Ever notice how many Vietnamese shoemakers have some of the most affordable exotic leather offered in their collections? Ever wonder why? Well, Vietnam is a major hub for exotic leather production, where they can source it locally and therefore offer a very competitive price. They often specialize in Nile crocodile leather, Siamese crocodile leather, and Saltwater crocodile leather.
CNES Shoemaker–based in Singapore but made in Vietnam– is one of the shoe brands offering very affordable exotic leather in their footwear collections. What might cost upward of $5000 from a European shoe brand, will cost you under $1600 at CNES Shoemaker, as you can see by the models presented here. The most expensive one is $1571, which is handwelted and with a Norwegian braided stitch. The models that lack the Norwegian stitch are all under $1500.
The exotic leather industry is a love-or-hate type of thing for most people. Personally speaking, I appreciate looking at exotic leather shoes, but mainly prefer it on my shoes as an accent piece. You can see that in their Adelaide oxford, which I also own. I find that adding small pieces of exotic leather gives the shoe more character. A wholecut model in exotic leather is beautiful, but not as much my personal style. But make it in nubuck and that is a different story!
CNES Shoemaker offers this affordable exotic leather on an MTO basis. On their website, the exotic leather models appear as ready-made purchases but indicate taking 3 months to produce. What CNES Shoemaker does not present well on their website is the fact that these are all just templates and the leather can be used for MTO purposes on any of their shoe models.
If you wish to read more about CNES Shoemaker, check out my other articles here. If you want to dive into their affordable exotic leather options, reach out to their MTO program to understand all that you can do.
Learn more here: https://www.cnes.co/
—Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob
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***CNES Shoemaker is a sponsor of The Shoe Snob Blog, and you can consider this a sponsored post***