The Trad Mocc

I see a lot of things in my mind's eye when I look at these shoes. Crew cuts and black plastic frame glasses. Martin Milner in Route 66. Pegged khakis with white socks and a short sleeve Madras pop-over. Beer cans with two triangular holes on the top. Bermuda shorts with a starched white button down shirt worn untucked. Rangefinders. A 101 Land Camera. Narrow ties.

In 1965, Florsheim introduced the Yuma. A plain vamp moccasin hand sewn in the Chicago factory. I'm pretty sure Trad Dad owned a pair. As mentioned before, he was fond of short sleeve bleeding madras and chinos in the summer. Grey trousers, v-neck sweaters and white or blue button downs in the winter. Not bad for an Army officer where his counterpart dressed in hi -water Sansabelts from the PX. I remember a black pair of Yumas with his deeply cuffed grey trousers.

While I prefer the Yuma in black, it was re-released in 1997 or '98 as a "Royal Imperial" model in authentic cordovan for around $400. Talk about Trad. The manager of the NYC Florsheim at 49th and Madison told me they used a cordovan from a French tannery until it went out of business adding they were one of his biggest sellers. He never understood why the non-cordovan shoes were discontinued. I told him these decisions were usually made by some asshole with an accounting degree. He nodded.

Now...for some good news. I saw the Yuma in the June issue of, "Last." A Japanese magazine one might refer to as Shoe Porn and the lovely Kikuko at Brooks Brothers on Madison translated for me. The Yuma is to be reintroduced this fall. It will no longer be made in Chicago but that's okay. It should be cheap. If only they would do it in a Horween cordovan, the last cordovan tannery in the US. I'd ebay those Lobbs in a heartbeat.