Mantorii Single Monk Strap w/ Medallion – $228.00 w/ code DAPPERED
Price includes the $5.00 “upgrade” to dark brown leather. $304 pre 25% off code. Code expires 2/18/13.
Much like Indochino, Mantorii is stepping in to offer custom-made shoes at a reasonable price point more in line with the likes of Allen Edmonds than other custom shoe options. Starting at $299, you can get shoes made to your unique specifications. They offer a wide range of styles for customization. Lace-ups, loafers, even dress boots and chukkas are available. Detail options include everything from plain toes to full wingtips. All shoes are made in Vietnam with the Goodyear welt method for durability and possible resoling.
The measuring process is relatively easy (see here for their returns & remakes info), and can be found on their website. It requires you to print out a page and trace your feet onto it, measuring your insteps and balls. Your foot balls…the balls of your feet. Whatever.
I only lost my balance and fell over once trying to get through this process of crouching on a sheet of paper. You will then need to scan this drawing and send it to Mantorii. I personally do not have a scanner and it took me a few days to get down to FedEx and use their scanner while I was shipping a package. I asked Mantorii if this has been a problem, and was told I’m the first person to ask about it. They did kindly offer to reimburse me the cost of physically mailing my foot drawing to them.
Out of the box, the dark brown leather’s grain is hard to miss. Almost deerskin like.
For the style of the shoes, I decided that if I was going to get custom shoes I’d branch out a bit and fill a hole in my wardrobe: monk strap, medallion toe, dark brown, with a leather sole. It was exactly two weeks from order to receipt of the shoes. The shoes certainly feel high quality and the craftsmanship is in line with other shoes at this price, with no visible faults. They have a good, classic shape with a nicely tapered, rounded toe.
Putting on the shoe, my first thought was “Ooh, a little small.” But after standing in them and walking around my house a bit I reconsidered. Both shoes fit around my feet perfectly. They were snug, but not tight, without pinching or discomfort.
Goodyear Welted. Made in Vietnam.
The color is dark, a deep coffee brown, darker than my Saddleback bag. It’s also soft and pliable with a visible grain. Not everyone will love how visible the grain is. Mantorii sent me this note regarding the leather, “our dark brown is a rather soft full grain leather, so it should be very comfortable to wear and develop a nice patina over time. It will also regularly need to be treated with a shoe conditioner (more so than hard leather) to preserve the softness and avoid the wrinkles to crack.” In a follow up email, they mentioned that the Dark Brown is most likely their softest full grain leather, and “most other leathers incl. the Essential Black, the Tan etc. are much smoother. The Essential Brown is also pretty soft, but the grain is less visible.”
They weren’t kidding about “dark” brown. Shown on top of a Saddleback in Dark Coffee leather.
I can’t compare Mantorii to any other custom shoe experience, but at this price I am very happy with the product and their service. Soon after placing my order, they contacted me to double-check the measurements because they thought there might be a discrepancy between the scan they received and my original. Once winter is over I’ll put them through their paces a bit more outside, and I’m expecting them to hold up very well.
Post and photos by our Arts & Culture correspondent Ben Madeska. For more on literature, art, food, wine, and a real perspective on the news these things make, follow Ben on Twitter.
Custom shoes at that price sounds too good to be true. Certainly look well made though. I’m intrigued. Do they feel as solid as AE?
When I used to live in Vietnam, custom leather shoes wasn’t expensive but the trade was kind of dying for sure, not that it was anything special like it is in England in the first place but whatever. For this price range, I feel as though it would be better and more solid to go with Meermin, Loake or AE.
Based on this article and a couple others, the leather quality seems a little iffy. If I’m going to spend $230 on a pair of shoes, I’m gonna go with Meermin. Their leather quality seems to be noticeably better than Mantori.
I’d be a bit concerned about the custom sizing process. I have very high arches and sometimes have to size up in order to get the midfoot volume I need in a shoe – many shoes that are the correct length/width are uncomfortably tight on the top of my foot, or just difficult and painful to put on. This sizing system doesn’t seem to take into account that two people with the same footprint dimensions could have different-sized feet depending on whether their feet are very arched or flat.
I just ordered a pair of their boots. Hopefully they keep the quality up. I will let everyone know how they are. Ben, I am also most concerned with the sizing process.
I had to send my pair back in for a remake because they were too large. But they were really good about it. Still waiting for the new pair.
Quality wise, they don’t quite hit AE or Meermin. Leather quality isn’t the best. But you can’t customize your shoes for anything near this price. And you don’t often see RTW models with two-tone uppers or in the right design. Then again, it also lets you make some hideous shoes…
The photos of Ben’s look a lot nicer than this guy’s.
I’ve had a bad experience with w/ Mantorii’s quality so I feel like I should post here. Their fitting method is decent, but due to their poor return policy (unlike the better made-to-measures, ratio/black lapel/etc., returns and exchanges are NOT guaranteed, and only allowed when shoe fitting is grossly off!) and the questionable quality of their leathers, buying is a pretty big risk. I bought one of their first batches in essential black, hated the leather quality, but am stuck now with a 200+ dollar shoe that I’m not satisfied with and can’t return. You can’t really know until you see it in person but it’s noticeably cheaper looking than similarly priced shoes, like AEs. Like others have said though, their leather quality may have improved by now, and also the fit is OK.
I’ve got two pairs from them. Met their co-founder in person in Saigon a few weeks ago and we talked quite a bit about their business. I saw some of their own leathers and they looked very fine to me. My first shoe was a bit lacklustre in terms of leather quality as well but I think they improved significantly since then. My second pair was a Chili Red Wholecut with custom blue lining – it looks and fits really great. Actually quite impressive to see their development, given they just started in November 2012…
Cool idea and site, when is a watch company going to do it?!
very informative. thanks.
How much is Meermin bespoke?
I prefer higher end shoes/boots that are Made in America, where possible. This isn’t just patriotism. Happily the US is home to some world class shoe manufacturers. Allen Edmonds, Oak Street Bootmakers, Quoddy, Yuketen, Red Wing, etc.
These shoes look pretty good. But I agree that if I wanted to mail-order custom made shoes from overseas, I’d probably go with Meermin > Mantorii. I have a tough time seeing where this brand’s “niche” is.
Nice looking but without a free return policy I will always buy Allen Edmonds instead.
2-4 weeks from what I’ve read.
Probably somewhere north of $250, since that’s where the Linea Maestra starts.
Made to order. They don’t do bespoke. But prices start at 360 Euros. Start’s at 410 Euros if you want to change a design
Essentially a made to order shoe in whatever design you want starting at $299 with a good number of discounts? They modify a last to your foot measurements as well. I think that’s a pretty good niche.
Meermin does have much better finishing but starts at $360 Euros plus customs. Not saying Meermin isn’t a good value, but really only for they Linea Maestro line.
Life hack: if you need to scan something but don’t have a scanner, use your smart phone to take a picture of it. Crop it to the edges of the paper and you have basically the same thing.