How much??? Craftsmanship and cost.

[Greedo]

I made a conscious decison 20 years ago to just buy the best I could afford with everything. It stems from my father who is an architect and taught me a love of good design and craftmanship. I was in my parents house one day and had a "moment" as I looked around and all the stuff in the house I loved had been there for years and years and years. His turntable and speakers for arguments sake were one that cost him a fortune in his youth but still looks great and sounds like nothing I've ever heard to this day. He still had his original drawing board and drawing tools and uses them every day.

Whilst there can be a huge element of, as mentioned, Triggers Broom about shoes etc.... I beleive it's worth it. Suits, shoes and watches in particular are things I spend more than the average person ever would but I will have them for years and they will out last me despite a service or minor repair from time to time. It's horses for courses though as some people spend money on things I would never dream of spending money on but they laugh at me for having a hand made belt I wear with jeans that cost £200 but yet I've had for 20 years and will for another 20 easily. So if it lasts 40 years I'm happy with £5 per year for a top quality belt that was specifically made for me. Good thing is it keeps the weight down because if I put weight on it doesn't fit anymore. Same with suits so maybe it also has health benefits haveing bespoke things ha ha ha.

 

[thetyreman]

actually making stuff from wood has definitely made me appreciate the finer things in life a lot more, I regularly stop and look at buildings and think about how it was made, quality does last so it's always worth it in the long run, no different with clothes, shoes, can be applied to almost anything.

 

[woodbloke66]

I made a conscious decison 20 years ago to just buy the best I could afford with everything. It stems from my father who is an architect and taught me a love of good design and craftmanship. I was in my parents house one day and had a "moment" as I looked around and all the stuff in the house I loved had been there for years and years and years. His turntable and speakers for arguments sake were one that cost him a fortune in his youth but still looks great and sounds like nothing I've ever heard to this day. He still had his original drawing board and drawing tools and uses them every day.

Whilst there can be a huge element of, as mentioned, Triggers Broom about shoes etc.... I beleive it's worth it. Suits, shoes and watches in particular are things I spend more than the average person ever would but I will have them for years and they will out last me despite a service or minor repair from time to time. It's horses for courses though as some people spend money on things I would never dream of spending money on but they laugh at me for having a hand made belt I wear with jeans that cost £200 but yet I've had for 20 years and will for another 20 easily. So if it lasts 40 years I'm happy with £5 per year for a top quality belt that was specifically made for me. Good thing is it keeps the weight down because if I put weight on it doesn't fit anymore. Same with suits so maybe it also has health benefits haveing bespoke things ha ha ha.

I tend to be the same, but maybe not quite so extreme. Jeans come from M&S at about £35 a pair, but then they get hammered in the workshop and only last twelve or eighteen months. Shoes aren't bespoke but I have a couple of pairs of heavy duty, leather soled Trickers country brogues which are so comfortable, they've never needed to be 'worn' in. My watch is a Rolex Submariner (something I've coveted for years) and never gets worn in the workshop. It will however, need it's first service in Oct which will set me back around £600! - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

Hand made has no intrinsic value compared with mass produced, unless there is a measurable functional improvement or value is placed on aesthetics and exclusivity. With shoes there is a measurable functional improvement, just as there can be with bespoke suits.

If you take an extreme a £120,000 bespoke made Purdey or Fabbri shotgun will be no more accurate than a £3,000 bespoke fitted competition 622 Beretta, but people place value on pride of ownership and that is what this comes down to.

If cheap was always the winner, then no one would buy a Rolex or Patek P watch when an accurate Swatch can be had for a fraction of the price. But they do. Handbags are another example.

I think it is great to support artisan makers.

 

[Dibs-h]

Decent shoe repairs can surely be had all over the place for a fraction of that price.

Unfortunately it's easier said than done. I haven't got to the bespoke level of shoes yet but have spent a fair penny over the years on "proper" shoes. Goodyear welted and leather uppers\soles.

When they needed heeling & resoling, I couldn't be ar5ed with sending them back to the factories (Loake, etc.) as they'd be gone several weeks and waiting around for a courier does my head in. I was lucky to have a few places local that could resole & reheel them properly - not the Timpsons rubbish.

Now in West Yorkshire - I'm just down to 1.

Old skills & craftsmanship is definitely getting harder and harder to find.

Dibs

p.s. Glad to hear you are happy with your new shoes.

 

[powertools]

I think that there is a fine line between buying something of quality at a price that is acceptable to the quality of the item or paying an inflated price for the brand name for an item of similar quality but the name gives you a feel good factor that you think. sets you apart from the rest

 

[Andy Kev.]

I think there's a lot in that. If you're in the market for a new plane you can go top end e.g. Clifton, Lie-Neilsen or Veritas or you could have gone to Karl Holtey (in the days when he was making planes). Nothing wrong with the latter course of action if you can afford it, think the extra 2.5% of performance is worth it and are really pleased with what you end up with.

I regard my new shoes as being in the Clifton etc. bracket and to have gone to John Lobb would have been in the Holtey area, although I think that in the specific area of shoes, there would be no essential difference between what I've got and what I could have had from Lobb. And I'm not prepared to come up with the dosh to confirm my suspicions! I also think that it's important not to regard such things in purely commercial terms and what I'm getting at with that is that I'm glad that in getting exactly what I wanted for my feet, I've done a little bit towards keeping a craftsman in business. That doesn't specifically do me any good but I think that the world is in a microscopic way better off for it.

 

[Duncan A]

I have a number of bespoke shoes made by a local man who was apprenticed to his father and once told me he wasn't allowed to cut leather for a shoe until after two years of training. Years ago he was judged by a shoe comparison article in the Telegraph to make better shoes than John Lobb.
They were also much cheaper than JL as well as fitting like a glove from the very first time I wore them.
If they needed resoling, he would unpick the stitching and re-use the same holes - not like Timpson's at all!
Worth every penny as I've always had trouble getting shoes that fit properly.
Duncan

 

[RogerS]

SWMBO summed it up most succinctly, I think.

"The majority of people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

We live in a throwaway society fuelled by the egregious social media. Only this morning on R4, mention was made of the fact that for many women, the lifetime of their average clothing purchase was five weeks before they threw it away and got another cheap dress from Primark.

 

[MikeG.]

.......Only this morning on R4, mention was made of the fact that for many women, the lifetime of their average clothing purchase was five weeks before they threw it away.......

Yeah I heard that. I'd like to know their evidence for this "fact". I'll bet there isn't any.

 

[Dibs-h]

I'm not sure about concrete evidence but from an empirical viewpoint, the nbr of times I've heard "I can't wear that dress\outfit as I wore it to xyz before." But to the best of my knowledge it was only worn once.

 

[Trevanion]

I'm not sure about concrete evidence but from an empirical viewpoint, the nbr of times I've heard "I can't wear that dress\outfit as I wore it to xyz before." But to the best of my knowledge it was only worn once.

I remember seeing an article in the news not too long ago "How Kate Middleton defines a generation by wearing the same dress twice" or something of that nature. It's truly daft to think you can't wear the same thing multiple times, I wear almost the same 2 pairs of trousers every day of the year.

 

[RogerS]

.... I wear almost the same 2 pairs of trousers every day of the year.

I didn't know it was that cold where you live :lol:

 

[Trevanion]

.... I wear almost the same 2 pairs of trousers every day of the year.

I didn't know it was that cold where you live :lol:

You wouldn't believe!