Pulled Cork

Leffot - Less Is More

Steven Taffel of Leffot

Steven's Navy Quoddys

Leffot Navy Shell Venetians by Ron Ryder

Tightly edited

L-R: Navy, Dark Cognac, No. 6, Natural. All Horween Shell.

The Horween Stamp

Navy Shell in the window

Buck - a - Chukka

My favorite monogram

My favorite box

Better than a Kelly Bag?

The first time I saw a pair of John Lobb shoes was in the window of their store on St James's St. It was 3AM and jet lag had sent me on a wide-awake stroll from my hotel. Walking past Lobb's windows, I saw a pair of tassel loafers in light English tan. Almost maize. They were so perfect they belonged in a museum.

The next day I inquired, "How long and how much?" "Three to four months and five thousand pounds, sir." I compare the sight of those Lobbs to seeing Phoebe Cates at her shop, The Blue Tree. Whatever bench mark I had for attractive was changed forever.

I told Steven Taffel, owner of Leffot, the Lobb story and he nodded in appreciation only to ask where Blue Tree was. Shoe guys know their priorities. Steven's shop is on the corner of a West Village street that's right outta central casting. Only a couple blocks from Grahame Fowler, everything inside moves you to a buffet of shoes that the hip might call 'curated' but Steven simply calls, 'tightly edited.'

There's something for everyone but don't look for fashion screaming bits of snaffle. Leffot's Latin motto, 'Nuquam Jactate' or 'Never Boast' - says it all. Tasteful and discreet. Well made and classic. Not cheap but good value.

I hate to beat you with the Venetian but these are all in Horween shell cordovan. I wish someone would come out with an air freshener that smells like cordovan. Instead of one of those pine tree things just imagine a brown (No. 6) horse's ass hanging off the rear view mirror in a cab. If anyone can do it Horween can.

They're $625 and that ain't cheap. Now, I'm not cheesy enough to compare Venetians to Lobbs but Vogel quoted me $1,300 to do a Venetitan in cordovan and I'm a 9D --just like everybody else in the Army. By that I mean, I don't have wacky sized feet and off the shelf works pretty well for me.

Here's something else to keep in mind - Leffot is doing 10 pair per shell. You know what they say - 'Less is more.'

Ron Rider's Venetian

This is Ron Rider's Venetian. And Rider, in my book, is a God. A visionary. And it's OK if you've never heard of him. He, like so many I met this week, work in the background of the apparel industry as sources. Ron is the source for some very big names you have heard of. And they come to Ron for shoes.

A few years ago I fell in love with a shoe called the Yuma. A vampless moccasin known by the trade as a Venetian. Simple and elegant and void of any unnecessary detail. I saw one made by Cole Haan in the early 90's when they still owned a factory in Maine. It came and went and I missed it. Many companies have made this shoe. Most have failed. It's not an easy shoe to make.

November of 2008, Florsheim, aka The East India Leather Company, released a Yuma and renamed it the Langsford. Cheap plastic leather and a too tight instep but man it was beautiful. I bought two pair and wrote 'em about here. I'm throwing them all in the dust bin.

I met Ron at the Warwick Hotel where he was showing his shoes out of a suite. The room was thick with the smell of leather. All it needed was some cigar smoke and you could be on the 4th floor of the Union League Club in Chicago.

Ron had these Venetians made in calf by Rancourt in Maine. He's doing them in cordovan for Leffot in NY. He gave me these (I'm a sample size). I insisted on paying. He said wholesale. What would you do? I've had an obsession with these shoes for almost three years. And these even fit. Like a glove.

We talked. I learned. A lot. This guy is the real deal. If this blog does nothing else - it will tell you about real deals. And real people. Ron Tweeted earlier in the week, "In the city today. Looking forward to steeping on the feet of any guy walking around in flip-flops with my big boots."

2009 US Open

The Trad is a Fan of Ray Bans

The Yuma at the Open

Great Seats...

But better than his

The Trad is a Fan of Summer Hats

The Foxtrot and I made it to the Open last night. What a difference a year makes. Last year's US Open was a private box with free booze and chow. This year the same company threw us a couple of nose bleed seats and said we were on our own for vittles. I'm not complaining. It's nice not having to talk to people in my business.

Another beautiful night with Fall like weather just like last year's Open. The tennis was fun. The crowd even more so. This is NYC after all.

The Yuma / Langsford

At 57th and Park. Even in NYC people stare at you when you're taking a picture of your shoe. What I do for my art.

After days of scanning images from Take Ivy - - I may have been slightly influenced.

Lets establish one thing up front. I never was a Florsheim customer. I'm not being a snob here. In fact, I'm showing more of my ignorance than anything else. Florsheim made some great shoes in Chicago. But I always associated the company with a cheap black loafer that had a little chrome square stuck on the outside of the vamp. Called the Riva it was (and still is) a creepy little shoe that must be comfortable as all get out because I can see no other reason for wearing them. By the way, it's Florsheim's best selling shoe. Now you know my prejudice.

Last summer I wrote about the Florsheim Yuma and it's release in Japan here. I found out the Yuma was made in Australia for the Japanese market. That means a EEE width and a $350 price tag. Ouch. Customer Service types in Wisconsin (very nice people) told me the shoe was due in early November. I called the NYC store the Monday after Thanksgiving and was told the Langsford (same as the Yuma but Yuma sounds so much cooler) just arrived. Only normal width. $140. Made in India.

Have you noticed very few shoe stores/departments have anyone who knows how to measure a foot? Nobody pushes on the toe anymore. It's pretty much, "Well, how does that feel, sir?" As long as the shoe isn't sliding off my foot or piercing my high instep in pain I usually reply, "Uh, I guess it's OK." Later I can barely take them off. Much less put them back on. My advice for the Lansford/Yuma customer is this - - Try them on. Wear them at home on your carpet before you commit. Although, they're on sale for $105.

The Langsford has a great look. A beautiful shape with a toe that is perfection. The vamp is high and while I thought the beef-roll would be larger -- the overall look is sleek and clean. I am crazy about the look of the shoe but the leather is corrected grain, the sole reminds me of cheap Indian made Gucci knock offs by Cole Haan and that vamp is murdering my instep. The "cushioned foot bed" in sheepskin is peeling up after only a month and still...

I can't stop looking at them. Kinda like when Walter Crow Horse tells Ray Levoi in Thunderheart, "You're wearing brand-new shoes that are a little too tight in the instep... but man, they look cool, and that's what counts. Am I right?"

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.