor, often revealed by where my foot could be seen to sit inside the shoe, once it was cut open.
For example, my heels both turn in a little – something that becomes obvious with ready-to-wear shoes, as you see one side of the heel cup inside wear down much quicker than the other. Seeing this inside my trial shoe, Seiji made a note to add more to the last on that side.
The bigger changes were aesthetic, and this is an interesting area of bespoke, particularly as it’s covered a lot less than fit or make.
Designing a bespoke shoe (and it is always a work of design) inevitably involves compromises between the look of the shoe and the customer’s foot. The shape of the shoe has to change to achieve a superior fit – otherwise RTW would fit perfectly and there would be no need for bespoke.
With these loafers, the questions included where to position the strap on the top of my foot. A higher strap would likely hold the foot better, but a big part of the appeal of the full-strap loafer is it’s low vamp and strap.
Equally, how long to make the shoe. My foot is quite wide around the ball of the foot, and so a bespoke fit usually means widening this point. Bespoke makers often then make the shoe longer at the front in order to retain balance in the design.
But again, a shorter, stubbier look is part of the appeal of my favourite loafer. You can see it in the image above, alongside the black fitting shoe from Seiji. The fitting shoe is longer and the strap higher. We agreed to reduce the length and lower the strap to make the two more similar, but as with many other decisions, I had to leave it up to Seiji to make the call on exactly how much.
That decision was also informed by seeing where my toes were sitting inside the shoe (below). This gives you a decent idea of how much the shoe can comfortable be shortened (though interestingly, the height of the space around the toe also makes quite a big difference).
I should have these shoes in the autumn, and I’m pretty excited by them. It’s been a long time since the original commission (two years!) so it wouldn’t be realistic if this was a shoe I needed as part of my daily wardrobe. But as a big upgrade on something I already wear and love, it’s less of a problem.
Prices and lead times have gone up most places in Japan, and Seiji is no exception. His attitude has always been that he charges only what is required for the shoemaking to be sustainable. Inflation, the changing attitude of employees, and raw materials have all contributed.
These loafers today would cost JPY680k. Seiji’s bespoke now starts at JPY580k, and he also offers MTO and MTM:
- MTO/MTM starts from JPY 320k (lasted shoe trees sold separately)
- MTM is the MTO base price plus an additional JPY 6k per adjusted area on the last
- All shoe models are available MTO/MTM except for loafers, as loafer fittings are harder
- This is ordering in Japan. Trunk show prices are around 20% higher
- MTO/MTM delivery 18 months and bespoke trial fitting is 18 months with delivery a year after that
- All prices without tax
Seiji now travels to the US once a year for trunk shows – currently New York and San Francisco in the Autumn, but with plans to add others in the future. Below: The same shoe recently finished for another customer
