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John Lobb Paris makes has two ranges...

 

One is called the Classic line and the other is called the Prestige line.  What you are referring to is the beveled waist.  The Classic line does not have the beveled waist while the Prestige line does.  The Luffeld is part of the Prestige line and you should be able to see the beveled waist on the first picture.  However, if you really like beveled waist, do check out Gaziano and Girling.  These waists are generally featured only for made-to-measure shoes but G&G are the first to bring this to RTW and MTO.  They are indeed impressive and the middle "spine" is referred to as the fiddle.

Of RTW / MTO shoes, the top three in no particular order and in my opinion are John Lobb Paris, Gaziano & Girling and Edward Green.  John Lobb Paris is by far the most expensive but the leather used is spectacular (especially the august calf and museum calf leather).  They are also the only shoe maker in Northampton that clicks (or cut the shoes) a single shoe from a single piece of leather, while others will maximise the leather by clicking multiple shoes.  This allows John Lobb Paris to select the best part of each leather swatch for the shoe. 

Just to clear up one thing in your post.  John Lobb Paris is not in partnership with Hermes.  Rather, John Lobb Paris is wholly owned by Hermes.  The original John Lobb, usually referred to John Lobb London, is still owned by the Lobb family and only makes bespoke shoes.  Their fame is of course, the make shoes for the Royal Family. John Lobb Paris, however continue to make the shoes in the UK,  Northampton to be more precise, where Edward Green, Gaziano & Girling and Alfred Sargeant also base their operations.

Ferragamo actually has a joint venture with Zegna and all shoes by Ferragamo, Zegna as well as Canali and Tom Ford are made by the JV. 

All shoes produced by LVMH group brands are made by Stefano Bi, including Berluti RTW.

As to having shoes resoled, this is something that is available for shoes that are made by the Goodyear construction, where by the welt is sewn (hand or otherwise) on the outside to the sole.  This, as you mention, allows the original shoe maker to remove the sole and the welt and reattach a new sole to the vamp.  Once the rest of the shoe is touched up (i.e. scruff marks or otherwise) it is essentially as good as new.  This however, is much more difficult to do with Blake constructed shoes, where by the sole is attached to the shoe from the inside.  The majority of Italian shoes are Blake constructed, including the "hand-made" line by Santoni.  These are invariably machine soled since it is impossible for a shoe maker to sew stitching inside the shoe.  You can tell a Blake constructed shoe by the visible stitching that runs the length of the shoe on the inside.

While it is possible to resole Blake constructed shoes, the cost of doing does not make it cost effective.  Especially since most Blake constructed shoes are relatively cheaper than the Goodyear ones.  Most of Berluti's RTW are of Blake construction and not worth the price.  Only their made-to-measure shoes are Goodyear constructed.

Here in Hong Kong, John Lobb Paris just had their annual sale, with 40% off selected models. 

Cheers

Gaz

 

 

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