Here we take a look at ACME Shoemaker’s MTO collection to see what you can achieve when going custom on your order.
Now the 3rd time on the channel, ACME Shoemaker continues to impress with their craftsmanship, style, and execution.
They continue to raise the bar and set themselves at the top of the industry among the finest shoemakers there are.
Learn more: https://acmeshoemaker.com/
Watch the first unboxing video HERE and the second one HERE.
Transcript of the video below:
Hello. Hello. Hello, welcome back to another Shoe Snob Blog, Unboxing Video Series, One-Take-Wonders.
Here we are back again with another purple box. If you’ve been watching this series for a while, you’ll probably recognize the purple boxes as they are by very exciting and new, I don’t want to say upcoming because they’ve now been around for three years. But a very exciting shoemaker called Acme Shoemaker.
Again, we’ll just take a look at that for those of you who are just now tuning in. Pardon my casual appearance. But it’s supposed to be summer over here and it looks like the sun shining, but it was quite chilly today and I just moved house and I’m under boxes and boxes of boxes. So it’s hard to find my clothes in the morning.
Anyway, let’s take a look at what Acme has sent me this time. This time being a pair of made-to-order boots that I requested. So the first shoe was just whatever they wanted to send me. The second one was something special with the wallet to match and the patina service and whatnot. And now this one is me choosing my own kind of parameters based on models, colors, et cetera, things that I’ve seen on their site. So let’s take a look.
Full disclosure: I’ve obviously opened this. I tried the boots on as a way to give you fit feedback. We’re going to look at model 7147. This is their long split-toe apron derby boot. The last is MR. Not sure what MR stands for, but it is a round last. Color: green patina. Size: my typical UK 6.5. Leather calf and then there’s even a code which I presume is the SKU.
So Acme has very wonderful boxes. We’ve discussed these very nice, very strong, nice bags in here. Now, I need to double-check my last shoes, but I feel like this is a new bag. So we got a purple velour/velvet, whatever-you-wanna-call-it bag with like a uh typical soft cloth lining. Also in purple lavender, whatever you wanna call it. So, very in tune with their color theme. You got a little foam divider. No other bells and whistles. I never noticed the lining of the box feels also like a velvety flannel-like material. Very nice, very nice boxes, I imagine they cost quite a bit.
All right, let’s unveil these beauties. So on their Instagram, which is where I follow them, I saw a very striking split toe, uh apron split toe derby boot and I thought, wow, those are cool. Now, those were made on a chisel last and I believe a sleek uh leather sole. So when they approached to try to make something custom with my own details, I wanted to try to switch it up a bit. I wanted something a little bit more robust, something that I could wear in Winter but still be sleek.
I love round toes. I like chisel toes by look, but I don’t love them on my person on myself when I look down and just it doesn’t balance with my style and also, they always look and feel a little big on me. So I like round-toe’s almond-style, not like round-round, like sleek-round. So I asked them if they could put the sleek round last on the apron, split toe derby boot, make a Norwegian welt, and add a commando sole.
Because again, you know, I might take these to, you know, who knows, what do you call it, Vail? Just kidding. I don’t have that much money to go to places like that. But in case I ever get invited to Vail, you know, I have something cool enough to fit in with the boujee class. So this is what I got now. You probably won’t be able to notice they probably look like black to you, but this is a dark green patina. Now, I’m sure if I took them out into the sun, I could see it, but in the indoor yellow lighting it reflects like black, but I know that it’s green and I, I think it’s gonna be really pretty once I’m able to get it into the light.
Impressive boots. Obviously, we’ve looked at the quality of ACME, and the quality is flawless. Let’s just look at some of the details that I’ve noticed are slightly different. First and foremost, the laces. Now it’s funny because they look like wax cotton, but they are substantially more strong and firm which almost feels like they could be leather in the look of waxed cotton. They’re definitely much stronger than my wax cotton laces. So I don’t know if there’s a different level of wax cotton or if this is in fact, a leather lace that looks like wax cotton. I wanna say it’s a wax cotton, leather laces are usually quite different. But anyway, this is probably the most robust dress lace I’ve ever encountered.
Nice little detail here that they wrapped these, in the shipment (the speed hooks). This one obviously fell off (referring to the paper wrapping). And I’m thinking that’s to protect them from hitting the other boot because these little speed hooks cause damage in the box during shipment. You know, they scratch the leather up and most people sit there and blame the shoemakers, but it’s really the speed hook. So it’s a great way to try to prevent that. Let’s just take them off since I’m not showing you that detail.
