For people who like dress shoes, what will come to mind when mentioning Brooks Brothers’ shoes? Naturally it’s the very historical brand, Peal & Co, bought back from the UK which was a bespoke shoemaker and released ready to wear collection made by Crockett & Jones. Without Peal & Co logo on sock lining, there is another collection of Brooks Brothers shoes made by Allen Edmonds in the US.
But this pair of mine is not even made in the US. And it is not made in China as well.
Are you curious? Good, let us find out.
Last
Everyone has a different definition of old school, or old man shoes, some people feel that wearing Oxford is already old man, some people feel that tasseled loafer is old man shoes, some people feel that Kiltie is, but in my eyes, college Loafer gives me the strongest sense of this.
The main reason I say “old man” is that the last is very round and rolled, and then the apron increases the height or dimension to such a wide and round silhouette, and it increases the effect even more. The American last is originally thick and silly, probably in their eyes, such a toe is incredibly elegant.
Comfort is good.
Pattern
This is one that I left out when I was summarizing Loafer styles. If you say it is a penny loafer, of course it is not wrong, but the division is not fine enough, the style of this pair should be called College Loafer. as the name suggests, college loafer is again the product of the American Ivy. The representative brand of this style is Weejun!
What are the characteristics? It’s the circle of Apron, almost all on a vertical degree with the contour of the shoe.
Apron of regular penny loafer looks like this.
We can think about the world’s most reputable Loafer, J.M. Weston’s 180.
The making of apron is close.
Apron stitching on this pair imitated the 180 which is that the edge of leather was cut into an oblique angle, and then paste up together. It’s very classic, but the spacing between the seams below is a bit larger.
Leather
The classic color 8 shell cordovan leather. But I can’t figure out which tannery it is from. If it was Horween’s, I think it would have been marked out, and it didn’t look like Shinkin’s as well because it wasn’t hard at all. Then it could be the Italian Rocado.
Since these shoes are unlined, you can just see the cross-section of the upper, the dye only goes into about a fifth to a quarter of the thickness.
Outsole
From this angle, it is clear that it must be Blake stitching and it cannot be Goodyear welted.
The sole also verifies this, and the heel is all rubber. Allen Edmonds is the representative of doing so, and probably the Japanese shoemaker Regal is also a fan of this practice.
I have no objection to the construction or the sole, but!
Only two layers of heel lift? That is unheard of!
Because I am short, I hope the heel can be padded a little higher, which is the reason why I prefer Goodyear to Blake. As for Blake construction, the forefoot is very low, so the heel must be low as well to be harmonious, and the final effect is that shoes make me shorter.
Construction
I first thought it is Blake stitched, but when I looked inside, it is actually Bolognese stitching! Where foot step on is not midsole but the upper leather. But the touch of the reverse side of shell cordovan leather is hard and rough, not as comfortable as veg-tanned calf leather.
Details
First announce where it is produced.
El Salvador, the Central American country that just recently announced Bitcoin as a fiat currency. In my Model Archive series, I deliberately collected the brands of Central and South America. But the brands are few and the style is mostly rough. I don’t know how the Brooks Brothers found this shoe factory. Later on, one of the reader told me, Weejun is now made in El Salvador and this model is just a private label for Brooks Brothers.
If this pair of shoes has any significance, it must be shell cordovan, so it will play this element to extreme, so that every place where your feet touch it is shell cordovan, even heel and forefoot, but it is the suede side.
The piping of opening is formed by backfolding the upper. Because shell cordovan leather is quite hard, the folded-up piping is bulbous.
Many American shoes mark the width with letter M, maybe it means medium.
Summary
Old man joy made of shell cordovan, wearing to buy grocery is most appropriate.