The Presidential campaign is officially in high gear, and with all the media coverage there is one area I have heard nothing about. What kind of shoes are these candidates wearing? This is not as simple to answer as it sounds. I have searched 1000’s of images of both candidates and found very few pictures that include a shoe on them. Given the calculated way every aspect of the campaign is managed I tend to think this may be another of those calculations.

I am not making any endorsements but if there is still a difference between the Democratic and Republican candidates that has yet to be uncovered I wish to put it forth here. I present the best images of candidate footwear I could find.

Black oxfords well shined

Black loafers with gold buckles needing a shine

Black oxfords well shined

Black loafers gold buckle well shined

One more time

And one more time

Given the fact that candidates travel for so many months I have to assume they find these styles comfortable and I hope they have more than one pair to rotate. What surprised me most is that the Republican wears the soft loafers and the Democrat is all laced up. I don’t know what it means, perhaps it’s just an indication of what we can expect the winner to wear in January when he’s sworn in as the next President of the United States. Personally I think they can do better.

The Byrds said it, “To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn)” and like it or not summer is beginning to fade, the air has a fall feel to it and you can begin to notice the change of sunlight, it’s softer and shorter. I’m not complaining I like the fall it’s right behind spring as my favorite season. Summer is bright, and blaring where as fall has a mellowness to it. I like the colors of fall too, we all do, the color of changing leaves. Here is the way I visualize the fall palette represented in shoes.

There are many ways to polish a shoe and no end of techniques, many very personal to the polisher. One technique that produces a very smart result is “Bulling”. This creates a high shine and is usually done on the toes. In the States it’s referred to as a Spit Shine but I think Mr. Stuart Robertson of Ede and Ravenscroft Edinburg presents the process in a much more civilized way.

Chelsea boots those timeless boots that bring back memories of the sixties, the Beatles, or the Rolling Stones. Chelsea boots quickly became popular with Mods because it fit in with their sleek, tailored look. Some varieties sported the so-called ‘Cuban heel,’ which was supposedly derived from flamenco footwear. Check out Ray Columbus and the Invaders on “She’s a Mod” not a great song but you get the essence of Mod style. Although the song grows on me and I’m very jealous of the thick heads of hair.

When we were deciding on signage for the store we settled on black vinyl for the windows. In theory it was a logical choice and was within the scope of the design. Hiroko our Creative Director, Yen our architect and I all looked at mock ups of various sizes on the glass. What we failed to consider was that the black signs we were looking at were against glass that still had construction paper on it so it showed up beautifully.

When Big Apple Visual Group came and installed the signs we instantly realized our error, with the paper removed the signs were practically invisible from the outside because the entire interior of the store is black. Well live and learn I always say, we decided to make a change. We now have gold signs that show up 1000 times better. So now when you’re wondering around lost in the West Village trying to find the corner of Christopher & Gay Street you will be guided by our new signs. Go to the light……………….

This post is about good service and bad service. It has nothing to do with shoes really but I would like to make a point.

Tuesday afternoon my internet service suddenly went out at the store. I tried the usual remedies turning on and off the modem, computer etc but no go. Bad Service No.1 – I called Verizon, and spent 48 minutes speaking to 3 different “tech support” personnel until they finally agreed that I needed a new modem.

Last night at 3:00 AM I was awoken by the sound of rushing water. I checked my bathrooms no water anywhere but there was definitely water pouring down behind the walls. In 10 minutes my bathroom, kitchen, foyer and closets were flooding. Good Service No.1 – After a panicky call to the desk the Super and handyman were quickly on the job shutting off the water and vacuuming it up with a wet vac. I won’t go into the details of how much stuff we had to move in order to stave off damage but we did it.

The modem arrived this morning Bad Service No.2 - I then spent 1 hour and 45 minutes with another “tech genius” who not only couldn’t get me online but also messed up my network settings and told me the problem was not the modem but my router. Bad, bad, bad Verizon. I subsequently got it all together myself somehow.

Good Service No.2 - My Super just called and told me that instead of replacing the patches of wet carpet he is going to replace the carpet in the entire room. He’s a great guy and knows how to keep his tenants happy.

My point of all this is that it just as easy to give good service, as it is to give it badly. It’s no coincidence that the bigger the company (Verizon behemoth) the more difficult they seem to be. Not a very smart business strategy, but I’ve come to expect it of them. On the other hand one on one and personal relationships build trust, loyalty and happy customers, at least in my mind and that’s always been my philosophy. After all it is called a “Service Industry” for a reason. Please feel free to share any of your good or bad service experiences.

Back to shoes tomorrow.

The Robb Report has a very nice full page article about Leffot in the new September issue.

Thank you Robb Report for including us among your “Front Runners”.

Our friend John was kind enough to send me this great picture of him and his beautiful bride Katie taken in the Meatpacking District on their wedding day. They both look absolutely fantastic and very much in love. Congratulations to both of you.

Note the brown Gaziano & Girling Westbury’s John wore for the momentous occasion.

You can view some of our other wedding shoes here.

I would like to extend a very special THANK YOU to Stephen Watson, Men’s Vogue Fashion Director for the wonderful article he wrote about Leffot. You can read it here on Men’s Vogue Daily Blog. Stephen, I truly appreciate your enthusiasm about the store and I look forward to seeing you in the near future.

P.S. – I’m also glad to hear you’re a Weston fan.

Yesterday my wife and I visited the Church’s store, the purpose of the trip was to find her some new shoes for fall. Needless to say she accomplished that task quite successfully and I’ll post the Women’s shoes she bought in the future.

What I was not prepared for was to find a pair of Shannon’s in burgundy Crup (Cordovan). They were the last pair and surprisingly my size. I waffled between the Shannon and the Grafton when I selected the shoes for the store, in the end deciding on the Grafton in black and Sandalwood. I felt the Shannon was to overpowering in Sandalwood and a little to “cop shoe” in black. I think I made the right choice because the Grafton is selling very well in both colors.

Now this Shannon in an antiqued waxy finish appears and I immediately see a place for it (besides on my foot). I really like the coloring and finish, the double leather soles, rolled black leathery laces and the heavy half moon stitching at the bottom of the throat all of which add guts and muscle to this shoe.

Here are a couple of links to cordovan tanneries you might like to visit. Horween Leather Co. in Chicago the last producer of cordovan in the U.S. and Shinki-Hikaku Co. in Japan. Incidentally there is an article about this tannery in “Last” magazine Vol. 11.