Why Bespoke Dress Shoes Are So Expensive | So Expensive | Insider Business 

Sure, but it's a dying trade. Most people cannot afford the prices such items normally sell for.

@@addanametocontinue It's not for those who can't afford them. There used to be a lot of these shops as stated in the video but then people stopped buying them as much and most died out but the few who remain still have customers because there's just the right amount of people who want to buy the shoes to keep these few in business.

@@DarioVidili it really goes to show how things are only affordable for people due to automation and cheap 3rd world labor

@@jasonsharpbucks True. Look at books, they were expensive as shit before the Gutenberg press, now look at us.

Children make everyone's shoes. Apparently, you never saw that video about the Nike factories.

I would have sent it back to the shoemaker who made it. If the shoes you’re talking about really were bespoke and made by hand as such, then a cobbler no matter how competent he is, most likely butchered your father’s shoes. Cobblers are not trained to deal with handmade shoes, that’s why you only send factory made shoes to them, since they operate with machines. However a bespoke shoe would have the sole work painstakingly worked by hand by the shoemaker and a cobbler would just slap on a sole and stitch it with a machine.

@@reikiorr8217 I would have done the same. But unfortunately, the shoemaker passed away some years ago. The cobbler who fixed my dad's shoes is a reliable fellow and he's very competent in what he does. Apparently, the construction of my dad's shoe is a traditional kind and any cobbler with good knowledge and experience can fix them using the same method the shoe originally built with. So I would say no harm done yet.

@@reikiorr8217 It really depends on the cobbler, you're right many would absolutely ruin the fit of the shoe but there are definitely some who will know how to properly resole a shoe like this.

Although you are right in the sense that they won’t have the original ‘last’ which means they won’t be able to recreate the sole or attach it in the same way! Unless they carve a new last to the foot.

@@reikiorr8217 i would send them to Bedo's leatherworks he has a channel on youtube and does some really amazing work

How cool

Only back then I bet he thought it's the most boring thing in the world. We never appreciate the little things from the grown-up world as kids. Unfortunately...

@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ 🙄

@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ we believe in jesus but we do not believe in your people. Jesus is not a God.

@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ hmm k

It's more than that.....handmade shoes you pay for the material but they arent "bespoke" let alone by a master. You are paying for the expertise and years of experience behind the craftsman

To a limit. 12,000 pounds for a pair of shoes is absurd no matter what. You can get Saville Row suits for far less than that.

@@Gg-ij7li perfect place for this. Genius really

Aren't u a clever little gnome

Shoes like these over guccis I respect because of the artisans and craftsmens/woman

Good things are addictive 😌

Kaha se liya bhai

You and the rest of us. Lol.

Why wish??? Make it happen!

for shoes? sheesh, you're almost as bad as douchebag sneakerheads who think certain pairs of Nikes are worth 50-100k. i'm sure these are nice shoes, but literally no shoe is worth more than a few hundred dollars to me, and that's leaving room for specialized shoes like hiking or athletic shoes. a normal pair of walking shoes is only worth like 75$ to me, and i'll wear them for like two or three years.

China is up and coming too. Acme Shoemaker superiority

​@X5J9 what

Last year I purchased a hand spun wool (“Marilyn Monroe”) Mexican sweater in Mexico. I remembered the specific town they made them in because I use to visit the market as a child on vacation. There he was, one man sitting in the market with no customers and crocheting beach coverups and the old wool style wool sweaters waiting for me lol. I was so happy and lucky that there are still the elders around to make them but soon that will be over. There’s only a few families left in the town that still make them using their old wooden loom machines. Their children no longer want to continue to trade. I don’t blame the kids for wanting to be part of modern society, but it’s a shame.

A better way to say it is that human feet are widely different.

@@forktheporkTHIS!!! I worked in the shoe dept at a department store and SO many people didn’t realize that “sizes” are made purely as a general reference meant to cover a WIDE array of variance. And so basically that’s why your store bought stuff rarely fits perfectly (I say this as if I’ve got lots of handmade/tailored stuff when it’s the total opposite 😂) but it’s true! That’s why I tend to gravitate towards certain fabrics that are stretchy and more forgiving in that way.

They're all designed to fit a human foot. What you want to say is that they're not designed with a particular foot in mind.

@@user-iu1ru1qz7u look at the shape of your foot, then look at the shape of these shoes. Don’t you see the difference?? Most people’s feet don’t end in a long point like these shoes do

@That’s right that's excess shape/material though, your foot will still fit in the shoe. If what you mean is they don't fully mimic the shape of feet, then you're correct. There's a few out there that do. They don't look great though.

