Men's Fashion Tips: Details that Define Quality in Men's Dress Shoes
Every man should know the mens shoes details:
Leather
Men Shoes
Most mens shoes are made of leather. It is important to know what constitutes good leather since this material covers about 80 - 90% of the dress shoe.
Leather quality is graded from 1 to 5 with 1 being the highest quality. However, we can never find these grading on the dress shoes and neither would the sales personnel at the shoe department know.
Generally, base on laymen's sight and touch, we focus on a smooth with consistent fine grain on the leather for mens shoes details. The leather should feel rich and supple.
A good example of good quality leather would be napa, a type of calfskin. Calfskin are fine leather from skin of young calf or even lambs. These hides have fine grains and shines with high polish.
All leather hides naturally have blemishes or scars on them. The high quality leather will have little scars on it and hence the higher price. The difference in durability for high and low quality leather is small in variation so it is not a determinant in the pricing for leather mens shoes.
Blemishes on leather dress shoes can be hidden by using sealant products. It smoothens the leather and cover-up the blemishes. Therefore, if the leather itself has less polished finishing (i.e. glassy finish) or as naked as it is, it represents lesser possible concealment of blemishes.
One of the most important mens dress shoes details lies on having high quality leather that has minimum blemishes and also barely touched-up with any artificial sealants.
Still it is difficult for any layman to assess the quality of leather unless you really know leather very well. Instead of trying to assess the leather itself, the focus should be more on the construction of the mens dress shoes.
Mens dress shoes details start from the inside since dress shoes are made from inside out. Blemishes and faulty workmanship are usually concealed on the outside. So focusing on the inside will allow us to find difficult areas of cover-ups.
An important point of focus is the insole. High quality mens dress shoes have insoles made from leather rather than layers of cardboards. These leather insoles are durable and prevents unnecessary foot odor because it allows the foot to breathe and absorb perspiration.
It can also be easily replaced when worn out as well as helps in shaping the bottom of the dress shoes which are not possible with cardboard insoles.
Lining
Leather is still the focus here. High quality leather should still be used to work on the lining. A good example of such leather would be calfskin.
Make sure that the lining is smooth at the folds around the seams and edges. Fine stitch is important along the lining because a fine binding and clean finishing defines the workmanship of the mens dress shoes details.
Stitching
Stitching is something that is not usually noticed among mens dress shoes details. We would recommend careful inspection of it.
Good quality stitching on mens dress shoes should be as inconspicuous as possible. It should be concealed from the top to the bottom of the dress shoes.
Remember to ensure that the inside of mens dress shoes do not have any exposed knots because these can cause a lot of discomfort for the wearer.
On the sole, a welt finishing involves stitching the leather in between the edge of the sole and the turned-in edge of the upper. These stitching should be hidden within the leather and should not have any loose ends revealed.
Soles
Soles are the foundation of mens dress shoes details. It is the easiest to wear out from walking shoes would be having leather soles. One good point about leather soles is that it is definitely more formal and refined looking than rubber soles.
Leather soles are usually tanned to make it more lasting. The light tanned hue on the sole avoids possible cover-up of blemishes and scars.
It also avoids exposed stitching. The stitching along the soles should be well-hidden under the channels cut within the soles. These represents the quality required for mens dress shoes details.
The soles can be made into various layers, from single to three, and it all depends one's personal choice, or to fit the formal dressing.
Make sure these soles are shaped as closely as possible to the foot to assure comfort for the wearer. Dress shoes soles should never be glued to the shoe. We should expect stitching around this area. It allows possible changing of the soles when worn out but not for those with glued soles.
Heels
Another important aspect about mens dress shoes details is the heel. Leather comes into play again. The heels are actually layered with leather and nailed together with brass pins.
This creates a tight reinforcement for the leather layers to create a cushion effect as well as sustainable support around the heels.
Make sure the heels are not oversized as this disrupts the balance for the mens dress shoes and can make walking with such heels very uncomfortable. For added durability, some heels are further attached with brass tacks to the sole.
Men's Fashion Tips: Details that Define Quality in Men's Dress Shoes
For more reference: Mens Dress Shoes
Copyright 2005, Leroy Fong and Mens-Fashion-Tips.com
Reprinting this article is allowed provided all references and acknowledgement to the author, the website, and the URL remain intact.
Leroy Fong
Mens Fashion Tips | Mens Fashion Advice | Guide on Mens Clothing
