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| Extant Regency shoes, used as reference for the Pemberlies. |
I have a very important question to ask you, or rather a very important choice for you to make.
I want the “Pemberley” Regency shoes to be durable, comfortable, beautiful…but also affordable. Your vote in this poll will help us decide if it is appropriate to substitute a man-made sole for the leather one, to achieve a more affordable price.
The synthetic soles are smooth, thicker than the leather, and extremely durable. They are very similar in appearance, and in my experience I was able to dance in them with no trouble at all. They are obviously not historically accurate, but they are also on the bottoms of the feet.
So…how do you feel about the question?
13 Comments
Anonymous
October 14, 2011 at 1:05 AMfor the small $15.00 difference I'd rather have a leather sole.
Jennifer Bristow
October 14, 2011 at 1:26 AMI agree. While I generally do outdoor events I'd rather get a leather sole – I can always by inexpensive ballet flats if I expect to be outside or even a modern half boot.
Anonymous
October 14, 2011 at 1:36 AMThose look great, but I can't wait to have the chance to get the Edwardian shoes. I need new "durable smart" shoes and was dreading shopping for them. They're just my style, even though I'm not a re-enactor and I love that you're building them for both comfort and style.
Caroline
October 14, 2011 at 5:41 AMThats a small percentage more to pay to upgrade to something thats historically accurate. I'd absolutely pay extra for that.
Mel
October 14, 2011 at 8:16 AMAs a re-enactor of the regency period, leather sole shoes are hard to come by. And for the extra $15, that is well worth it.
Anne Elizabeth
October 14, 2011 at 10:52 AMI agree with the others: Thinking more like a reenactress than a costumer, I'd prefer leather. (And if we "win" the poll, I hope that 15 $ difference won't be too harsh on the others who would have been happy with man-made soles.) It's still more affordable than most alternatives!
Btw, thank you so much for doing this – making all kinds of historical shoes available at an affordable price and good quality for all of us! I have been wanting a pair like this forever, but many well-known period shoemakers couldn't offer that particular shape of heel and pointy front and many don't want to work with white leather at all because it gets too messy too fast.
In some way, you are revolutionizing the scene… or making it more democratic. =)
Americana Floorcloths
October 14, 2011 at 1:46 PMAuthenticity is a priority for those of us in this group. Leather!
Carly
October 14, 2011 at 3:58 PMI know it's a small price difference to be historically accurate, but as I'm not a reenactor and I'd like to be able to wear these shoes safely inside AND outside, I think man-made is the smarter option, especially as it saves me some money! But I think most people go the other way… I'd still consider them if they were all leather, but they wouldn't be as high on my list…
Sandi
October 14, 2011 at 11:00 PMI agree with Carly. I'm also not a re-enactor and when the difference is $15, it's more of an issue, to me, of durability rather than accuracy. That being said, I would not be at all upset if you ended up making them with the leather soles. I would personally be less likely to buy them but I understand that it's a lot easier to find durable shoes than historically accurate ones! So I voted for the leather soles, even though *I* would not prefer them.
Lauren R
October 15, 2011 at 3:57 AMSo far the majority is slightly with the leather/leather. It looks like they're going to end up to be leather soled, but I'll still try to fenagle on price with the manufacturer, and see if I can get them more affordable š
E. Waterman
October 20, 2011 at 11:42 PMI'm generally a stickler for proper garments and accessories, but when it comes to the shoe, i would rather have a synthetic sole, only because leather is super slick and I for one do not want to fall to my death :p
Aylwen
October 24, 2011 at 11:37 AMSomething else important to me is keeping the shoe on. I dance most of the time and need to know the shoes won't go flying š
Lauren R
October 25, 2011 at 4:37 AMOk, this poll has been up for a week now and it's sittin at 45/55 in favor of leather soles, but not by much. We're going to go with the leather soles because then there is no question of historical accuracy and dance-ability, but I will keep in mind all these excellent reasons for using a man-made sole, in case we switch in the future.