CHAD MEETS OAK STREET - BOOTMAKERS

I met George Vlagos @ Bread & Butter, Berlin in the L.O.C.K. Fire dept. He is the founding father of

Oak Street Bootmakers. His father has a shoe repair shop in Chicago and in this shop he learned the craft of shoemaking from an early age. Today, George seeks to preserve the heritage of fine shoemaking through thoughtfully designed and attentively crafted shoes.

All Oak Street shoes and boots are handcrafted in the USA by shoemakers with over 20 years of experience. The highest standards of production are employed to yield shoes that are as durable as they are comfortable. Each pair makes use of replaceable outsoles, a feature normally reserved for formal footwear, to ensure a lifetime of wear. 

As Chicago is also home to Horween leathers it ain't a surprise that Oak Street shoes and boots are constructed from renowned Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel undergoes 89 separate processes taking 28 days and utilizing all five floors of the Horween facility in Chicago. Over the past 100 years very little has changed in the formula. Food-grade beef tallow, cosmetic-grade beeswax, marine oil, chrome salts, tree bark extracts and naturally occurring pigments are combined. The mixture is then applied using heat, steam pressure, the hands of craftsman and time. This ultimately yields the soft, supple and durable leather that is used for your shoes or boots.

TRETORN - THE SWEDISH SWOOSH

Bjorn Borg X Tretorn

The Original

Tretorn x Club Monaco

Tretron Nylite was first launched in 1967. The white shoe with te dark blue "wing". Worn by Bjorn Borg when winning the Wimbledon 1976, the era when tennnis stars made rock stars blush, and immortalized by 1980's The Official Preppy Handbook. The Nylite epitomizes Swedish minimalism. This season Club Monaco collaborates with Treton with special collors, only available via their webshop.

NEW BALANCE 501 CAMO - WANNAHAVES!!!!

I found these great New Balance 501 camo in the April issue of GQ. Is their anybody out there who can tell me where to buy them??? 

CAPPELLO BROS. - FRACAP

History lesson

As a renowned craftsman Antonio Cappello opened his first workshop in 1908 in the country side of Monteroni di Lecce, Italy. Antonio left his inheritance to his two sons, Alfredo and Giovanni. In 1948 the two sons changed the name of the family business to Fracap, put together from FRAtello CAPpello (Cappello Brothers). In 1987, Alfred's sons, Anthony and Michael, took over the reins of the family business and expanding their portfolio by launching a line of shoes that became a rapid military success, ranging from the Italian Army, the Airforce and the Navy. Until a few years ago Fracap was known for only producing locally and for the Japanese market where they became a European favorite for their hiking boots. For Spring/Summer Fracap stick to their roots of boot makers, but also embraces the boatshoes, you can choose from different soles and along with that a full range of uppers, yes even a leopard print. For more info about the brand and where they are sold in the Benelux  fracapbenelux@gmail.com

QUODDY - MADE BY HAND

Quoddy Boat Moc

Quoddy Blutcher

Quoddy Canoe Moc

Quoddy Chukka

Quoddy Maliseet Oxford

Quoddy Grizzly Boat

Quoddy Grizzly Boat Handswen Crepe Sole

Made By Hand

Quoddy footwear is made by hand in Maine. The art of handsewing shoes goes back hundreds of years in Maine, and generations for many craftspeople at Quoddy. Moccasins represent a specific approach to shoemaking; a footwear philosophy and a construction technique. Quite simply, Quoddy’s method of moccasin construction creates a shoe that functions as a glove for your foot. It surrounds your foot in supple leather, and allows your foot muscles, bones, and tendons to support you naturally as they were intended to do, while offering protection, cushioning, and style. Every Quoddy is made-to-order by an individual craftsperson. Quoddy harkens back to the time when hand-made was the norm, when output was measured in dozens, not thousands.

SOCK IT.....

It looks great on Paul Newman, why shouldn't it look good on you. Moccasins or boatshoes with socks

play with striped ones or wear those thick woolen ones. The guys from Rugby show you already how stylish you can go through Fall when you sock it.......

MONITALY & YUKETEN LOOKBOOK SS 2012

pics via Monitaly

Classic made in U.S.A. footwear and luggage are exceptional as traditional artifacts of the rugged and refined American past. Since 1985, designer Yuki Matsuda has paid homage to the American crafts and traditions by treasure hunting for outstanding examples of footwear and luggage in remote locales spread out across the rolling Appalachians to the high Sierras.

SPERRY A PASSION FOR THE SEA

Inventor Paul Sperry

How it all begun

Advertisements from the past 

JFK and Paul Newman made boatshoes popular

The Authentic Original aka A/O

It's all about details

Collaborations with Band of Outsiders, Penfield and Jeffrey's

It all started when Paul Sperry bought himself a Nova Scotia Schooner back in the 30s. He learned that a wet deck was very hazardous with ordinary sneakers even with crepe soles which were fine on a dry deck but felt like roller skating when wet. On a winter's day in Connecticut he let his cocker spaniel dog Prince out for a morning exercise, he seemed to have no trouble running all over the snow-covered backyard. Mr. Sperry looked at the paws of his dog and saw little cracks or cuts going in all directions. An idea was born. He took a piece of rubber, cut it with a penknife, and cemented it under an ordinary pair of sneakers. These wave-like grooves became the inspiration for Mr. Sperry's latest patent, called Razor-Siping and maximized the traction. The Authentic Original Sperry Top-Sider was first introduced in 1935, sold for $ 4,50 a pair from a rented office space in New Haven, CT. Every pair was sold via direct mail, upon a certain moment that Abercrombie & Fitch placed an order, and Mr. Perry gave them the exclusive rights in New York. The popularity of Sperry as a casual shoe grew after WWII. During the 1950s when the restrictions on the use of rubber were lifted and the fact that pictures of John F. Kennedy and Paul Newman in boatshoes where spread around the world, made people want to look like their idol. Today, more then 75 years later, the brand has some great collaborations going on with Band of Outsiders, Penfield and Jeffrey's just to name a few. "Sperry a passion for the sea"