An Interview with Bespoke Tailor LI Yuan
The brand of LiiYuan has actually been around for some years, and it used to have some cooperation with many well-known stores in China. Strangely, LiiYuan is not as well-known as it once was, but it has amazing offerings (good tailoring) and, more importantly, aesthetic originality. I very much hope that his works can be seen, experienced and understood by more people, and more dissemination may be recognized internationally.
Let us check his journey in this trade.
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Toe Plate Installment Service by Johnny Works
Toe of leather soles is the easiest place to wear, basically as soon as you start wearing them, they wear quickly. But grinding to a certain angle, it will come to a platform, later the wear will not be so severe. The degree of tilt of this wear platform varies to different people. Deep tilt brings the problem of broken stitching. Toe stitching breaks, then the welt and outsole will gradually separate.
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An Interview with Riccardo Zhang, Co-Founder of Sartoria Dei Solari
The name ZHANG Renjie may not be familiar to you, while the name Riccardo Zhang is actually very active on social media, such as Red. So, what is so special about him? He is the only one of two tailors who has overseas working experience rather than study experience in the field of bespoke suits in China, and the other one, Zhang Xiao, who is on the top of the list. While Zhang Xiao’s Musella Dembech background is an important reason for her skills and audience following, ZHANG Renjie’s Satoria Yuki Inoue Milano background is no less important. ZHANG Renjie has just recently set up a new store, Sartoria dei Solari with another two tailors (whose interviews are on the way).
It is a great pleasure of interviewing him.
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Model Archive – Truffaut
Many thanks to reader Eric for this brand, established in 1998. The factory in Foshan, Guangdong province.
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An Interview with Shoemaker Mr. Jin
Mr. Jin comes from Jiangxing, Zhejiang Province, China, he is the contestant of 2021 China Shoemaking Championship. Let us have a read of his story and journey in this trade.
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Innovative Designs of Mattina
In recent two to three years, so many Chinese shoemaker emerged, and I feel it reached an platform which no significant new ones deserving attention except one or two such as dress shoe collection from Iron Boots. After following so many brands for a while, Mattina is my favorite due to its brand image building. That does not mean its products are boring, on the contrary, its products may also be the most interesting ones in the market and one leg up than most other brands. There are several Spanish shoemakers focusing on great value while the pattern designs are quite conservative to say the best, boring to be honest. It is relatively easy to have several iconic and memorable models from one brand, and the rest are forgotten, however Mattina achieves the reverse, most are great and several not so impressive. I glanced its all models for many times and divide them into three categories: Innovative, Trying and Boring.
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A New Loafer from Badia
Badia released a new model of loafer which is very different with its previous sleek and slender ones, and the market applauded.
When I looked at this pair, I thought of Lopez from John Lobb. To be fair, the last is different, however this last is too far away from its signature lasts.
I contacted JIANG Daoyuan, the founder of Badia to know his concept.
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Model Archive – Badia
When I looked back at my blog, I found I summarized Badia models as early as 2020, however something is strange. As the history is history already, not as a rumour or business secret any longer, it is OK to say that time, Badia has same models with Mattina and only different brands because JIANG Daoyuan, the founder of Badia worked together with ZHAO Ruoda, product director of Mattina in a same factory. Even the lasts and products can be said to be developed together. Later, JIANG Daoyuan left and created his Badia lasts and models all from scratch. Lasts are more tender and sleeker, patterns are more artistical.
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My Shoe Collection – M104 from James Taylor & Son
James Taylor & Son is the bespoke shoemaker in England, however this pair is not bespoke but Goodyear welted in China. The history I have written about the founder ZHANG Dong and the interview with current owner of James Taylor & Son. In this article, we only focus on the shoes. The shoes are actually made by the same factory of Mattina, and the last was developed by the very respected bespoke shoemaker in Shenyang China, Jinzi Huang.
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