Question:
I purchased a pair of BALDESSARINI wingtip from Joe (ebayid: faconne). I am pretty much sure these are made by Crockett & Jones on 325 last.
My questions are:
1) The fit is bit of tight. I didn't feel any real discomfort while walking on the carpet with a pair of thin socks, but they were quite tight. These are size 5.5 E UK. Will fit get any better over the time? He also has another pair of 6.5 E for sale as well. I am not exactly sure which pair I should go. I wear 6.5D/6E in Allen Edmonds, and they fit me quite well. I think 6E will fit me perfectly, but joe only has 5.5 E and 6.5 E. I do like them a lot. What are you suggestions?
2) Are they benchgrade or handgrade? Based on the channeled sole, my guess they are handgrade. Am I right? By the way, the shoes have double leather sole.
Answer:
I'm unfamiliar with this last, but in my experience, shoes don't stretch that much. If your shoes are tight length wise, you probably shoe go up 1/2 size. I'm a firm believer that the shoes have to fit more or less right out of the box. Snug is okay, but tight usually stays tight. It means it might be the wrong size. I do think you would need a 6UK. 6.5UK might be on the other side and be too loose, but I guess it doesn't hurt to try.
Answer:
You'd better go up half size, one full size might be too much
Answer:
As for your second question--as to whether they are from the Main Collection (benchgrade) or from the Handgrade collection--they do look like Handgrade C&Js (with the closed-channel sole), but with the rebranded C&Js, one can never be certain about the standards to which they were made. We've seen hybrid C&Js in the past (or what we suspected to be hybrids), and my guess is that each company for whom C&J make shoes that are then rebranded (like RL Polo line, Baldessarini, Cleverley) or not rebranded (like Ben Silver) have their own requests as to features and quality-levels. So we can't be certain just what features/quality Boss(Baldessarini) requested. From your pictures, however, they do appear to be of very good quality and are lovely shoes, and it's not hard to see that you'd want to keep them.
Let me make a slightly more radical suggestion than trying a bigger size. Since you aren't experiencing any real discomfort--just a feeling of tightness--why not keep them and have them stretched? This can be effectively done by any good cobbler (and probably by not-so-good ones too) and is very inexpensive (expect to pay something like $10-$15). There's no question that a proper stretching will loosen them up to a maximum of about the equivalent 1/2 unit of length or one letter of width. This might be too much. So, I'd suggest that you ask your cobbler to stretch them very gradually, and then try them after the first minimal stretching, then again (if necessary) after a little more, etc. I would be surprised if this doesn't result in a really good-fitting pair of shoes--a tiny touch tight at first and then loosening up to a close-to-perfect fit.
Good luck. :)
Answer:
let's face reality, basically, they are 1/2 size too small
Answer:
Thanks guys. Yes, I believe they are a half size too small. I did some research on this forum prior to pulling the trigger. I guess the "plus 1" rule does not apply to this 325 last too well. I will follow roger's suggestion to get them stretched instead of going a full size larger. I would rather have a snug fit than heel slippage.
