Self-Made Work Oxford

What a rollercoaster these chonky boys were. This was the third pair of footwear I’ve made and really loved how they turned out. The only thing is they didn’t fit all that well at the start. At some point during the shoemaking progress, they ended fitting a bit too long which I think happened during lasting. I thought I had wasted all that time making these shoes just for them not to fit. Even though I had made other shoes on the same last, the design and thickness of leather may have contributed to the ill fit. But thanks to my mentor, we were able to come up with a solution to take up the extra room in the heel area. Once they were wearable, I really enjoyed the process of breaking them in and truly making them mine. They took some time to become flexible but were never uncomfortable. I wore them to pretty much any occasion, from work to daily casual wear. I didnt think they would age very much because the leather was a heavier oil tan work leather. The aging was subtle but loved how they aged during the 5 months and 111 wears. They were very low maintenance and pretty much bulletproof. My favorite transformation was seeing how the toebox had changed since they were unstructured. I’m glad I was able to make my own footwear for this competition and plan on entering next time with another self made creation.