ZHAO Zhun was a player who participated in the first China Shoemaking Contest, and although the players of that year were still active in the footwear industry, there were not many who insisted on making shoes completely by hand. ZHAO Zhun’s love for shoemaking is one of the highest among so many people I have seen, and the other is JIANG Daoyuan, the founder of Badia, and they also have a relationship, that is, Zhao Zhun has learned skills from JIANG Daoyuan and the latter passed on what he learned at Stefano Bemer Studio to the former.
ZHAO Zhun worked in a shoe store in Shenzhen for several years and has returned to his hometown of Xi’an to start his own business. The brand, of which the name is yet decided, offers purely handmade MTO and MTM service with a price 5600 RMB with lasted shoe tree. The price is too hard to resist and I have placed an order. He sent two sample shoes over and asked me to see what could be improved.
Let us have a look.
Last
There are two lasts, which was suggested by me that to make everyone recognize your, lasts and pattern must be confined, at least at the beginning. I’m sure everyone knows which one I prefer.
English Tan colour, the tip of the toe and the widest position of the forefoot are perfect, but the ratio of length and width, and the slope of the transition from head to width, are not my thing. I can’t claim that my aesthetic is right, because that wouldn’t explain how Gaziano & Girling’s Deco is so sought after. On the other hand, I said that Corthay’s Pullman last is not sharp, and many people laughed at it, I insist as no matter how long and narrow it is, it is indeed harmonious.
The black one, when placed together, wins more obviously. The toe is rounder and wider, so the transition on the outside will be smoother. However, the toe still gives a senselessly elongated feeling. This elongation is not obvious, but my question is always, why elongated? What is the purpose? Does it add beauty? Or is it simply a Chinese last that received abuse from the Italian fashion industry, and will die if it is not elongated?
After the critical words, let’s talk about the difference between ZHAO Zhun’s lasts and factory premade lasts, which was mentioned in unboxing of Senore Yosui. Outside of forefoot is more in line with the flatness of human feet.
There is also a difference in the heel. Asians heel is relatively small and small heel cup can hold our feet better.
Construction
Looking at the waist of both from this perspective, English Tan one is more refined. More eye-catching, more advanced, sharper, all of which anyone will say, but my point is that gentleness can also make a sense of beauty that does not lose, but now the black one loses significantly. No matter it is clothes or shoes, all the craftsmanship is all about conveying an aesthetic experience, and if you only make things, not beauty, you degrade to a tool-man and lose most of your value. This also said why there may be advantages when someone has overseas training or work experience, maybe people tell him some default parameters, which are actually handed down from a long-term test of functionality and aesthetics, not surprisingly, not remarkable, but indeed one of the optimal solutions.
Both pairs have a strong inner cinched waist, but whether it is the black one that is not so aggressive, or the English Tan’s intense aggressiveness, there is an ugly element that has not been solved, the corner.
Outside, it’s even more of a place where I’ve criticized countless times.
Of course, this criticize is not aimed at ZHAO Zhun.
On the inside, because the upper is originally tucked in, the waist of the shoe exacerbates this line, and there is no problem. But the outside, originally a convex shape, the sole waist suddenly thrusts inward, presenting a feeling of a castle in the air? Even if this concept is accepted, it is probably more difficult to achieve harmony for the sole at the widest point to suddenly turn to the curve transition of the waist than the inside. The black one, because of the overall moderation route, is even stronger.
Just look at this picture, is the welt done well? It is fudged and the small steps are followed by stitches. It should be good, but it is not. Where is it bad? I said there are three elements of welt, stitch density, welt width and sole thickness. This angle may not be very clear about the thickness of the sole, overall, relatively thin, take the exquisite and noble route of London West End shoemaking, stitch density is definitely fine, and then a so wide welt destroyed the good proportion. The completion of the product cannot even be said to be determined by its shortcomings, but whether it has an overall vision from the beginning.
Broken Heel element.
If you have seen the works of Zhao Zhun in Shoe Contest, you know that he is very good at making heels and can even be said to be crazy. You can also see how many layers he stacked on this pair. But layer by layer, the thicker the sole, the shallow waist looks, it seemed that the lower body of an enchanting snake suddenly grew the lower limbs of the tyrannical bear.
The black one is again better because of the overall convergence, the waist side is not so thin (I’ll see why later), and the heel feeling is not so stacked.
The pressing teeth on the heel are not very regular, but also too thick to add this element to add a sense of sophistication.
Out Sole
The sole also has two configurations, as everyone can think of, beveled sole and the fiddleback. The arc is perfect I would say what I like, and the arc I think is perfect.
Make it bicolor, and use the arc to transition, where is the center of this arc, now it is biased to the inner side, right or not? I haven’t experienced much beauty. And this kind of wavy pattern, I will feel that it is better to take the YIN YANG element, and add the obvious point of the top of the arc, and even the fish eye, as long as the center point is set, it is a very good brand identity.
The problem of this fiddleback is very big. The overall area of waist is large, and the waist is quite narrow, which is very thin and unaesthetic. Let’s take a picture of fiddleback sole by a world master.
The work of Catella Shoemaker, to be fair, I don’t like it either, because the waist is still very thin, like Twinkima.G and Cie’s waist made with Blake construction or even the glue process, except that it makes the area a little smaller.
Summary
As I’ve said before, when I look at a product, I rarely talk about how much money it costs. Achieve a perfect overall aesthetic output, and then calculate your cost and profit margin, and show it to everyone. For this market segment, especially for higher-end (knowledgeable) consumer groups, the product is your trump card.