It has been nearly three years since I consigned an old pair of ghastly, plastic, tan abominations passing for dress shoes to their rightful place in the garbage. They were a holdover from childhood days of enforced church-going at the insistence of my devout parents, and were hardly made of premium material. The holes gaped in the sole like sores from the skin of a smallpox patient, the crumbling adhesive all-too visible as the upper and the sole became rapidly divorced from one another.
It was the depths of winter. At this point I was determined to get myself a decent pair of dress shoes, at least to be able to navigate the treacherous icy pavement when walking on my way to and from work. How I had not slipped over and injured myself up to this point is unclear to me. With the characteristic thoroughness that I like to apply to everything I do, I began a desperate perusal of various online sources seeking options. I relied heavily upon an old favourite of mine, the German-American mens’ style pioneer Sven Raphael Schneider, and his website Gentleman’s Gazette, for advice on this matter. Mr. Schneider was characteristically definitive in his judgement – I needed a pair of black Oxfords, a pair of brown wingtip derbies and a pair of oxblood cordovan loafers. The first two proved easier to acquire than the latter. They also needed to be either Goodyear-welted or Blake-stitched, and made from full grain calf leather. I didn’t need to be told twice. With this helpful breakdown, I went hunting for the requisite items. I had no budget in mind – I was willing to pay a bit more than I might be comfortable with for shoes that would last me into the next decade.
Scouring the Internet, I made the serendipitous acquaintance of the British retailer Russell and Bromley – a solid choice for entry-level quality footwear. They do not manufacture their own shoes in the way that the famous British heritage brands from Northampton such as Loake and Crockett and Jones do – rather, they outsource this to manufacturers in Spain, Portugal and Italy. The shoes are Blake-stitched and made of full grain calf leather. Their offering of men’s dress shoes runs from just over £200 to £325. This is certainly a pricier selection than what you might find from a high street retailer, but at this point I was prepared to disgorge some treasure to acquire a couple of pairs that wouldn’t crumble after a few months of use.
I opted to purchase the handsome brown Southport derbies, with their full-brogue wingtip decoration and Dainite rubber soles. As I write this, they have now sadly been discontinued by Russell and Bromley – a cursory look online shows that the only sites they can be purchased from are selling them second-hand. (I can only speculate that part of the reason for their discontinuation is that, being of a relatively conservative design, they are somewhat out of place in a fashion-forward shoe retailer selling primarily Italian-inspired shoe designs. The derby offerings they have left are, to my mind, considerably less aesthetically pleasing than the Southport.) I have worn them happily for the past two years, and they remain in very wearable condition. I have conditioned and polished them fairly regularly, and the only real blemish I have detected on the leather is a discolouration on the toe box, possibly because of excessive polishing on my part.
First of all, the shoes are incredibly versatile. With their deep, rich, medium-dark brown colour, they look good with chinos (particularly in khaki or powder blue) yet they can also be pressed into service with a dark, navy suit. In my capacity as a teaching assistant working in a school, I found that these shoes served their purpose very well. They certainly allowed me to dress somewhat above my station and cut a dash when more senior colleagues were happily getting by with their cheap shoes in corrected grain leather and with cemented soles. I have continued to wear them with my navy suits in my current job, and they are dark enough that they do not draw undue attention to themselves in the way a lighter shade of brown would. Yet I can also wear them when strolling around town – going to the shops or to the cinema, or even to see a classical music performance at the Royal Festival Hall in central London.
The open lacing system is remarkably easy on the feet, giving them the necessary room to breathe. The leather is relatively lightweight and flexible, and the Blake-stitching cushions the foot tenderly. The fit is generous, as with most of the Russell and Bromley selection – in fact, when I first purchased the shoes I was worried they were a little too loose. It turned out the problem was I was not tying the shoe laces with sufficient firmness. The Dainite soles provide plenty of grip, yet never feel taxing on the foot like other chunky rubber soles have proven to be for me. I have not yet had to resole them – in fact, the main reason they have not gotten more use is because they have been vying with my Chelsea boots (and other boots) for wear.
There are cons. The leather insole was not glued in properly when I first bought it, such that, after a few wears, it began to slip away from the lining. A local cobbler was able to fix the problem for very little remuneration. This is a minor issue, but enough to somewhat shake one’s confidence in a brand that, whilst by no means at the top-end of the British footwear industry, is not necessarily a cheap option either. I have had a similar issue with a pair of used Russell and Bromley Burlington Chelsea Boots, which I will review in another post.
Another, more serious fault was revealed several months ago when, during one of many evenings spent at the Royal Festival Hall, the heel of one of the shoes broke off, the nails with them. I was able to retrieve the heel, but was left hobbling like a cripple for the rest of the evening. It turned out that the heel of the other shoe was not particularly sturdy either. Again, my local cobbler came to the rescue and stuck a new heel on for both shoes. It is, however, one more blemish of construction that has somewhat diminished my view of the brand. It is hard to believe that a company like Loake, Cheaney, or Crockett and Jones, with their own factories (where members of the public can go in person and purchase shoes hot off from the factory floor, with minor defects, for a significant discount), trained shoemakers and meticulous approach to quality control, would have allowed things like this to slide. This is in stark contrast to the opacity of Russell and Bromley’s outsourcing operation, where it is not clear how much oversight the company has over what is being done by the various Mediterranean manufacturers producing these shoes that are sold in their name. (Below you can see a regrettably blurry image of the Dainite soles, complete with the new heels.)
There is something else I have noticed with this and my pair of Burlington Chelsea boots – the insole of the shoe has discoloured considerably, and thinned so much one can see the marks of the nails and the stitching. This is normal on some level – they have been worn a fair bit – but it seems far more extreme with these lightweight derbies than with any of my other shoes:
It should be said that the aforementioned issue has not affected the wearability to any noticeable degree. Would I purchase these shoes again should they wear out? Maybe, but already my ravenous eyes are looking past Russell and Bromley towards other, more premium shoe brands, specifically the English heritage brands that actually produce their own shoes, such as the aforementioned Crockett and Jones. In the years since purchasing these shoes, I have acquired other pairs of high-quality shoes, including three pairs of boots from Loake, two of which were sourced from Ebay, and one of which was bought on sale. Certainly the one thing Russell and Bromley has over these other brands is affordability.
Ultimately, I would give these shoes a 4/5. Minus the issues with construction, these are a solid entry-level shoe for anyone looking to upgrade to quality, calf leather shoes with stitched soles. I expect to have them in my wardrobe for many years more.