Brown tassel loafers with contrasting brogued saddle, hand sewn split seam upper. Italian vegetable tanned upper with vegetable tanned liner. Leather sole with Vibram heel cap and half-sole cover.
My client really loved his old loafers and wanted a new pair just like them. Over the years, the old ones had been repaired in many different ways – soles, uppers, heels, etc. I learned something new about these loafers each time I looked at them. To my way of thinking, some things did not quite make sense. The uppers are very labor intensive, possibly the most labor intensive way these could be made. It seems to me a factory would not choose to make them this way, but these were made in quantity at some some factory in Italy.
Differences
For example, the collar was sewn twice. Once to set the outside top line, then folded in and sewn again, from the outside, to sew down the overlapping part of the collar in the inside. If you already had enough collar, folding it over first, you could sew it in one go, which is what I did.
The Many Pieces
The tassels have to be made by hand, and also the cord which holds them. The tassels have a little split wrapper to make the top of the tassels a bit fatter. The cord is split and sewn and then cut. Because the cord is so narrow, there’s no way to sew it on a sewing machine without making it wide enough to reach the presser foot, or wheel from the needle.
Another split piece of upper leather is needed to make the lace that threads through the broguing and another to make the collar.
The side seam on the original loafers were knotted on the outside of the lateral side, which you would easily see. The other end of the seam is knotted on the inside of the medial so you would also see it as we often look at the shoe from the lateral side. Why?
Fast to Last!
I sewed them up and lasted them as I would a normal shoe upper. With this moccasin style, it could have been lasted up from the bottom and then sewn. I don’t think the originals were done that way. Because of this split design, which follows the last very well, the upper is extremely quick to last. It took me days to make the upper and less than 5 minutes to last it. (I timed it). Here’s a video of me lasting a trial version.
The video is sped up 2x, but has a run time of 3.15 which includes some showing the shoe to the camera and putting it in the press. Note that the insole is first set with wood glue (Tightbond II). I use this a lot, and this was the glue I used to set the final upper with liner as well. It dries slow enough that there is plenty of time to last it and fuss with it if you don’t like how it’s sitting. You don’t really need lasting pliers to last an upper like this. Even though it is well set with the staples, I put it in the press, at a low pressure, for about 20 minutes until the glue begins to set. It should sit overnight to dry before removing the staples.