Are expensive boots & shoes worth it? The Shell Cordovan Podcast w/  

100%. The biggest perception I encounter about any leather type is that they are all alternatives to one another. While it is true that we have to decide between different types of leather it would be clearer for folks if they constrained the decision to the characteristics they desire. Because it becomes a pretty straightforward decision then and all that’s left is what color. Great take!

Appreciate you sticking through the entire chat! We’re talking about the pattern, not the asymmetric anatomical shape of a handmade shoe/boot. The heal countering, inside the shoe, exists whether or not the upper pattern has separate heel pattern pieces or not.

@@Shellvedge Yes, I missed the point a bit, but basically what I was trying to say was that the whole opening on good shoes is not symmetrical (outside lower than inside), so it would not be possible to make the heel counter pattern symmetrical as it would look very odd to apply a symmetrical heel counter pattern to an asymmetrical opening, e.g. the distance of the heel counter pattern piece to the opening would then vary a lot on the inside and outside of the opening. Regarding the engineer boot, the heel counter pattern is not just cosmetic, as the material is doubled at this point (with the actual heel counter being inserted between these two layers it is even tripled, you can see this in Brians videos). The heel counter pattern piece simultaneously serves as a design piece and as a structural heel counter and determines how far up the structural counter inside of the boot can go up, so a completely symmetrical heel counter pattern would have effects on the lateral ankle in this construction method (of course not in the classic dress shoemaking method). So the specific execution might be a design aspect, but the mere fact that heel counter pattern pieces are asymmetrical is heavily influenced by the asymmetrical ankle bones, which shoe/bootmakers have to accommodate for.

So so true!