I went to Uniqlo yesterday for the first time in a very long while. I wasn’t really looking for jeans but I spotted these, which looked much nicer than the rest  of the styles (and they have a lot of styles). I was in the market for a new pair anyway and since my usual source (A.P.C.) was closed for the night I thought I’d give these a try.

I like jeans that are plain, no names, no tags, or fancy stitching. I like dark raw denim and who does that better than most? Japan. These jeans are not just made in Japan they are as the tag says “All Made in Japan”. Without further adieu I found my size and took them home. I wasn’t in the mood to try them on in the store.

I guess it was meant to be because they fit perfectly, I didn’t even have to hem them (a first) since they’re made in different lengths. They’re also sold cuffed this way and as I read recently in Men’s Ex  this is the perfect cuff size (of course).

Alden Suede Chukka 1493 in Snuff

My only hesitation was the two different color  threads, one a light yellow the other the traditional burnt orange. Then I stopped myself and realized “Hey, they’re “All Made in Japan” they must be right.” Hard to imagine them putting out a product that wasn’t tested, evaluated, critiqued and tweaked a thousand times over. They get my vote.

We have been sold out of the Keep Calm and Carry on tote bags for a while, due to the fact that our supplier was out of stock until now. We’ve received a new delivery of Navy and for the first time, Red.

Keep Calm and Carry on Canvas Tote Bags $45

I can’t begin to count how many men have told me they haven’t had their feet measured since they were kids. Not really surprising considering these days you’re lucky just to find someone to get a pair of shoes for you in most shoe departments

I would venture to say that many stores don’t even have devices to properly measure your feet. The Brannock Device is the standard foot measuring tool for the world’s footwear industry. But few people are able to call the device by name, much less identify its inventor, Charles Brannock.

Brannock was born into the shoe business. His father, Otis Brannock, joined with Ernest Parks in 1906 to found the downtown Park-Brannock Shoe Co. in Syracuse, New York. As a Syracuse University student, young Brannock wanted to find the best way to measure the foot. He played around with the idea for a couple of years and finally built a prototype using an Erector set. In 1926 and 1927, Brannock patented the device and created a company to build it.

Prior to inventing the device that bares his name the most common foot-sizer in the 1920s was the Ritz Stick, made by the American Automatic Device Company of Chicago. A wooden ruler, the Ritz could measure a foot’s width and its length from heel to toe, but not at the same time. The Ritz stick is still a very common device for measuring feet in the U.K. and Europe.

In a day and age when so many high tech gadgets constantly bombard us it’s comforting to know such a low tech devise withstands the test of time and quietly provides a valuable service.

On July 20, 1969 a 12 year old boy in the suburbs of Detroit along with his friends and family watched in utter fascination as Neil Armstrong became the fist man to step foot on the surface of the moon. Many events have come and gone since that warm July evening in 1969, and we take for granted many things we could only have dreamed of in our youth.

In reflection it was a moment of shear amazement, a solidifying act of hopes and imagination played out on millions of television screens right before our eyes.

How poignant watching Walter Cronkite, overcome with emotion deliver the news that “Armstrong is on the moon.” Yet all the while we, fixed firmly on earth were soaring high above it.

I wanted to share this letter I received from our client who lives in Singapore. He contacted me via email and placed an MTO for a pair of Corthay Arca’s in Black, which we sent on to him in Singapore.

Dear Steven,
The shoes were in last week and I was trying them on.  Excellent
recommendation on the sizing.  The fit is great!  Love these shoes.

I’ll definitely get another pair again – I like the eggplant/deep purple
MTO you ordered for the Japanese client.  But then again browsing
through your blog brings up so many other interesting choices.  I’ll
take my time to decide and let you know again.

It was a pleasure to have ordered from you, thanks for making these
special shoes so much more accessible.

Regards,
-Singapore

Arca Black with Purple Lining 001 Last

We work very closely with our clients and manufacturers to ensure the entire MTO process is a positive one for everyone. For more information about Leffot’s, MTO Program click here or “MTO Program” on the the right under Pages.

Bob Bogle who you may ask. He and his friend Don Wilson were co-founders of the Tacoma Washington band The Ventures, forerunners of the “surf sound” in the early sixties. It makes you wonder if there would have been a Dick Dale or The Beach Boys if it weren’t for that Fender Stratocaster played by Bogle?

Bob Bogle died at the age of 75 this week and after fifty plus years his music will undoubtedly continue to be Rock “n” Roll classics. “Walk Don’t Run”, “Perfidia”, “Slaughter on Tenth Ave”, “Diamond Head”, “Telstar”, and of course “Hawaii Five-O”.

“That song (Walk Don’t Run) started a whole new movement in Rock ‘n’ Roll. The sound of it became ‘surf music’ and the audacity of it empowered guitarists everywhere,” said Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, as he inducted the Ventures into the rock hall of fame last year. “Every guitar player on this planet knows what I’m talking about.”

Yogi Berra, the great Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees has given us many quirky quotes, but last nights wild ending of the game between the Yankees and the Mets was a testament to one of his best, “It ain’t over till it’s over”.

In the late late sixties and early seventies white patent leather was “the” summer shoe. I can’t say the same holds true today.

I’m a product of the sixties and a huge fan of the music it created. One of my favorites is the break out reggae/ska songs,” The Israelites” by Desmond Dekker.

Check out this 1969 live performance in Belgium. You may want to pay particular attention to the time at 1:12: those white patent leather shoes and heels were “the bomb” as we used to say. A great summer song, his energy is simply uplifting.

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A soldier is a nobody; we hear lots of people say.
He is the outcast of the world and always in the way.

We admit there are bad ones from the Army to the Marines,
But the majority you will find, the most worthy ever seen.

Most people condemn the soldier when he stops to take a drink or two,
But does a soldier condemn you, when you stop to take a few.

Now don’t scorn the soldier but clasp him by the hand,
For the uniform he wears means protection to our land.

The government picks its soldier from the million far and wide,
So please place him as your equal good buddies side by side.

When a soldier goes to battle you cheer him on the way,
You say he is a hero when in the ground he lay.

But the hardest battle of the soldier is in the time of peace,
When all mock and scorn him and treat him like a beast.

With these few lines we close sir, we hope we don’t offend
But when you meet a soldier just treat him like a friend.

“Author Unknown”

Leffot will be closed Monday May 25th in observance of Memorial Day.

We encourage you to remember those who gave their lives in the service of the U.S. military, and the families they have left behind.

The new LAST Magazine Volume 13 is now available in the U.S at Kinokuniya bookstore in New York. The cover of the issue features a pair of Gaziano & Girling Cambridge in Vintage Oak or Espresso Calf on the MH71 last.

One interesting item are the shoelaces, which are normally round. These are flat which I’ve been told by other shoemakers is the preferred style of laces in Japan. I’ll have to ask Tony Gaziano about that when he is here on April 21st for our trunk show.

In case you are unfamiliar with Last it was published twice a year by Esquire Japan and released in the fall and spring. Sadly no more.