Another detail that I found really interesting is the midsole. Now I asked for the Commando sole. So they use clearly a very solid, Vibram sole. That thing must be an inch and a half alone. Just the heel block. Now between the heel, the forefoot, the sole, and the welt, is this really spongy foam material. I have no clue what it is as we didn’t discuss it. And they didn’t tell me but it’s really soft. It’s like trying to think what I can compare it against almost like, you know, like squishy balls that you, you, you use for like stress relief in your hand and they’re like they almost like a beanbag but it, but it maybe feels like sand inside, um like where you can squeeze them. It’s almost like that but more foam-like, and super soft.
So I put them on and UK6.5 fit great. I love the way the round last fits probably more so than it’s just the last dead on as usual with the size. And yeah, you could really feel the kind of cushion. It’s almost like you’re getting some Nike material inside a dress boot here where it’s really cushioned, which is probably helpful on this super solid Vibram sole. Truth be told. Vibram may be a famous well-made brand, uh a well-made product and a well-known brand, but I often find it overly rigid. So I think this is a nice balance so that your foot is not having to really feel that rigidity of the Vibram sole. So that was a nice detail and I am telling you it looks flawless, to be honest with you. It’s impressive work.
So I get this question, so I’m just going to explain it. A lot of people say, oh, can commando soles be goodyear welted. Yes, of course. Because the goodyear welt, now this is obviously a Norwegian welt, but the goodyear welt is stitched to the upper and insole and then the sole is cemented to the welt. So it’s goodyear welt, but there’s no stitch on the sole. So these little notches here are just for decoration uh because you cannot stitch to that. It’s impossible. No machine is that strong. Nor do they have settings to be that wide. So you cement on the layers. Normally there’s a different type of midsole. So you cement them on right. It’s impressive how clean this is. To be honest with you, it’s quite a feat and it looks like really well-cemented and finished.
Like you don’t have to worry about this separating ever. And the Norwegian is very tidy, very beautiful. They have like a small storm welt as well. It’s very fine because had you made a heavy storm, well, it would have made it even heavier than it is, which is already quite heavy. So it has a very fine storm welt. Everything is flawless as usual. It is impressive. The work they do is super impressive, a very robust boot, a beautiful option for those that live in difficult winter-style climates but wanna stay dressy and elegant.
I’m sure there are some grain options because obviously calf and snow. I mean, you could probably walk in the snow on these because they’re so tall. I definitely gaining some height here, which I’m not usually used to. Just beautiful stuff. Leather quality is flawless, phenomenal, just gleaming. The pores are wonderful. Everything is great. I can’t rave more, ACME just makes beautiful stuff. This boot is no exception. It is also exquisite. The craftsmanship is among the top in the industry. I am just going to say it out loud: ACME shoemaker is among the top in the whole shoe world. Hand stitch, flawless (referring to the upper).
There’s nothing here you can take away outside of personal feelings. You know, the craftsmanship is top-notch. I think the model is really cool. I wish you could see the color. I’ll obviously follow up with the close-detail video. Hopefully, we can still see the color and that is because it’s just so dark, and yellow lighting is not great on a dark green because it just kind of blends into the darker patches of it, which make it look black from here. You can kind of see the green. I’m sure if I took it to the sunlight you’d see a lot of it.
But uh, oh, then let’s touch on a couple of other things. The lining is a beautiful, almost dark teal and I thought that was really nice. I like dark green. I like dark teal. So just wanted to show you the shoe trees. They are lasted, they have hooks, they’re not boot trees, they’re actually shoe trees, which in reality you don’t need boot trees. Boot trees are not a necessity. They are a luxury. All you need is a good shoe tree with a hook to get out of the boot. A nice solid, not cedar, probably beach or lime wo0d, shoe tree lasted. Beautiful.
I love this color. The lining is like a dark teal, emerald green. It’s hard to say. It’s really nice though. I find it very elegant, very soft too, so great stuff as always by ACME.. Definitely check them out if you haven’t already. And for those of you that have, but didn’t realize they do a very detailed made-to-order program as well. So if you see something that you like, but you want it in a different way, reach out and I’m sure they can make that happen for you. As you can see, they made my dark green, you can see how much I’m struggling with these laces because they’re so strong, dark green, split to derby boots with a Norwegian stitch on a commando. So boom. All right guys. Hope you’ve enjoyed this. Always stay tuned for more as I got lots more to come. Thanks. Take care. Bye.