Group Buy on Shoes?

[Capt. Sawney Beane]

Beane is ready.

[greenighs]

Fit and comfort are even more important to me than authenticity and price, and having wide and small (compared to the rest of you guys) feet, I'm not certain I'd get shoes that fit right. I think I'll pass on this one, although I'd love to have a pair of authentic pirate shoes.

[kass]

Greg, please put Bob down for a pair.

[Gentleman of Fortune]

I heard from the maker and the sample is on its way. By far the most questions I have received are about fitting and sizes.

So I passed the question along, and the shoe maker says that you should be able to "order" your regular shoe size and it not be a problem. That being said, he told me that he has a chart (which I will post) that has 4 measurments that he can use to give you the best fit.

He said that a tracing is useless.....

Anyway. I hope to have pictures of the shoes soon, and will post what I get.

GoF

[Mick MacAnselan]

GoF,

Do you know what size (width) latches these shoes will have? I had ordered a pair of buckles from GGG, but found out today they are discontinued, so if I'm going to find a new source, I figure I should get the size exactly right. TIA.

[CaptainJackRussell]

I would join, but I'm in Germany...

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Jack Russel...

I am in Germany too.... No problems!

GoF

[CaptainJackRussell]

Gosh...I forgot! Wuerzburg it was, right?

Are you german?

I think we should meet frequently, but, please note me also for a pair of shoes.

Are you going to join our pirate-LARP in August?

Fair winds,

Jack

[Cire]

I'd certainly be interested, though I'm not sure about my funds. I've never been keen on buying footwear that I can't try on first, even more so if they are above £20 (which is probably why all my footwear is decidedly modern). I don't want to buy them and then find that they cut in or damage my heel if worn for long periods. If I can be assured comfort, I might just be willing to shell out for em.

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Well... I certainly can't guarantee fit and comfort for any shoe. I am not sure even Nike does that....

I will check in with him, but his posted internet policy on customer satisfaction is if they don't fit, he will send you another pair to try, if that doesn't work either, you get your money back and part ways.

Seems fair enough to me.

I will check though..... I am expecting the sample any day now and will flood the net with pictures when it comes.

GoF

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Mick

I haven't forgotten your question... I have been working on a decent answer (which is turning into a whole new web-page on my site...

Will post more later...

GoF

[Gentleman of Fortune]

I added a page to my website on footwear (still work in progress) but I have covered the shoe buckle and its variants for GAoP....

Take a look here:

Gentlemen of Fortune's Footwear Page

GoF

[CaptainJackRussell]

I know you're quite busy, but do you think you'll find a little time to respond to my PN?

Grammercy,

Jack

[Black Dog]

Just checking on the lastest on the shoes, samples, order numbers and the lot. Looking forward to placing me order. 9.5EEEE -lol

Willie the rumrunner

[Matty Bottles]

What's the status of this group order? Is it still on? Is it over? Are people waiting for more orders? Because now I have a real job!

[kass]

The last word on the group shoe order is that it's still on and our own Gentleman of Fortune is waiting for the prototype shoe to arrive. He's in Germany, so it's taking a little longer than a couple days to get there.

He'll post info on how to order as soon as he sees that the shoe is well-made and worth the effort.

Kass

[Matty Bottles]

Thanks for the update, Kass!

[Black Dog]

me thinks fer Christmas me wants a new pair o' shoes - any chance???? I found a pair o' Jesus sandles for the time being. By the time cold weather comes I be hoping for some o' the fine quality leathers we been waiting fer. Sandels in winter - brrrrrrrrr

and a happy memorial day to all veterans

Willie the rumrunner

[Capt. Sawney Beane]

Is the shoes on or off? What do we need to do?

Beane

[blackjohn]

Ahoy. Pardon the cross forum posting, but Greg is in a lot of pain right now, having busted his ankle. Read this on our pirate reenacting forum. I'm sure he'll post details here when time allows.

[Capt. Sawney Beane]

Not to be the ass, but I got more information from the other forum, on a subject that was started here, and after many queries, was dirercted there. I'm not blaming anyone, life gets in the way and people are people, but I'll be bowing out of the group buy at this point, there is no sample, no promise of one, and a more detailed discussion of the situation on a forum I was not aware... or privy to. I need not be in the dark. My money is is just as green and my time just as valuable.

