Sole Man - Custom Shoes by itailor

19/8/2013

It’s fair to say that I’m a sole man. You can never underestimate the effect of a good pair of shoes, the right pair can turn your jeans into smart wear and complement your favourite suit, the shoe separates the men from the boys and can be the pièce de résistance of your ensemble.

You can imagine my excitement when I stumbled across this little site -http://www.itailor.com/designshoes/

A company that offers custom shoes in a variety of styles for under £100? Seems too good to be true, I know, but I dug a little deeper and did some research. The itailor brand has been in the tailoring business for over 40 years. They have one of the largest tailoring factories in the business offering a variety of different products. Because they have no shop or storefront there is no middle man, so the goods go directly to you cutting the costs.

So I took the plunge and went onto their website. With my best foot forward (no pun intended) I started to design my shoe with the 3D designer. It is very easy and straight forward to use (if not a little addictive) and you can customise down to the detail of contrasting materials, the colour inside the shoe, laces and monograms. From the range of choices I finally decided upon deep red sheep leather with contrasting red suede. Not the most subtle choice I’m sure you will agree, but certainly fun and eye-catching. The measuring process was quick and easy, with some explanatory videos to help, leaving me with just the 5 to 6 week wait it takes for production and delivery.

The day came and my shoes arrived. The neat brown shoe box stood before me and I lifted the lid in excited trepidation. I was teased further as each of my shoes was in their own individual fabric travel bag (which is a very handy and great addition). I opened the bag and I was instantly hit by the intoxicating smell of new leather. Is there anywhere else you can get that fresh leather smell ? Perhaps in some of the more specialist shops in Soho’s backstreets, but I digress. When I could see my smile reflecting in the buff red toes caps of my new shoes I knew I was on to a winner. Stylistically they are exactly as I ordered and imagined, right down to the discreet monogram on the inside.

Now on to the important thing - the fit. Many times I have been punished when buying a new pair of stylish shoes by weeks of having to break them, followed by pinches, aches and blisters. Here that was not the case. I can honestly say this is only the second pair of shoes I have bought that has been perfectly comfortable out of the box – as they should, seeing they were custom made for my own precious slabs of meat. I wore them for the whole evening the following day whilst out for a night on the town, they felt light and flexible throughout, without a single problem, well I say without a problem, I would occasionally have to stop and take a loving look at my new shoes.

To summarize if you want to put your own stamp of individuality into your shoes and get a stylish pair that fits like a glove (or in this case shoe) then you will be hard pushed to find better value for money than itailor, and I look forward to trying their other products in the future.

The Gentleman

8 Comments

Cheap Heels link

8/10/2013 10:46:00

This shoes looking like a branded and genital man shoes .i read your content about your shoes.wonderful!!

The Gentleman

8/10/2013 10:53:47

Thanks for the feedback, there will be more shoe reviews in the future

Dirk

8/3/2014 01:26:05

Did yours actually smell like leather? Mine did have an intoxicating smell.. of toxic plastic... The 'leather' also feels like plastic, nothing like any high quality leather I have ever seen, and I do own around 30 pairs of shoes.

8/3/2014 02:14:57

Hi Dirk, sorry to hear you didn't have as good an experience as me. Mine do smell like leather, I picked the most expensive material so perhaps that helps. The leather isn't as good quality as a handmade shoe such as a Loake or Barker but I think the attraction of these shoes is the customization.

9/3/2014 08:16:25

I agree. The main attraction is the customization part.

Even though I am a laywer, I have a background in art & design... I love being able to use my own creativity and design something that isn't available elsewhere.. I actually went for quite a bold design: a mix of orange and brown. The orange turned out to be VERY bright, but I do get a lot of positive response upon wearing them.

The construction seems to be quite decent.
The shoes have been out of the box for a few days and the chemical smell has decreased, it seems now most of the horrible chemical smell is coming mainly from the inside of the shoe. It seems the red inner lining is producing the smell... Maybe it's plastic, maybe they use some horrible paint, maybe it's the glue... I don't know... The outside now has a neutral smell, the sole smells and looks like leather.

Also, it turns out the shoes are a bit tight, even though I added a few measurements and entered one size larger (european). As I remember their shirts being way too tight on my shoulders and especially arms I wanted to be on the safe side for a first shoes order. I am certainly no bodybuilder, but I have been doing crew/rowing and weightlifting since college.. The lack of being able to enter arm measurements forced me to discard those shirts...
I might order the shirts again, and add quite a few measurements and request custom arm measurements to be added (it turns out you can provide by e-mail), if I order the shoes again, I will also add one size... Their terms state the measurements might vary, even upon ordering the same size and model....

BTW, I did like the quality of the shirts. Again, I think there is some synthetic stuff in their cheap fabric, but the more expensive fabrics feel quite OK. I have a client who is in the made-to-measure business and it's quite common for Asian manufacturers to mix decent stuff with total crappy materials... It's a hit or miss kind of situation.

I might try their premium suede leather some times. What did you chose for the nose and back? Looks like patent leather?

10/3/2014 02:37:08

Glad you're a bit more happy with your shoes, I myself went for the sheep leather option.

As for their other clothing I have also found their items tight around the arms and shoulders. I much prefer the company Tailor4Less, a finer choice of quality fabrics and so far for a a perfect fit. If you haven't read the review you can find it here -
http://www.gentlemen-gin-gourmandise.co.uk/13/post/2014/02/tailor4less-coat-review.html

James

19/9/2015 12:29:57

Dirk is right! The smell as well as the look (extremely bright shining, never seen before with shoes) is of genuine...plastic! So I cut off a small piece somewhere from the inner parts to see of it would melt in fire. It didn't: it burned instead as leather should do. Still, their plastic looks have to be worn off before I can wear them in public..

19/9/2015 13:54:52

Well, it's obvious now. The shoes are not leather at all. They stink, look and feel like a synthetic product which is even not closely leather-like.
I will ask my money back. They guarantee restitution for fabrication errors. This is clearly one, as all their documentation states that the product is 100% leather. They sent my order apparently to the wrong contractor..

Sole Man - Custom Shoes by itailor

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