My Shoe Collection – Waverley from Saxone of Scotland

This pair of vintage shoes was bought on Ebay, and the brand has long been defunct.

There is an article about this only Scottish shoe brand with its own factory, see Saxone.

Before the purchase, I investigated who made these shoes as its own factory had been transferred to another shoe company many years agao. It seems after 1997, the shoes were made by Barker, and before that it was Loake.

The seller only knows the shoes were made in the 90s, no more information.

The model name, Waverley is stamped on the lining.

Let us have a look this vintage pair of shoes.

Pattern

Full brogue wingtip oxford with medallion. please note the wingtip is imitation, and this design compensate for the roughness of a country model such as full brogue.

The fullness of the medallion is rare to this day, it is elegant while busy, a very controversary detail.

I dislike the curved brogue besides the eyelets as the turn is too abrupt and harms the whole streamline feeling of the shoes achieved by all the other brogue lines.

Last

The square round toe is just amazing and the whole shoes speak of harmony, well proportioning to the highest level.

Outsole

Today, it is very rare to see a close channel Goodyear welted shoes from UK under 600 GBP, but this one is, and the sole is remarked “Finished by hand”, which means the blackening was hand painted.

Thinking about current Barker and Loake, neither has close channel collection, you can tell how better shoe were made in 90s, not only in UK, but the whole world.

Another thing is different from present, English brands love to stamp “Made in England” on the sole, but this one did not, is it possible this pair was actually made in Italy as close channel is by default there?

I am not a historian to tell whether English brands had began to outsource to Italy in 90s, and the heel top looks very English.

The rubber part of the heel top marked the brand name.

Leather

No matter who made this pair, Saxone of Scotland never occupies the position of premium brand, but look at the leather quality, oh my god, even John Lobb cannot guarantee each pair can match the same level. Talk about the good old days!

Details

Three points can be discussed.

Rounded welt

first question, why rounded? To make the sole seem sleek. And in UK, sleek soles mean prestigious and no need to walk on bad roads, more deeply, the leisure class.

But this rounded method is not commonly seen in UK, as the sole are skived thin before attaching to the mid sole. It is Italy that loves this method, even today, you can find this detail on some Italian brand. We can say how big influence Italy poses to fashion world, at least in 90s.

Welt Stitches

The stitches are well positioned on the fudge, one ridge by one ridge, the covered by wax to achieve invisible stitches.

Nowadays, invisible welt stitches are regarded the highest level of both Ready to Wear and bespoke shoes, but back to 90s, it can be seen on entry level shoes.

Looked very closely, you can find the stitches are somehow far from the upper and lie on the edge of the welt. Closing to the upper is better thought of.

Lining

Most shoes today are leather lined, no matter the leather is calf, sheepskin or pigskin, but this one for the upper is canvas, which is quite normal on vintage shoes. Canvas is good for letting out the air and absorbing moisture, but the bad part is they cannot easily breath the moisture it absorbed out.

And the heel lining is as bad as many Italian shoes, vintage and present, I have no idea what this brown leather is made, but it does not feel good, and does not look good.

Remark

I really love wearing this pair mainly due to its last and leather quality. The pattern can be easily dressed up and down and I hope it serves me in a long shot.