Handmade Shoes for Men [Hardcover]

Magda Molnar (Author), Nagda Molnar (Author), Laszlo Vass (Author), Georg Valerius (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 3895089281 | ISBN-13: 978-3895089282 | Publication Date: January 2000

Without a doubt, custom-made shoes are a luxury for the feet. The authors of this book have traced the trail of a traditional craft that remains vital today. Take a look behind the scenes of some of the most renowned workshops and experience the creation of elegant, handcrafted men's shoes - from measuring the foot to professional packaging.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laszlo Vass, born in Budapest in 1946, worked in the Hungarian fashion house of Magyar Divatintezet as a clicker, closer, shoemaker, and designer from 1964 until 1969. In 1970, having gained his professional shoemaking qualification he joined a private workshop specializing in hand-made shoes and ladies' boots as assistant chief designer and shoemaker. In 1978 Vass founded his own workshop and opened a business in the centre of Budapest. Since 1988 he and his 20 staff have concentrated on traditional shoemaking. Today the exquisite quality of the shoes made by the firm of Vass has earned the workshop enormous respect throughout Europe. Magda Molnar, born in Budapest in 1943, studied English literature at Budapest University. A publisher of art books, she was initially chief executive of Helikon Verlag, and since 1991 head of Vince Books; she is active on the international publishing scene. Magda Molnar's particular interest in shoemaking is rooted in her family history: her grandfather practiced the profession of shoemaker for 50 years, specializing in handmade shoes and gentlemen's boots. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Konemann (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3895089281
• ISBN-13: 978-3895089282
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a decent book on shoemaking, August 14, 2002

By 

K. Pace (Idalou, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handmade Shoes for Men (Hardcover)

Information on shoemaking is getting difficult to find. I bought this book hoping I could learn how nice shoes are made. I was very pleased with what I learned from this book. One step further into the details, however, would have made this book the last word on the subject.

If you have a little imagination, however, it is not too hard to fill in the details. Actually, since the author is a very respected Hungarian shoemaker, I can imagine it being a difficult decision on where to draw the line between "details" and "wordiness." Do you have to talk about glue viscosity (he does) or glue recipes (he doesn't, "shop secrets"). Plenty of information is included and hundreds of excellent photos make it easy to imagine yourself right alongside a master craftsman.

Topics include:

* taking measurements
* anatomy
* shoe sizes
* history and making of lasts
* characteristics of different styles of men's dress shoes
* design of the pattern (the gist of it, anyway)
* leather tanning processes
* characteristics of different leathers
* clicking, brogueing, stitching and reinforcing of uppers
* lasting the shoe (stretching the upper around the last)
* lots of detail on tacking and stitching during the lasting process
* welting
* soling (including the shank and cork filler)
* building the heel
* ornamentation and finishing
* proper shoe care
* short bios on the greatest workshops in Europe and America

Needless to say, I learned alot. I had no idea top-end shoes use wooden pegs to hold the heels on or that broken glass and bones are common tools in the trade. This is a very nice addition to my library.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good book, May 10, 2000

By 

Marc Carlson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handmade Shoes for Men (Hardcover)

A 20th century "how to" in the manner of old-time works by Rees, Leno, Devlin , and so forth. This work examines first the history and basic technology of handmade shoemaking, with gorgeous photographs, and fairly clear text (particularly considering that it's a translation). It then takes a quick trot through the crème of the big-name shoemaking firms still in operation today, and concludes with a heartfelt tribute to shoemaking as an art form. As an overview of the trade, this work is more than adequate, although for someone not engrossed in the topic, the jumping back and forth between topics can be a little distracting. The author's knowledge of shoemaking history is fairly standard, with many of the traditional old shoemaking chestnuts reappearing here. The author's discussion of techniques is a trifle problematical, in that he does not indicate the universality of the techniques and tools (for example, not all handmade shoemakers use needles or wax made by the recipe shown) - but this is a common failing in shoemaking texts,and certainly nothing to count against the text. Having gotten down this far, you are likely wondering why I gave the book this high a marking if I was this critical of it - it's the pictures. The text could be gibberish and the pictures would make it worth the price. The text is pretty good, which makes it more than worth the price.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book !, September 9, 2002

By 

rbarch (Aliquippa, Pa. United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Handmade Shoes for Men (Hardcover)

If you want to know how to make shoes or just want to know how shoes are made this is the best book that you can buy. Every page has beautiful closeup color photographs. Just by looking at the photographs alone shows you how it is done and there are many, many, photographs showing you every stage in the process of hand making a pair of men's shoes.