[Gabriele Becattini]

i would like to know if someone has bought this shoes from revival u.s

http://revival.us/elizabethanblockshoe.aspx

they are pretty cheap but are reasonably good looking

i need a pair of shoes for my late XVIth century kit, what do you think about this product?

[Glennan Carnie]

Gabriele,

As with so many things, you do get what you pay for.

These shoes are a reasonable approximation of a late 16th Century shoe, but by no means an accurate replica. To use an analogy, they are a 'Hanwei' shoe, not an 'Albion' shoe :-)

However, if you just want something on your feet then they will no doubt serve you well.

They look like chrome-tanned leather (and almost certainly are for the price) and won't age in the same way as vegetable-tanned leather. You could, however, markedly improve the look of them by applying a leather de-glazer to take the shiny finish off the uppers.

If you want accurate footwear you need to look at a proper cordwainer. I'd recommend Sarah Juniper (www.sarahjuniper.co.uk) - hand-made, bespoke period shoes; but then you'll pay probably four times as much as for the Revival shoes!

As I said: you get what you pay for.

[Gabriele Becattini]

Glennan,

do you have some information about foxblade trading shoes ? http://www.re-enactment-shoes.co.uk/

i completely agree with you about prices and accuracy, and for a low price i'm not expecting nothing more than a reasonable approximation,

in other words, i need something sturdy and good looking because i cannot afford an high end replica like Ms. Juniper works and so i have to make a compromise,

of course i don't want neither to ruin the whole aspect of my kit, that has turned out much better than i was expecting using a relative modest budget, it depicts an elizabethan period bowman that i'm sure you would approuve

[Phil Crawley]

[Glennan Carnie]

The big problem - and the main reason I didn't mention Foxblade - is that their shoes are either too early (in the case of the Bear Paws) or too late (the latchet shoes) for late 16th Century.

I know some people use Startups for late 16th Century but I'm not convinced. I can't recall any images of them being worn, particularly in a military context. I suspect their popularity is because so many UK reenactors started out doing English Civil War.

You could also contact Pilgrim Shoes (http://www.pilgrimshoes.co.uk/). She does reasonably priced shoes. Once again, they are machine made, but Chris does do a degree of customisation - like leather selection, slashing, detailing, etc.

[Gabriele Becattini]

I would prefer to buy in europe in order to save postage and import fees,

if i have to choose a pair made from Tod probably i would go for a custom made one, i have just realized that the pattern labelled like tudor is not correct for my period, but i know also from personal experience that his custom made products require an age to be made...

the link posted by Glennan is really very interesting, i'll try to contact both, thank you guys!