Anyone who knows me knows that when I look at a brand, I care a lot about its originality. Because formal leather shoes are a small filed, the space for innovation and maneuver is almost zero in the eyes of outsiders. Aren’t dress shoes just dress shoes? Isn’t it what you wear for interviews, meetings, and selling insurance? But in the eyes of those who are in the know, the aesthetic enlightenment brought by such tiny changes is enormous.
For example, Mattina and Oct Tenth, I prefer Mattina. From a craftsmanship point of view, Oct Tenth wins, but in terms of upper design, most of Mattina’s styles have small thoughts, which is the elegant aesthetic approach.
Needless to say, J.FitzPatrick, which I sell in China, can be said to be a brand that is at the forefront of dress shoe innovation all over the world.
The hardest thing to innovate is not overstepping, such as Berluti is considered high street fashion and detached from classic menswear.
And what about Portuguese brand Carlos Santos? Is it unique?
Carlos Santos’s core selling point around the world is the sheer number of patina colour options, which are not vulgar and textured.
I remember the first shipment I had contains an Oxford, Francis with two patina options, Coimbra and Alentejo.
Francis is a five-eyelets wholecut oxford.
If you look at all the wholecut oxfords on the market, 99% of them have five-eyelets.
This one is called a classic, and there is nothing wrong with it, but in this article, we talk about uniqueness.
You must think that there is no place to play with the design on the upper of a wholecut oxford, however, Carlos Santos has another wholecut oxford and it only has three eyelets.
Because I am not very interested in patina, but I care about uniqueness, so Carlos Santos customized for Fu Pei shoe store has many unique styles.
Originally, it was a pair tributing to New & Lingwood, sadly (luckily) Carlos Santos didn’t fulfill my request and shrunk the butterfly.
In this way, it has become a unique style that has not been the same on the market.
Yes, it’s still butterfly, it has brogued apron, but it’s the scaling of one element, it’s a completely different aesthetic experience.
Another style with very few upper elements. Chelsea is the most popular boot style. Carlos Santos plays a very simple stroke, that is, the seam under the elastic band, drawn at 45 degrees.
The seam you see on the market is 90 degrees straight down. What 45 degrees brings is a sense of sharpness, and with the last of 401, the exquisite attributes are pulled to the extreme.
Swan Neck Cap Toe Oxford, Swan
The swan neck is an element invented by Edward Green.
This style from Carlos Santos cannot be said to be exclusive, but it is also very rare, especially when these styles of Edward Green are only MTO and not in stock.
The double-buckle monk’s strap is cut through the middle and turned into two bandages to tie the instep. Exclusive on the market.
This style has a more specific name, the Paris Derby, which describes the shape of the two ears.
Under the introduction of Parisian Gentleman blogger Hugo Jacomet, I didn’t expect the Portuguese brand Carlos Santos to have an exclusive Paris derby on the market.
The only change is that the place where the coin is inserted has been changed to a diamond shape. Just such a little change is the favorite of high-end players.
Summary
Other styles also have their own ingenuity, and I believe that the styles I will add later will live up to everyone’s expectations.