The Best Welted Shoe, ZHUOLV

I was thinking about adding a qualifier, China, and then I realized there may not be a sure-fire winner in the world to these shoes.

Before the emergence of ZHUOLV, if we talk about the best welted shoes brand in China, there is basically a recognised answer, ACME.

Now I can say that ZHUOLV is better than ACME.

Come along with me and find out how ZHUOLV shoes are so good that they can get such a great verdict from me.

Last

What doesn’t fit my aesthetic and still gets my approval is a good indication of how well the last was developed.

This elongated small square toe can be analogous to Gaziano & Girling’s Square Deco, but there is a very strong taste of their own, lies in the widest part of the foot, obviously in order to adapt to the Asian wide foot, but the external curve is handled in a smooth and unparalleled way, and through the outer instep curve, if provides the bespoke feeling even Square Deco does not.

This last gives me two feelings, one is like a swimming fish and the other is like a dagger. By combining these two, I think it can be called the sturgeon last.

Pattern

I believe this angle is probably the killer, making you want to open your wallet right away.

There’s nothing out of the ordinary as far as upper design goes, not even the relatively difficult choice of pie-crust stitching.

But the essence of the upper design, like the shape of the dress, lies in the harmony of the fit, specifically, the echo of the width and shape of the penny loafers stripes with the size and shape of the apron area.

Whoever looks at it, from any angle, can’t pick a fault, that’s amazing!

Craftsmanship

With the first two paragraphs, it’s fair to say there’s a fair amount of subjective judgement, but when it comes down to craftsmanship, it’s a complete fist-to-fist rationality contest.

Welted shoes, we start with looking at the welt for sure.

Unique, as well as impeccable.

Unique, because the craftsmanship is exceptionally clean and deep edge finish. To achieve this, unique tools are required, along with a steady hand and clean work. Not every shoemaker can do this kind of clean job, furthermore unheard of for ready to wear shoes.

Impeccability, on the other hand, is when we look at the width along the welt on the side and toe, is toe narrower? Why? Because the side curve is long and the toe curve is short, and the same width will appear wider on the shorter curve.

What effect does edge dent offer?

Blind waist.

Blind waist is a shape, and we can assume that it does not contain prerequisites, such as whether or not it is handwelted or handstitched.

There are three implementations of the blind waist that have been seen so far.

The first two, seen only on bespoke shoes, are the use of leather from the sole to achieve the effect of covering the threads at waist, whether using rolled out leather, or sole leather shovelled thin and then folded back and wrapped up.

The third cuts corners by using Blake construction or even gluing process at the waist.

As I mentioned above, theoretically, none of them have to be high or low as long as they’re achievable, but if you actually see the shoes, there’s going to be even a distinct sort of sophistication, and refolding is better than rolling out and further better than cutting corner.

Here we see a fourth, which is a blind waist using an engraving welt strip to cover the thread at waist.

In terms of sophistication, I’m afraid we’re going to have to compete with folding back.

A small Cuban heel, the upper heel sits smoothly on top of the sole heel, and the knurling on the heel is fine and neat. The hand work is unrivalled.

After looking at welt, let’s look at the soles, which are also of top calibre.

How do you feel when you see this sole that doesn’t have a fiddleback? My feeling is, classy.

Then a lot of people may not understand what is so great about this original colour sole, the answer lies in the fact that the shoes will be taken by hand in the process of making, if it is a dark-coloured sole, then even if there are some dirty marks on the sole leather, it can be covered up, but if you make it in original colours, then throughout the whole process of making the shoes, you have to pay attention to not touching the dirty.

Traditional bespoke shoes are all crust coloure soles.

Notice that the edge of the forefoot has the same engraving as on the welt, only it is a bit shallower, and also only on the forefoot and not into the waist.

Aesthetically, it was a heightened sense of sophistication, and from a practical point of view, the sole hides the threads, which means that the sole leather is cut away from the side and then covered back in after sewing, although it’s coated with glue, it’s pressed in such a way as to make the sides less prone to buckling.

The same element is present on the heel. The small rubber piece shows refined texture as well.

Leather

The best leather selection in China, and why? Almost every shoemaker chooses black boxcalf from Weinheimer, what is special about ZHUOLV. The answer is to choose only the top of the line, and I will show you the fineness of the leather after aging.