Sorry, that makes Beane mighty sore. And as a Pirate in word and action that sours me.

In Point...

"PostPosted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:47 am Post subject: Reply with quote

To be honest... at this point "I'll be damed if I know" what the hell is going on.

It doesn't seem well. I have been promised a sample now for the last 3 months and nothing has arrived. I called him around May 1st, and he said he was going to send it out May 15th. He claims that the sample is completed, I just can't believe that if its done, he is just too busy to send it.

This doesn't bode well. I understand that re-enactor suppliers are notoriously late and lack follow through, but this isn't a part time vendor, his buisness is to make shoes.

My heart is telling me that if he is having a hard time getting me a sample shoe, then and order for 30 pairs is a disaster waiting to happen. And since this is not a for profit venture on my part, I bet that continuing this project with this vendor would be inviting a world of problems, which at this point in my life, I can do without.

Plan B

I am talking to some other shoe makers and providing them with the details of what the shoe should look like. Hopefully, one will take on the project but it will be on an individual basis, not a group order.

I should have the responses by next weekend, and will let everyone know where they can get them.

Sorry it didn't work out as I had hoped.

Greg"

Why wasn't this posted in THIS FORUM, IN THIS THREAD? This is where the orginal "30" waited.

Do you operate in such rarified air?

With a heavy heart and sadness I leave you,

as always,

Capt. Sawney Beane

[kass]

In Greg's defense, the original group buy offer was made on a number of different email lists and forums, the Pyracy Pub being only one of them (and NOT the original one at that). Any "rarified air" you sense is entirely in your imagination. This was never some exclusive deal. It was open to everyone. It just didn't come to fruition.

Greg has been trying to keep after the shoemaker. But living in Germany, that makes things difficult. Time after time the shoemaker has told him the prototype was in the mail and it never arrived. I can definitely see how Greg was waiting to have some good news to post to this forum. He didn't exactly want to throw in the towel just yet.

And then he moved. And then he broke his ankle rather catastrophically. So I'm willing to cut the guy some slack. He was in surgery last week after all...

I'm really sorry you took this the way you did, Captain Beane, as no one sought in any way to exclude you. The man moved house and then broke his ankle. Not exactly his fault he's been a bit incommunicado and didn't get to post everywhere. But since there's likely not going to be any shoes, it doesn't much matter.

That "other forum" by the way has never been a secret. Blackjohn's signature invites everyone to come and post there. Many from the Pub do. Why not come over and see us sometime?

[Capt. Sawney Beane]

And this is my point, how were we supposed to know this, ON THIS FORUM?

I was the one that copy/posted the other info into this thread. I understand greg is injured, and that he moved and that there is no control over the shoemaker and I'm sorry about that, but there were waiting customers on this forum as well. I stand by my statements.

Beane

[Gentleman of Fortune]

ouch....

I am back.... sort of.... with leg in cast for the forseable future, after 5 days in hospital.

I am truly sorry that I have not been able to contact every individual or even post on every list, but, as has been said in my stead, I have had a nasty series of events unfold recently, and to be honest, the shoe project hasn't been my top priority.

So lets, recap shall we?

As a rule, there are not many folks "in the hobby" with correct shoes. So I thought I would help them out by finding someone to do it for us.

There exists in the world, however, a shoe that was worn by a pirate on an actual pirate ship.

This is reenacting mana from heaven to a starving pirate world, and I sought out the necessary information to have that shoe copied.

My original intent was to find a current shoe maker that would just take the information, make a shoe and add it to their catalog.

So when somebody needed a pair of correct shoes, I could just say, check out Tom Mattimore at Civil War boots, and buy "the Whydah shoe".

This didn't work out, as most of the shoe makers couldn't or wouldn't take on the project.

R Land shoes of Canada said they could do it, but here was the catch. He is a wholesaler and manufacturer/supplier, and not and individual shoe seller.