Unfortunately, that’s not really possible in the way you are describing. The most expensive part of this whole process is the making of the last, which is very skill and labor intensive and is also what gives custom shoes their comfort. “Tailoring” existing shoes might even cost more than custom shoes because of the labor involved in removing all of the parts of the shoe necessary to get back to where a shoe could be re-lasted.

Yeah. A cobbler will be able to make you a pair like that. Making a last isn’t the only way.

I'm assuming you are referring to dress shoes and I'll tell you what I know about modifications. You can infact buy shoes in two sizes. I think Zappoes does this for sneakers. If you want to do this for dress shoes I recommend Allen Edmonds. They are a quality resoleable shoe, that can be bought in two sizes online. They run $400 regularly and are almost always on sale for $250. Buying second hand barely used in two sizes also works. But it can be hard to match colors. Ive done it before on eBay but it takes time and luck. You can then modify or have a cobbler modify then for you which will cost maybe $50-150 but is going to make your shoes far better for you. It seems possible that you need one shoe to be higher than the other and you can modify heels on dress shoes. Basically you pull off the old heel (you need good dress shoes to do this) stack, glue, and cut leather to make up for your gait. I've done that for a friend of mine and he finds that more comfortable. Although that process can get expensive if you're not doing it yourself and requires the person doing it to be patient to find what works for you. It might also be possible that you need custom inserts for your shoes. You'd need to consult with a podiatrist. Also if your ruining shoes on the soles maybe half soles can help. Basically instead of damaging an expensive shoe you damage a cheap glued on half sole. My friend has scoliosis and has about the same issue you have and what I talked about above is what I do for him. If you have any questions by no means am I a professional cobbler or podiatrist but I might be able to point you toward answers if you reach out.

I often buy work shoes and there are a handful that loom good while still meeting PPE requirements, due to their nature you are to pay for a pair of fitting shoes, if adjustments like thicker siles are to be made you can order and wait but it's not unheard of them selling, say, 1 foot 39 and another 40 (br-eu sizes) and even extra small sizes are accounted for

orthopedic shoes

Depends on how much money you have - I don’t think I’ll spend £5,000 on shoes during the rest of my life.

I admit these shoemakers are very Talented but no pair of shoes are worth over £5 k. Even £1k is too much.

@@pabo-qv3nx it’s bespoke and made by a person, not a machine. Consider how many hours does the person spend on making a single pair of shoes? It’s a specialist skill so they’ll be earning more than minimum wage per hour. Then think of the cost of the materials, the overhead costs of rent, electric, tax, the equipment needed, insurance etc. can’t remember if this place is in London or not but it’s automatically going to be more expensive because cost of living is so high there. You got to know your worth.

@@saraanderson2784 Still overpriced. I bet they don't cost more than a grand to make. It's just people get brainwashed oh its handmade etc. Just like fine dining another thing some people think that it's great or paying for a hotel room that costs 50k per night and what do you get a bed,a toilet a bowl of fruit. Or paying £300 for a cup of coffee because the coffee bean came out of some creatures A hole

Look into tongue pads and heel liners. There’s also heel pads. I had to use some of these for my loafers that were a little too roomy.

My feet are radically different. One narrow and long with very high arch, the other short and wide and flat. My coworkers couldn't understand why I spent so much for bespoke shoes but I finally have a pair that fits and comfortable for the first time in my life. What a relief, it's worth it!

Or create a silicone mold of the foot. No expensive equipment required.

"hand" made.....people who can afford shoes like this, think machine made is disgusting.....and they enjoy the thought of a human craftsman making them shoes or a rolls royce for that matter

Won't enhance it, it just makes it faster and easier which is the exact opposite of what they are doing.

It's been tried a few times by various companies, but is not yet a replacement for experience, tape measure, paper and pencil. We shoemakers like to feel the foot, to understand pressure points, structure etc. Scanners etc are just another tool available to us in the measuring process.

Where are you located in Portugal?

Exactly! People spend money on all kinds of experiences, travel, clubs, etc. This is an experience in it's own right and some people really enjoy it for all the same reasons you might enjoy some hobby for example. When you go to an expensive restaurant you don't just pay for the food, you pay for the whole experience.

@@ivankrasimirov9334 I agree. The only time I don't agree with this concept is Hotel rooms and to a point First Class on some train services.

I was listening to Daniel Wegan who is the 2019 world champion shoemaker and he mentioned that 3-d would be useful for mass manufacture to get aggregate shoe data but not bespoke lastmaking since it requires interpretation of the customer's feet and the way they walk.

@@bradle4162 Interesting! Ive seen a fair few vids on bespoke stuff (incl from Wegan) and one of the interesting things is how some shoe makers use ink impressions, while others only do regular measurements and outlines!

Bruno magli are they still handmade though since a venture capital / private equity firm bought them.. Probably "increased efficiency by making a production line