But

If I could get an order of 30 pairs of shoes, he would do it. He claimed he needed the 30 orders because he had to buy 50 shoe lasts and the tooling to make the shoes on a grand scale (sizes 7-14 including half sizes in D and EEE widths). So to cover his start-up costs, 30 pairs of shoes was the magic number.

Now, here is the funny part. I already got a pair of shoes. Straight lasted, Butt stitched, veg tan leather, 2cm last, the works! I really don't need a pair. I probably should have just dropped the frickin thing on its ass right there....

But noooo.... I thought I would try to help the pirate community by puting together a "group buy" so that everyone could benefit. This, by the way was an "at cost" thingy. I wasn't adding $10 each pair for phone calls and wasted time either. Hell, I wasn't even handling the money, I was working it so you could paypal the guy half up front and half at delivery.

There are probably thousands of people in the states and world wide that are affiliated with pirate re-enacting... Hell, the Pyracy Pub ALONE has almost 3000 members..... surely just .01% of them would want correct shoes?????

Well I cut my pirate teeth as a member of the Pirate Brethren that are based out of DE/MD/VA. They have a group of about 100 members and affiliates on their yahoo group and on their forum.

So I am pretty sure I posted it their first or at least on the first day.

So if you really want to know who is involved with this project, I will tell you so you don' feel left out.

The Pirate Brethren Yahoo Group

The Pirate Brethren Forum

The ukpiratebrotherhood

TraditionalBuccaneers

potccostuming

NavMarAmRev

here... the Pyracy Pub

And ANYONE ELSE I THOUGHT WAS REMOTELY INTERESTED IN AUTHENTIC PYRACY!!!!!

and you know how many positive responses I got.

Probably about 17-20.

That is, lets say, 20 out of over 4000 people contacted!

And that is 20 "RE_ENACTORS" who say "yes" now, which translates into, at best, 12 folks that will actually do it.

I had even thought that I would personally front the money for the balance of shoes (thats over $1300) so that this deal could happen for people like you.

Well, as people have asked questions on this and other boards, I have answered them. If I don't know I say so.

If I have been told "its in the mail" than I tell you its in the mail.

When people have pm'd me over the last few months to say, "is this going to happen by xyz date" than I have given them my honest opinion.

I ain't holding anything back or hiding anything from anyone.

So I apologize for not getting two dixie cups and stringing them together between me and you so you could have a shoe project hot line.

I called R Land at the end of April and he said it was going to be in the mail May 15th. Becuase I work for the DoD overesas in Germany, It can take a while to get to me via the US army postal system....

So the post, May 29th, that you are quoting from reflects my frustration in not reciving something that was promised (and Promised, and promised), and the realization that,"if this is what he is like dealing with NOW, than it can only spell trouble later", and persoanlly, I didn't want to put folks like you through that.

So in between moving a house, breaking an ankle, surgury for said ankle, and dealing with a wife and 2 kids who already think daddy spends too much time on pirate stuff, I have been calling and e-mailing every other shoe maker I can find so that the appreciative folks like Capt. Sawney Beane, can get a pair of freakin shoes.

I was not running off to Jamaica with your deposit as there was no deposit. I wasn't hiding any info, as there wasn't any to hide. For all I know, there is a shoe waiting for me in my post office box in Kitzingen Germany... but I don't know that because I have been on crutches for the last 2 weeks.......

AGGGHHHGHGHGHGH!!!!

But I was waiting to hopefully have some good news to deliver with the bad.

SO here goes.

This shoe project is dead.

I don't have the energy to continue. I had been working dilligently behind the scenes, even creating web pages so that prospective shoe makers can see what the f#$@K I am talking about....

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/shoeproject.htm

but I am done now.

As of yet, no one has stepped up to the plate

BUT

Tom Mattimore of Civil War boots Cand do it and will give it a try WHEN HE COMPLETES HIS MOVE TO A NEW SHOP.

I don't know when that will be, ask him yourself.

Or just buy a pair of rev war shoes or combat boots or what every else you want to do because I am done.

Greg

aka

GoF

[kass]

Thanks, Greg. You took on a lot of responsibility and put in alot of effort for a guy who wasn't going to profit from the project at all. It's just too bad the guy actually getting paid wasn't as responsible and diligent as you were in your spare time.